The Youth and Adult Training for Employment YATE Programme has a new home right in the heart of capital Kingstown. The office opposite the Ministerial building housing the Kingstown post office, offers many personal skill development services through the 10-million-dollar program.
During the official commissioning ceremony Director of The National Qualifications Department Endall Johnson said the programs such as YATE and SKYE are providing new non-traditional learning opportunities to Vincentians and the organization is making every effort to facilitate these programs.
Endall boasted “we have retrofitted all of our labs to bring them up to industrial standard because of all of these projects that we are having…so all of these projects put together have changed the paradigm of education and workforce development in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
The YATE program, which is a component of the Human Development Services Delivery (HDSD) Project funded by the World Bank, has provided training to over 1000 participants from across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The programme places particular emphasis on providing specially tailored opportunities to the vulnerable groups within society such as persons with disabilities and young mothers.
Representative of the World Bank, Senior economist Suhas Dattratraya Parandekar in his remarks said that the program depends on people with motivation, “the drive to make something happen and to improve your skills and capabilities”, and further thanked the participants, instructors and coordinators for their input and contributions to making the program a success.
The New YATE office is currently open for official business Monday to Friday from 8am-4pm.