Community News

Meets with community shareholders

Story and photo by Suzanne Nielsen and reprinted with permission of the Daily Herald.

August 23, 2004

Two representatives from Support Netherlands Antilles Youth Development Programme (SNAYDP) met with island stakeholders Monday morning. SNAYDP is a four-year, 4.5 million euros European Union program to link youth with employment possibilities.

The threat of a major storm kept Sabans busy, and only Insular Head of Education Franklin Wilson, Innovations Bureau Task Manager Jet van Heijnsbergen, island social worker Anastasia Simmons, and Youth Council Representative Veira Lake attended.

SNAYDP Project Manager for all Islands Janine le Sueur and Micro-enterprise Facilitator Diana Fleming said the meeting's purpose was to review the report from its June 1 workshop on Saba, identify priorities, and set up a delivery model.

Identified as a priority was gathering reliable statistics on local job market needs and island economic development plan before putting together a reliable program directing youth at career possibilities on the island. Fleming noted that SNAYDP had financial resources to commission an information-gathering project as part of its technical assistance program.

Another priority was staffing the position of Youth Officer with an accredited professional who could tie together the various NGOs, school efforts, parental/youth concerns into an effective and responsive clearing house, to avoid duplicative efforts and make information gathering more focused and purposeful for clients. The possibility of using established Youth Offices, such as Child Focus, was discussed.

Insular Head of Education Wilson said that programs were already underway to allow Saban students to branch out in their vocational training choices by connecting to local professionals, such as welders, mechanics, etc. Recently connections have also been established to vocational schools in the United States and in Holland. Le Sueur reminded that SNAYDP support is for existing programs.

SNAYDP will return to Saba in the coming months to continue work on prioritization and delivery model.

Photo: From left, Insular Head of Education Franklin Wilson, Innovations Bureau Task Manager Jet van Heijnsbergen, Project Manager for all Islands Janine le Sueur and Micro-enterprise Facilitator Diana Fleming, island social worker Anastasia Simmons, and Youth Council Representative Veira Lake.

Click here for a larger version of the photo.


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Story and photographs © Suzanne Nielsen, 2004.