Carla Christopher-Newton at classroom training
TRAINEE’S BACKGROUND
Carla Christopher-Newton shares with us her journey from an unemployed young mother to becoming the income earner within her extended family of six. Carla is 30 years old and a mother of three children who resides in St. David, Grenada. Due to personal circumstances, she was unable to complete high school and has been engaged in casual employment, including helping her mom as the community seamstress. With SkYE support, she has completed a CVQ Level 2 training in Housekeeping/Room Attendant at the Centre for Development and Certification Training (CDACT) and has been on internship at the Radisson Grenada Beach Resort.
SKYE TRANSFORMING LIVES
Carla became involved with the SkYE Training Programme through information shared by a family friend. She recalled visiting CDACT to make enquires and possibly register but the Centre had reached its target for that cohort. Nevertheless, she persevered and was later accepted and registered for a funded training place. She was thankful as she did not have the financial means to access the class and that was her only opportunity to obtain a certificate in housekeeping. She recalls, “It was an aspiration fulfilled and the Centre acknowledged me as one of the most outstanding trainees in that cohort”. Her performance allowed her the opportunity to participate in on- and off-the job training. She commends CDACT for “its firm but motivating measures to ensure trainees remain committed and have the best chance to succeed”. She recalls her experience at the Centre as “very enlightening and engaging but challenging at times with no steady source of income and a family to support while attending training”. She boasts that “the training has helped me to improve and manage time, be more responsible, more confident in interacting with strangers and has boosted my job readiness skills; it developed me as a whole person”.
ASPIRATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
“My internship is at one of the most popular hotels on the island, so I intend to apply myself, always do my best and to grow within the sector”, said Carla. “I think this training has prepared me sufficiently to perform my best, for some of the more contemporary measures in housekeeping taught have not yet been adopted by the hotel”. She has some words of advice for others, “I would like to encourage any young person to undergo this training to obtain a certifiable skill, even those who are not too sure about a career, because it is a skill that you would have for life. It is my hope that I can provide a better life for my children and my grandparent in the near future”.
Carla is full of confidence and notes, “I would be happy to share the next chapter of my journey with SkYE’’.
FACTS
The Skills for Youth Employment (SkYE) is a four year, UKaid-funded programme to provide certified skills training for 6,000 disadvantaged young people, including those challenged by disability, in four Eastern Caribbean countries: Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines. The Programme will develop a more productive and inclusive workforce in sectors with good economic growth potential.
SkYE is supporting national training authorities and training providers to make systemic improvements to the development, delivery and quality assurance of technical, vocational education and training (TVET) in the four focus islands through targeted capacity building.
