The Human Employment and Resource Training National Service Training Agency Trust (HEART/NSTA), the entity created out of the recent merger of the HEART Trust, the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning, the Apprenticeship Board, and the National Youth Service, has embarked on a programme to institutionalise its new name and to promote its expanded range of services.

Managing director of the HEART/NSTA Dr Janet Dyer points out that the renamed agency will double its training output at the end of this 2019/2020 fiscal year over the 2016/2017 period when the merger process started.

“What we are building is a total training institution for Jamaica that will track the life cycle of all Jamaicans and support their training needs at all stages,” said Dr Dyer.

“We still expect our stakeholders to call us HEART, given our brand recognition and track record; however, it is important that they now perceive us as a more resourced agency that is facilitating working age and retired Jamaicans to maximise their potential for work, volunteerism, mentorship and national service,” she added.

The gazetted Human Employment and Resource Training (Amendment and Change of Name) Act, 2019, which was passed in the Senate on December 6, 2019, mandates the HEART/NSTA to:

• rationalise its programmes and systems to efficiently and effectively meet the education and training needs of Jamaicans, avoiding duplication of administrative and other functions;

• achieve full alignment of remedial training, technical and vocational training and employability skills programmes;

• improve the quality of graduate output; and

• expand training opportunities to unattached youth and youth at risk in Jamaica.

“We have been rolling into more communities across the island with our mobile learning and certification programmes. There has been great interest in our volunteerism and mentorship initiatives, [and] we are experiencing increased response to our literacy and remedial programmes,” noted Dr Dyer.

“The HEART/NSTA is well on the way to becoming this total training institution that we describe as Jamaica’s human capital development agency,” she affirmed.