CARICOM Education for Employment Program (C-EFE)
The purpose of the CARICOM Education for Employment Program is to support the economic development of the Caribbean region through the strengthening of its technical and vocational education and training system, which includes building skills for employment. One of the sub-programs being developed is a two year Associate Degree Level III program in the cultural/creative industries, which will be used by colleges across the Caribbean region.
This program is part of Canada’s overarching objective for the Caribbean Region in promoting sustainable economic growth, through:
- Strengthening the management of public financial resources, including debt management;
- Increasing access to employment skills for youth;
- Strengthening the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises and increasing participation in regional and global markets;
- Promoting public-private partnerships that generate employment and attract investment for growth; and
- Creating an enabling and predictable environment for economic growth through increased capacity and accountability of public institutions and by fostering a more competitive private sector.
The Education for Employment Program is an institutional partnership between the T.A. Marryshow Community College in Grenada and the Nova Scotia Community College in Canada.
Funded by Global Affairs Canada and managed by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, this measure provides support to the T.A. Marryshow Community College to help develop a two year Associate Degree Level III program in the cultural/creative industries. Support includes curriculum development and teacher training to deliver competency based training. A second institution, Garmex HEART Academy in Jamaica, will also benefit from this partnership. The resulting Associate Degree program will be eligible for Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ). When approved as a CVQ, the curriculum can be used by any community college in the region to offer a similar program.
In 2014, the Caribbean Regional Development Program was confirmed as a country/region of focus for the Government of Canada's international development efforts. Canada supports the development agenda established by CARICOM to achieve regional cooperation and integration.
Fourteen countries in total – 11 island states (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago) and three continental ones (Belize, Guyana, and Suriname) – are served by Canada's Caribbean Program under which this measure was developed.
Canada's long-term goal in the Caribbean region is to help build a more prosperous and integrated Caribbean community, one that is able to generate sustainable economic growth.
The Education for Employment Program is expected to contribute to an increase in the economic development of the Caribbean region through the strengthening of its technical and vocational education and training system, including skills for employment.
For example, the Caribbean Program’s achievements for 2012-13 with respect to economic growth include:
- Supporting improvements in public institutions, which helped two out of six countries complete medium-term debt management strategies and trained 64 Caribbean workers in loan negotiations.
- Supporting and financing the first-ever inclusion of the Caribbean in the World Bank’s “Enterprise Surveys”, the results of which provided policymakers with previously unavailable data on the state of doing business in the Caribbean.
- Improving the access to finance among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by providing technical assistance to the Institute of Private Enterprise Development, the largest microfinance institution in Guyana.
- Providing technical assistance in support of legislative reform and institutional strengthening related to public-private partnerships.
- Providing funding for 13 public-private dialogue events in the region with a focus on challenges to growth and on ways to overcome them.
- Playing an instrumental role in the development of the new CARICOM Regional Strategy for Technical Vocational Education and Training for Economic Competitiveness and Workforce Development.
CDN $440,000 from Global Affairs Canada and CDN $172,000 from the Nova Scotia Community College.