ONE hundred and sixty Jamaicans are to benefit from training in bartending under the fourth Diageo Learning for Life Project, thanks to a partnership between Red Stripe and the Bars To Go Group.

“The project is a direct social intervention, specifically designed to provide opportunities for unskilled and unemployed residents throughout Jamaica, ranging in ages from 18 to 35 years,” said Dianne Ashton-Smith, communications manager with Red Stripe.

The training — to be conducted by the Bars To Go Training Institute beginning next month — will involve participants from Kingston, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Port Antonio, Mandeville, and Negril.

“The comprehensive curriculum will be covered within 50 hours over a six-week period. Specialised courses being offered include: Quality Customer Service, Operate a Bar, Clean and Tidy Bar, Prepare and Serve Non Alcoholic Beverage, Prepare and Serve Cocktails and Responsible Drinking/Serving,” said Patrice Wilson-McHugh, managing director of the Bars To Go Group, a catering and bar services company.

“Upon completion, they (participants) will get the Bars To Go certificate along with a statement of competence from HEART/NVQJ (National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica). With that statement of competence, they can go anywhere within the Caricom and work with that,” she added.

It will cost Red Stripe and Bars To Go close to $3 million to bring the training programme to Jamaicans, who will access it free of cost at the Diageo Learning for Life Institute in Kingston.

“We want to bring scale to our enriched communities agenda and in so doing provide more opportunities for residents across the length and breadth of Jamaica,” said Ashton-Smith, noting the reason behind the initiative.

“The programmes that have been launched since 2008 — Project Bartender, Artist, Entrepreneur, focusing on design and construction — focused primarily on residents in inner-city communities in Kingston. Red Stripe has seen the capacity for students to take the initiative and complete these courses within the short time frame given. Most have gone on to work in these fields and have continued to take the necessary steps to advance their skills,” she added.

“Our hope is that this programme will bring about a step change in behaviours and deliver on our objective of helping to reduce the incidence of drink-drive accidents throughout Jamaica while also professionally preparing young people of low income, between 18 and 35 years old, to become economically independent with the skills needed to work in bars, hotels and restaurants,” Ashton-Smith said further.

Some of those positions will be offered by Bars To Go and Red Stripe.

“Certainly as we have done in the past, we use a number of the graduates at many of our internal and external brand executions,” said Ashton-Smith.

“And Bars To Go employs graduates into their party services,” added Wilson-McHugh.

— Petre Williams-Raynor