Dear Editor,

Today, the world observes World Youth Skills Day. This year’s theme, ‘Skills for a Shared Future’, could not be more timely for Jamaica.

The numbers tell a sobering story. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 65 million young people were unemployed worldwide in 2023, and the United Nations notes that roughly 70 per cent of youth globally, some 450 million young people, are economically disengaged because they lack skills the labour market needs.

Closer to home, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s most recent Labour Force Survey put our own youth unemployment rate at 11.7 per cent as of April 2026, with young women bearing a heavier share of that burden than young men. Earlier ILO-supported research has also found that close to three in 10 Jamaican youth are neither working nor in school or training. These are young people at risk of being left without a foothold in either the classroom or the workplace.

Then came Hurricane Melissa. When the Category 5 storm made landfall on October 28, 2025, it damaged or destroyed roughly 450 schools, nearly two-thirds of all educational institutions nationwide, and disrupted learning for hundreds of thousands of children for months. For many young people, the storm was their first real test of the resilience, first-aid knowledge, and calmness under pressure that we so often take for granted until disaster strikes.

This is precisely why the Jamaica Red Cross believes the definition of “skills” must be widened. Our Youth Links in Schools Programme may not mirror the traditional vocational focus of World Youth Skills Day, but it embodies its spirit. Through it, students learn CPR and first aid, disaster preparedness, humanitarian values, and civic responsibility, skills that allow them to protect themselves, their families, and their peers, and let them see themselves as agents of change in a country like ours, with its nuanced vulnerabilities.

Our School of Transformation, based in Clarendon, extends this vision further. Designed for at-risk youth, it offers mentorship, psychosocial support, literacy and numeracy support, and the arts. Before the pandemic forced its suspension, a companion campus at our national headquarters also taught barbering and cosmetology — income-generating trades we hope to restore and expand, further building the employability of youth who have been excluded from formal training systems.

As the UN rightly calls for skills in artificial intelligence (AI), green technology, and digital innovation, the Jamaica Red Cross insists on the equally urgent need for humanitarian and psychosocial competencies.

Employability is only part of the equation; the ability to lead with empathy, support peers under stress, and stay steady through disaster is just as vital. We see a future in which digital innovation fuses with the values taught through Youth Links, the School of Transformation, and these programmes are recognised as a model for youth development — nationally, regionally, and beyond. We have a way to go, but with sustained commitment, funding, and proper management, it is within reach.

On this World Youth Skills Day, we reaffirm that skills for a shared future are not only about jobs, but about humanity. We invite educators, policymakers, and community leaders to join us in redefining what skills mean for Jamaica’s youth, because together we can build a future that is stronger, more compassionate, and more resilient.

Adrian Reid

Jamaica Red Cross

epinnock@jamaicaredcross.org