The Skills for Youth Employment in the Caribbean programme (SkYE) held its first Technical and Vocational Education and Training TVET forum on Wednesday 19th May 2021 under the theme “Building a resilient and inclusive future through TVET”.
Inclusion of youths with disabilities is a mandate within the SkYE programme – 10% of SkYE’s Programme participants are expected to be young persons with disabilities. The forum was an action item linked to SkYE’s Disability Strategy which seeks to provide a foundation for change and commence a transformative and sustainable shift in training centres and the work environment.
The objective of the event was to engage key stakeholders and continue dialogue to include young persons with disabilities in TVET; to address known barriers and determine the next steps to promote and guarantee inclusion. The forum utilized a blended modality which included virtual and physical gatherings in the four partner countries namely Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent. A total of fifty-one (51) stakeholders participated in the session, these included representatives from National Training Agencies & TVET Councils, National Disability Organizations, TVET Training Providers and Ministries of Education (TVET and Special Education Divisions).
The Feature Presentation showcased the findings from SkYE’s Focus Group Discussions held with differently-abled youths throughout the Eastern Caribbean. In-country breakout sessions allowed participants in the various islands an opportunity to discuss the barriers to inclusion, possible solutions and suitable leaders to move inclusion forward.
SkYE remains committed to delivering the proposed next steps that includes developing strategic frameworks and implementation plans for inclusion with key stakeholder groups across the four islands.
SkYE is a four-year programme designed to develop a better-skilled, more productive and inclusive workforce in St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The programme is focused on improving the occupational skills and employability of disadvantaged youth aged 15-30 years to enable them either to move out of unemployment or to progress to more significant employment.
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