Hanna to seek to funding for Digital Jam 2.0 programme
LISA Hanna, minister of youth and culture, will travel to Washington, DC, later this year to engage in discussions with the World Bank in a bid to expand the Digital Jam 2.0 programme and create more technology-based job opportunities for our unemployed and unattached youths.
The minister disclosed this information during the launch of the gender-neutral special services booklet, Services for Urban Youth, at the Olympic Gardens Civic Centre in St Andrew recently.
Although a timeline has not yet been disclosed for Hanna’s visit, she said a team from her ministry would soon begin discussions with representatives of the World Bank to expand the E-Business creation side of the Digital Jam 2.0 project.
“I intend to travel to Washington soon to conclude those discussions with the World Bank,” she said.
The Digital Jam 2.0 programme was first launched on May 8 by the minister.
It is a technology-based educational programme developed by the Government of Jamaica through the Ministry of Youth and Culture in collaboration with the World Bank and telecommunications partners LIME Jamaica and FLOW.
Digital Jam 2.0 was the first Government-led technology-based programme created since Hanna was appointed minister.
According to Hanna, technology-based jobs are the way forward to further decrease youth unemployment rates, which stood at 34.9 per cent in April 2012 and slightly decreased to 32.2 per cent in July 2012.
“We recognise that today, major job creation and reduction in youth unemployment will not come from factories or work created by any government. The future of work and entrepreneurship is online and in the creative output of our people,” Hanna said.
“I recognise that the youth ministry and indeed, the government, will not be able to impact the lives of the majority of Jamaica’s youth if we don’t help them to access employment. The government is committed to tackling the problem of youth unemployment, which the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates to be around 14.6 per cent in the Latin America and Caribbean region,” she said.
Meanwhile, Hanna said her ministry has also started discussions with another ministry to develop an initiative that will create more jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for the nation’s vulnerable youths.
