Multilateral Cooperation: Youth Employment
| Requesting country | Providing country |
|---|---|
| Grenada | Jamaica |
RIAL Cooperation on Youth Employment among Ministries of Labor of the Caribbean
PARTICIPANTS:
- Providing Country: Jamaica
- Requesting Country: Barbados
- Participant countries: St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Grenada.
From September 10 to 14, an officer from Grenada visited the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS) of Jamaica to learn about their practices in the area of Youth Employment. This visit took place within the Cooperation between Barbados and Jamaica, which, being a follow-up activity from the 2016 "Inter-sectoral Workshop on Youth Employment: Articulation between Education and Work", was also attended by delegates from St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis and Grenada.
The general objective of the study tour was to promote the enhancement of Caribbean youth employment policies and programs, including training and school-to-work transition initiatives, in order to reduce the high levels of youth unemployment and high numbers of young people neither in education nor employment.
For five days, delegates from these Caribbean countries analyzed the experiences of Jamaica's main youth employment programs. Among them was the HEART Trust, the National Training Agency (NTA), the National Youth Service (NYS) and the On the Job Training Program (OJT).
Also, through presentations by Jamaican officials, the representatives of the visiting countries learned about the operation of areas such as the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) and the Electronic Work Exchange (ELE) of the Ministry of Jamaica.
The Activity ended with field visits so that the delegates could analyze the implementation of these programs in practice. The first one took place in the Jamaican Producers Factory, and the second in the Montego Bay area, where they had the opportunity to interact with the interns of the Hilton Rose Hall.
Among the next steps listed by the delegation of Grenada, it is worth highlighting the creation of the National Employment Portal, whose operation will strengthen thanks to the lessons learned on Jamaican LMIS; the expansion of Employment Services aimed to involve the youth with public and private sectors; and to put into consideration the creation of programs analyzed in Jamaica, such as “Steps to Work”.
