[Kingstown, Saint Vincent] – One thousand participants, who live in the north-east of the Red Zone and were negatively impacted by the April 2021 volcanic eruptions, last week began the Life Skills Programme – a sub-component of the Volcanic Eruption Emergency Project (VEEP).
The Life Skills Programme is designed to provide participants with the foundational and socio-economical skills that will “allow them to transition into the work force and become active members of their respective communities”.
The participants were assessed and selected by the Social Development Unit, of the Ministry of Mobilisation, Social Development, Family, Gender Affairs, Youth, Housing and Informal Human Settlement.
Ten facilitators are delivering the skills training programme at ten centres across the north-east of the Red Zone (Colonaire to Fancy) for the duration of three months. The training is divided into eight modules, which include: Communication, Decision-Making, Coping with Emotions and Time Management, among others.
The Life Skills Programme is included in Component 1 of the VEEP, which is financed by the World Bank and co-financed by the European Union-funded Caribbean Regional Resilience Building Facility.
The implementing agency for VEEP is the Economic Planning Division, which operates under the remit of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology.