Government secures EU grant for employment generation project
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
by Office of the Prime Minister
THE INITIATIVE PROVIDES UNEMPLOYED YOUTH AND VULNERABLE GROUPS ACCESS TO OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES.

On Nov. 16, Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre and Ambassador of the European Union to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States, Malgorzata Wasilewska, finalized the terms of an EC$16.8 million grant from the European Union to support a project called the Generation of Employment through Private Sector Development (GEPSED).

The GEPSED Project is a comprehensive and integrated skills training system that provides unemployed youth and vulnerable groups access to occupational training programmes facilitated by the Saint Lucia Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. The EU grant will be used to provide stipends for participants and also make available seed capital to trainees who have attained National/Caribbean Vocational Qualifications under the GEPSED Project and wish to pursue micro, small or medium scale business ventures. The EU funding will also be used to establish a Workforce Development Centre in the island’s south.

Seven local institutions that provide occupational training programmes—the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Monroe College, Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association Training Academy, National Skills Development Centre, Centre for Adolescent Renewal and Education (CARE), and the School of Art and Design—have agreed to train at least 600 Saint Lucians enlisted in the GEPSED Project. To this end, the Department of Economic Development and representatives of the respective occupational training institutions have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to place each of the 600 GEPSED participants in private-sector-based job training programmes for a minimum of three months.

The EU grant of EC$16.8 million will also support related initiatives in the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Commerce and the Saint Lucia Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.

The Office of the National Authorizing Officer (NAO) is the implementation agency spearheading the GEPSED Project.