THE Youth Upliftment Through Employment (YUTE) programme has contributed to youth development while creating meaningful opportunities for the private sector to promote social inclusion and economic empowerment, according to chairman Joseph A Matalon.

“YUTE has demonstrated that all hands — private sector, state, international partners, communities, parents and service providers — are needed on deck to fashion and deliver initiatives that are relevant, responsive and accessible to youth,” said the YUTE chairman.

More than 1,600 young men and women from inner-city communities across Kingston and St Andrew are celebrating a new-found confidence and skills which have increased their employability and earning potential, said Matalon.

The private sector-led programme — a coalition in conjunction with the Government of Jamaica and international partners — was launched in 2010 following the Tivoli incursion, in a bid to reduce the challenges being experienced by urban youth such as unemployment and unemployability. Matalon was president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica at the time.

Noting that following remedial education programmes which helped YUTE participants to matriculate to skills training they were involved in on the job work experience programmes, some were for the first time in a formal environment.

“It certainly made a difference,” Matalon remarked, explaining that going out to work gave them a certain degree of confidence and a sense of purpose.

Matalon, meanwhile, said that the majority of employers gave positive feedback on their young employees with some even offering recruitment placement options or long term contracts when available.

Describing YUTE as an important learning experience for all stakeholders, Matalon said “employers coached young people who may not have otherwise been engaged by their companies. Their staff learned to appreciate our youths for who they are and the value they brought and not judge them based solely on where they came from”.

Maureen Webber, CEO, Development Options Limited, manager of the YUTE programme, recalled that her agency, supported by Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), “engaged a broad section of youth to design a programme that would address the high

levels of youth unemployment and unemployability”.

She noted that “the bold and audacious proposal” which cost just under $1 billion in cash and kind was a holistic response which provided streams of opportunities for youth with varying levels of work readiness and interests.

Among the companies and organisations which contributed to YUTE were: JMMB, Scotiabank, NCB Foundation, JPS, Grace Kennedy, Stewart’s Auto, Courts, Victoria Mutual Building Society, Jamaica National Building Society, Continental Bakery, Island Outpost, ICWI, J Wray & Nephew, Burger King, Guardian Life, LIME, Sagicor, Fullgram Solutions, Myers Fletcher & Gordon, CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank, Flow, Musson, Wisynco, ICD Group & Development Options, Australian AID, The PetroCaribe Development Fund, The Multilateral Investment Fund, Development Bank of Jamaica, National Housing Trust, National Youth Service, Citi Foundation, HEART Trust/NTA, Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning, Housing Agency of Jamaica, JSIF and the EU through the PRP 2.

The YUTE programme continues next year.