The Transition of Jamaican - International Labour Organisation ...

The National Youth Policy, coordinated by the National Centre for Youth
Development (NCYD) presents an opportunity for Jamaica to facilitate the development
of an environment that optimizes the potential of each young Jamaican.
The Employment and Entrepreneurship goal of this Policy is to generate “an environment
which promotes the creation of opportunities for employment and an
environment that promotes entrepreneurship” by achieving the following objectives:
• increasing the employability of youth,
• increasing the number of employment opportunities for youth, and
• fostering an environment conducive to the creation of opportunities for selfemployment.
NCYD has responsibility for several national youth development programmes
including Operation Phoenix. This programme was formed to empower youth
and create the necessary environment for their development. Under this programme,
two Youth Information Centres (YICs) were established in 2003; one in
St. Catherine and the other in St. Mary. YICs are resource centres that provide
counselling services and information on training, education and health. A total of
10,272 young persons utilized the St. Catherine YIC in 2004, while 3 476 young
persons visited the St. Mary YIC in that year.
The National Youth Service (NYS) was re-established in 1995 to “create a cadre
of patriotic young people – disciplined, responsible, caring, confident, self-reliant
and culturally aware through involvement in voluntary activities.” The main programmes
operated by the NYS are the Corps Programme, the Jamaica Values and
Attitudes Programme for Tertiary Students (JAMVAT) and the National Summer
Employment Programme. In 2004, the Corps Programme provided 1 946 youth
with training and work experience in one of the following corps: early childhood
education, conservation, customer care, uniform, sales and administration, and
micro-entrepreneurship. JAMVAT provided opportunities in 2004 for 773 students
to engage in community service in government, private sector or communitybased
organizations, and participate in positive development workshops, in
return for a government subvention of 30.0 per cent of tuition for the academic
year, and a stipend for meals and transportation. The National Summer
Employment Programme began in 2001 as a national project to provide students
with practical work experience and assistance with back-to-school funds. The programme
provided employment for 4 155 students at the upper secondary and tertiary
levels in July and August 2004.
Additionally, the Government of Jamaica has committed itself to expanding
The main options
that are available for
school leavers include
entry into the labour
market, enrolment in:
private post-secondary
institutions; the
National Youth Service
(NYS) programmes;
HEART Trust/NTA
programmes,
Community Colleges
and public and private
tertiary institutions.
CHAPTER 1: PROJECT CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
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