KINGSTON, March 9 (JIS):

The Human Employment and Resource Training Trust/National Training Agency (HEART Trust/NTA) will be hosting a ‘Try-a-Skill’ Village at the Social Development Commission’s (SDC) Creative Arts and Skills Festival (CASfest) on Friday, March 10 at the Claude Stewart Park in Port Maria, St. Mary.

The village will allow interested patrons to participate in activities designed to determine their competence in specialist skill areas.

It will also enable persons working in skills area but have no formal training, to take the first step towards attaining certification.

This was disclosed by the SDC’s Parish Manager for St. Mary, Travis Graham, during an interview with JIS News.

 He said the skills village would be useful for persons who are uncertain about their proficiency in specialist skill areas they have contemplated getting into. 

“You can go and try a skill... learn how to cook... learn construction skills, welding, woodwork or any other skill (being demonstrated) to see if you’re really (adept), and (thereafter) register on the spot,” he outlined.

CASfest is one of the SDC’s strategies supporting its implementation of the Local Economic Development Support Programme (LEDSP) initiative in St. Mary.  

The LEDSP is designed to create a platform from which grassroots local economic activities and initiatives can be developed and implemented. 

It aims to boost viable economic enterprises and nurture a culture of productivity by creating growth and jobs at the community level.

Mr. Graham said the LEDSP is all about working with communities, community groups and individual entrepreneurs in order to transform their ideas into viable income-generating endeavours. 

CASfest, he adds, complements that by providing opportunities for persons to realise their potential and take the next step towards initiating entrepreneurial engagements.

The HEART Trust/NTA was established as a statutory body under the HEART Act in 1982 to govern the development and delivery of technical and vocational education and training in Jamaica.

Its core activities focus on training and certification of Jamaican citizens for employment.

CONTACT: O. RODGER HUTCHINSON