IN this world, where technology has advanced by leaps and bounds to meet the demands of today’s world, one Guyanese entrepreneur believes that professional development training is critical in today‘s workforce and works to ensure that her business provides the best services along this line.

JTW Institute of Management Training, which was established in 2012, was designed to meet the needs of employees and employers who wish to improve skills training in their workplaces and in their own lives.

Director of JTW, Joycelyn Williams, in an interview with the Pepperpot Magazine, made the point that the institute was established with the primary focus to assist employees who would like to improve their competence on the job and give them key knowledge about certain areas of work.

“Most of the courses that we do are cross-cutting to all businesses, like customer service. Regardless of which sector you are in, customer service is important. We do leadership and management… as well as City and Guilds Maths and English and [those] again are cross-cutting; regardless of which sector you are in, you need to be competent in [these fields],” Williams said.
Williams also noted the high demand for skills training is needed for entry-level jobs, particularly among young people.

“Most times we get tremendous feedback, we get positive feedback… the courses are relevant to the work that people do. Managers see improvement from their supervisors and entry-level staff get their essential skills,” Williams said.

She also noted that the tutors at her institution are equipped to offer both academic and corporate training. Williams believes that the demand for professional training is increasing, because we live in a world that is knowledge-based as compared to having soft skills.

She assured that given the fact that we are a budding oil and gas economy, her institution is armed with the training to deal with the increasing demand for professional training.
Meanwhile, another business entrepreneur, Rawle Dundas, of Professional Business Enterprise, believes that professional training is going very far in Guyana right now.

“We are refitting and rewriting to ensure that our content is fresh, relevant and attractively presented, using currently acceptable methods. We are confident that our reputation will quickly get us back with repeat clients and open doors to new ones,” Dundas told the Pepperpot Magazine.

As the country moves steadily towards economic growth, more and more areas for professional development are also becoming important. One other area is the establishment of “green” jobs in keeping with the country’s aim of developing a “green” economy.

The ILO in its report on Skills for “Green” Jobs in Guyana, has stated: “Guyana is actively laying the foundation for its transition to a green economy. Through the ratification of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and other multilateral environmental agreements, the country is demonstrating its commitment to improving its resiliency by adopting policy-driven mitigation and adaptation action, while simultaneously improving its capabilities to mitigate global climate change impacts.

The government has developed national-level legislation that provides a legal framework for public and private sectors to pursue the shift towards a “green” economy. This transition is requiring a qualified pool of professionals with new skillsets and expertise to drive green growth and meet anticipated labour market demands. The education sector within Guyana is readily responding in this regard. Both public and private education institutions, e.g. the University of Guyana and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), have carried out extensive reviews and revisions of their curricula to better prepare graduates for the requirements of transitioning the economy and sustaining green growth. Skills for green jobs in key sectors such as mining, forestry and agriculture have been prioritised, due to environmental and climate-change impacts they have had.

Moreover, Guyana is investing in skills for new, “green” occupations in priority areas, including renewable energy, nature and eco-tourism and ecosystems services. It needs to be recognised that although a strong foundation is being laid and positive actions being demonstrated, more work is needed to fully align skills requirements and policy.

An example of this is the need to produce time-series labour market information and to include labour policies in the green policy framework to ensure the labour response is data and policy driven. This report examines these and other findings. The political leadership and collaborative action required cannot be overstated.

At the national level, Guyana finds itself experiencing two interlinked economic reforms, i.e. greening and moving toward a more knowledge-based, service-oriented and value-added economy. Considering the concentration of employment in urban and peri-urban coastal areas, as well as higher poverty-density rates in rural and hinterland Guyana, green awareness across Guyana’s population, complemented by localised knowledge of vulnerabilities and decentralised skills- building linked to territorial “green” economic programmes are indispensable for national policies and programmes to improve livelihoods, protect lives and national assets.”