SOME 480 adolescent mothers from the Women’s Centre Foundation will be exposed to sessions on career development this year, through a partnership between the ScotiaFoundation and Junior Achievement Jamaica.

The seven-week intervention, titled JA Career Success, will train the teens in areas such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, work priorities, and soft skills. It is part of a wider programme called Girls Empowered for Motherhood and Success (GEMS), which assists young women at Women’s Centres across the island.

Career Success is a course developed by Junior Achievement Jamaica. It equips students with tools and skills to earn and keep a job in high-growth career industries. Fourteen weekly sessions are being facilitated across the island by 150 ScotiaVolunteers, who themselves were trained for the exercise. Sessions began in the week of January 25, and will conclude with a conference on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2016.

“This year, the number of participants has increased 100 per cent, up from 240 girls in 2015, as the Women’s Centre Foundation has opened access to the course to girls at 14 of their 16 centres,” Scotiabank said. The four additional centres are located in Denbigh, Clarendon; Highgate, St Mary; Duncans, Trelawny; and Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth.

The Women’s Centre Foundation has been in operation since 1978 and assists pregnant teens under the age of 17 continue their education. The programme focuses on continuing education, counselling, contraceptive counselling and support from the Ministry of Education for reintegration into the formal school system.