Ja National Service Corps multipurpose building set to improve training delivery
The Government says it’s on a mission to implement programmes aimed at empowering young people through skills training and work placement opportunities.
Speaking at the official opening of the $500-million Jamaica National Service Corps (JNSC) Multipurpose Building at Up Park Camp in Kingston, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said programmes such as the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) are geared at engaging unattached youth in a meaningful way.
“Over time, we will make similar investments in other forms of national service, because, ultimately, the objective is to end this business of ‘unattachment’ in the society. There is no way the society can develop, progress, and prosper if we are developing young men and women who are on the fringe and are excluded from the society,” he argued.
The HOPE programme is intended to provide an avenue for the development of fully rounded individuals who have the social, academic, and technical skills to become productive members of the society. It also aims to provide educational and job opportunities for young people.
Holness noted that more than 20,000 Jamaicans have been trained under the HOPE initiative, which has several components. These include, but are not limited to, the JNSC as well as the environmental and digitisation components.
The prime minister said the JNSC is an integral component of the larger HOPE programme, which is based on the principle of learning, earning, giving back to country through service, and saving (LEGS).
“So, every member of the JNSC, they are working to learn, they are working to earn and they are working to give service. It is obviously by far the most structured one, and the one Government has emphasised the most,” he added.
He pointed out that the digitisation aspect of the programme will assist in transforming Jamaica into a digital society.
“They are right across the country taking paper-based documents and converting them into digital documents. This is a very important part of the creation of a digital society, because you have to have content,” Holness said.
