The Ministry of

Local Government and Community Development is building on the success of its

Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP), to further benefit the county’s youth

and advance the local governance agenda.

“We looked at about 230 of these young persons from the programme and placed them through the HEART Trust/NTA for certification because there is a demand in local government for certain kinds of skills,” said the Portfolio Minister, Desmond McKenzie.

The Minister was speaking at a press briefing at the Ministry in Kingston in December.

The youth were trained under the extended YSEP programme, which ran from September to December last year with some receiving a further extension into January. They were trained at HEART once a week in the areas of customer service and data collection and processing to better aid in their work at the municipal corporations.

Further studies

Additionally, six young persons from that cohort will be given the opportunity to pursue further studies at HEART Trust/ NTA.

“We are providing six scholarships for a total of $8 million that will see persons being trained in technical competencies and skills required in the Ministry,” McKenzie said.

The Ministry is now in the process of reviewing submissions for the scholarships, which will see the six persons pursuing training in areas such as physical planning, engineering and architecture.

McKenzie pointed out that since the inception of the YSEP in 2017, more than 600 youth from the programme have been gainfully employed in the municipal corporations across the island.