The National Employment Programme (NEP) in undergoing restructuring and is not going anywhere soon, disclosed NEP Director Emaline Burnette-Honore. She stated that the programme has contributed so much to the socio-economic development of the island and there are no plans to scrape it in any way.
Honore said it is needful for NEP to undergo transformations because the programme no longer meets its original objectives. “There comes a time when you have to look at things, there comes a time when you have to revisit different components, different aspects and this is what the NEP has been doing,” she said.
She added that any information that the programme will be scrapped is untrue and misleading. She said NEP is an internship programme geared towards securing permanent employment for Dominican youths.
“NEP, unlike what you may be hearing is by no means discontinuing,” Honore asserted. “I do not see NEP being discontinued anytime in the near future. NEP has contributed tremendously to the socio-economic development of Dominica; that is what we have been mandated to do and this is what we will continue to do.”
She revealed that there are programme interns assigned to private and public sectors of the country as well as those learning within the school system. She added that in a case where interns demonstrate laziness and lack of commitment to their trainings, such delinquent interns may be dismissed from the programme.
The programme director said the internship programme is supposed to last for a period of six months after which administrators secure permanent employment for graduates.
“This is still our mandate so this is what we are trying to do now more than ever: to ensure that the interns graduate out of the internship program into a more sustainable, permanent form of employment,” she revealed.
The NEP programme launched in 2015 with 250 interns and a $7 million grant from the Venezuelan government.
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