KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Events Management Training Programme of the National Youth Service (NYS) is to be assessed, to ensure that young people gain employment.

The programme, an initiative between the NYS and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, aims to equip young people with skills in events production and management to pursue jobs in the field or to start their own business.

Director of Programmes at the NYS, Naketa West, gave details of the programme at a JIS ‘Think Tank’, held on June 16 at the agency’s head office in Kingston, West said the organisation is seeking the best way to execute the programme and to create opportunities for young people, to either start their own business or be employed.

“What we recognised at the end of the programme was that young persons were experiencing some difficulty transitioning, so what we are doing is to see how better we can do that programme,” she said, noting that the NYS is not satisfied with the number of young persons being employed.

Initially, West said a few persons were employed and some had started their own business.

“It wasn’t a lot, so we want to do it better next time.  Maybe we need to include more entrepreneurship activities, because it is a field that is important and that is growing. So, we need to better understand that field before we can even serve people in that area,” she said.