Instructors from Technical Vocational Institutions to attend Workshop on Entrepreneurship Education and Curriculum Implementation

Instructors and senior officials of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities, and TVET Institutions in Saint Lucia attend a Workshop.

6 September 2013

PORT OF SPAIN (ILO News) - Instructors and senior officials of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities, and Technical and Vocational Training Institutions in Saint Lucia will attend a five-day National Training Workshop on Entrepreneurship, Education and Curriculum Implementation which will convene at the Saint Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre, Castries, from 9-13 September 2013.

The Workshop is being organized by the ILO’s Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean (DWT/O-POS) based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Department and Labour, Saint Lucia. Mr. Hassan Ndahi, ILO Senior Specialist, Skills and Employability and Mr. Kelvin Sergeant, ILO Specialist, Enterprise Development, will be the facilitators of the Workshop.

The aim of the Workshop is to strengthen the capacities of instructors and trainers to implement entrepreneurship education in their institutions’ curriculum, in order to provide students and trainees with the knowledge and skills to start and manage a small business.

The Workshop is one of the collaborative efforts between DWT/O-POS and the Government of Saint Lucia, in developing strategies for employment of persons with disabilities, which is one of the priority areas in the Saint Lucia Decent Work Country Programme.

The Honourable Dr. Robert K. Lewis, Minister of Education, Human Resources Development and Labour, Saint Lucia, will address the Opening Ceremony along with Mr. Victor Reid, Director of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Saint Lucia; Mrs. Cynthia Weekes, Chairperson, National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities; Mr. Hassan Ndahi, ILO Senior Specialist, Skills and Employability; and Mr. Joseph Alexander, Executive Director, Saint Lucia Employers’ Federation.

The Workshop objectives are to:
  • create awareness of enterprise and self-employment;
  • develop a positive attitude towards enterprise and self-employment;
  • provide knowledge and practice of the required attributes for starting and operating a successful enterprise, particularly a small business; and
  • prepare young women and men to work productively in small and medium enterprises.
ILO Convention No. 159 – Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), 1983 and its accompanying Recommendation No. 168 – Recommendation Concerning Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), 1955, as well as ILO Recommendation No. 189 - Job Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998 are of particular relevance to the subject of the Workshop.

At the conclusion of the Workshop, participants will be better able to implement the ILO Know About Business (KAB) training materials in their schools’ curricula, especially for persons with disabilities to consider self-employment as a viable option.

The ILO is a specialized agency within the United Nations system committed to advancing opportunities for women and men including persons with disabilities to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

Note for the Media:

For further information, please contact:
Ms. Patricia Hackett or Ms. Averlon Toussaint
Email: [email protected].
Phone: (868)-625-0524 or (868)-625-0524
Fax : (868)-627-8978