Caribbean Development Bank to expand New Horizons Skills Centre

With a severe backlog in the training for young men identified as a national problem, the upgrading of the New Horizons Skills Training Centre in Wynters Park St. Catherine which is to commence soon with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank - is a further step towards addressing the issue.

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has signed an agreement for the construction of the Centre with the project sponsor, New Horizon Christian Outreach Ministry (NHCOM).
The project includes the construction of a 57 hundred square foot skills training center, which will boast internal and external training areas; a computer lab; library, as well as classrooms and a sick bay. It is being managed under the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) 6Th programme, a project funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

This project is being undertaken at a cost of J$ 32,311,046.00; sourced from the CDB and the Government of Jamaica, with the contribution from the community.
Loy Malcolm, General Manager of Project Management at the JSIF noted at the contract signing ceremony that, “this project was selected by JSIF as NHCOM is a dynamic organization that targets at risk youth with a strong emphasis on males at risk; assisting them with skills training so as to help them move up and out of the strong hold that many inner city communities have become. The community exhibits characteristics typical of similar inner city communities with high unemployment, low skill levels, high level of poverty and weak social structure.”

With a population of approximately 4000 residents, only 30 per cent of the eligible working populations have professional occupations within the community. The other 70 per cent have no form of qualification, according to the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

Large concentrations of the unskilled youth in the community are males. While there are a number of training institutions in the greater Spanish Town area, most of these do not have programme tailored for young men.
Currently, the school has an enrollment of ninety (90) students who are pursuing both level one and level two HEART Certification programmes in Welding, Electrical Installation and Fabrication. This programme is currently being implemented through partnership with the HEART Trust NTA.

According to Ms. Malcolm, “the expected outcome of the project will be the provision of a facility offering training in in the culinary arts, electrical installation, welding, plumbing, general construction/masonry, solar electric and heating technology, aquaponics, greenhouse operation as well as computer literacy training and remedial classes for under qualified residents. Approximately sixty youths will be trained in the first group.”