The Ministry of Planning and Development officially received two skills assessment reports for the Information Communications and Technology as well as the Energy Engineering Services sub-sectors in Trinidad and Tobago. The reports were prepared by consultants: Centre for Employment Initiatives (CEI) who were procured by the UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited Programme (GenU) (The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), under the Generation Unlimited (GenU) project, offered technical support and funded the consultancy executed by the Centre for Employment Initiatives Limited (CEI)). The Reports delivered are part of a wider project being undertaken by the Ministry of Planning and Development entitled: “The Development of a National Manpower Plan,” The skills assessment has been a collaborative effort with the UNICEF, GenU programme.
The Official Report Handover Ceremony was witnessed in-person by Acting UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Dennis Zulu, Deputy Representative, UNICEF Office of the Eastern Caribbean Area, Tanya Radosavljevic, Ministry of Planning and Development was represented by Permanent Secretary Joanne Deoraj, Deputy Permanent Secretaries Marie Hinds and Ric Ali as well as staff from the Socio-Economic Policy Planning Division of the Ministry. Virtually there were approximately 60 stakeholder representatives logged on, inclusive of the Tobago House of Assembly, also invited was Tobago Information Technology Limited.
In bring forward remarks from the United Nations Agencies both representatives, Dennis Zulu and Tanya Radosavljevic underscored the importance of the skills assessment exercise towards ensuring the nation’s youth are fit for purpose, especially in this evolving digitized space and changing job markets. They also reassured the Government that through the GenU initiative support for further assessments that will lead into a National Manpower Plan will be considered.
Minister Pennelope Beckles during her feature address said, “I stand proud as this collaboration has borne fruit, in the form of two labour skills assessment reports, namely, the Labour Skills Assessment Report for the Energy Engineering Services subsector and the Labour Skills Assessment Report for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Platform and Services subsector of Trinidad and Tobago. Minister Beckles also went on to state, “These Reports, are examples of Government’s commitment to fulfilling its facilitative role in support of private sector-led development within these targeted growth sectors. The two subsectors have been deemed priority in keeping with the National Strategic Plan: Vision 2030 and the Roadmap to Recovery document, produced so as to mitigate economic effects experienced through COVID 19.
The overarching objectives of the ICT Services and Energy Engineering Services assessment reports are to: Identify any skills gap, address the mismatch of skills through various interventions, evaluate linkages in the labour market and anticipate future skills. More specifically, the objectives of the assessments are to guide and inform labour market stakeholders (education and training institutions, students, job seekers, employers, employees, policy makers, unions, private and public enterprises, individuals) on the anticipated supply and demand for workforce skills in ICT Platform Services and Energy Engineering sectors.
These findings will provide a basis from which to guide the formulation of inclusive education and employment policies to enable resilience among the vulnerable and to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country, as well as to facilitate structural transformation in both the ICT Platform Services and Energy Engineering Service sectors. Through the adoption of such an approach it will be possible to move forward with manpower planning, identifying a methodology or approach that can be used, and determine most the suitable recommendations for tackling occupational shortages and key skills that are in demand.
The National Manpower Plan aims to address current and future skill needs in priority areas. This Project is comprised of three (3) main components: A Consultancy for the Development of a National Manpower Plan; Execution of feasibility studies in targeted economic sectors to determine their viability and potential to contribute to sustainable economic development such as export and generation of foreign direct investment. These sectors include: Creative and Cultural Industry, Financial Services; Tourism; Waste Management/ Recycling and Scrap Iron. The third area of the project is execution of labour skills assessments for the sectors that have been deemed feasible for business development. These Sectors are: Agriculture and Agro-Food Processing; Energy Engineering Services; ICT Platform Services; Maritime and Aviation Services.
To view the video presentation on the overview of the ongoing project and the reports please visit www.planning.gov.tt or you can email: manpower@planning.gov.tt to receive updates from the National Manpower Planning Project team.
The Ministry of Planning and Development in collaboration with UNICEF GenU Programme hosted an official Handover Ceremony at the Ministry’s Head Office, Port of Spain. Pictured from Left to Right: UNICEF, GenU Deputy Representative Tanya Radosavljevic, Erica Fortune, National Manpower Plan Project Lead, Minister Pennelope Beckles, Acting UN Resident Coordinator, Dennis Zulu and Aarti Bedassie-Maharaj, Director (Ag) Ministry of Planning and Development, Socio-Economic Policy Planning Unit.