Marginalized youth in Saint Lucia to benefit from enhanced vocational training opportunities

Castries, Saint Lucia: Young persons enrolled at the Center for Adolescent Renewal and Education (C.A.R.E) in Saint Lucia can now benefit from professional training in the field of hospitality, thanks to the official opening of a newly constructed state-of-the-art hospitality and catering block earlier this month.

The facility is part of a United Nations project entitled “Upgrading Saint Lucia’s capacity to provide impactful vocational training for marginalized youth”, implemented by the International Labour Organization's (ILO), Decent Work Team in the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training in Saint Lucia. It is funded under the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for South-South Cooperation.  

This initiative is one of several interventions offered by the United Nations Barbados and Eastern Caribbean office, as part of a packaged UN Development System offer to the Government to address its citizen security concerns. Country-level consultations by the UN revealed that the relatively high youth unemployment rate in Saint Lucia contributes to the high levels of crime and violence among youth.

Delivering remarks during the recent Opening Ceremony, Prime Minister the Hon. Phillip Pierre commended the efforts of C.A.R.E to provide hope for vulnerable and disadvantaged youth, noting that they are committed to these young people, who most of society had written off. 

Jada Charles, a current student at care pursuing the Office Skills programme, is elated about the addition to C.A.R.E. She contended that “given the increasing demand by young persons for programmes offered by C.A.R.E., which places added pressure on space availability, the new block will make students more comfortable." 

Given Saint Lucia's dependence on the tourism sector for economic prosperity, you cannot go wrong with hospitality skills as they are in high demand, Jada added.

The opening ceremony was held on September 6, 2024, on the grounds of the newly built facility in Cul de Sac, Castries. This block is the first of a set of buildings that will constitute the evolving C.A.R.E Complex. The complex will be managed by C.A.R.E., in collaboration with the Department of Education. 

ABOUT C.A.R.E.

C.A.R.E., a local NGO, is a community-based voluntary organization established to empower vulnerable and marginalized youth to pursue career aspirations and decent work opportunities. C.A.R.E currently provides technical/vocational, as well as academic training, through courses, for over two hundred students at four centers across the island.