OPPORTUNITY DENIED
Allana Boca is 20 years old from a suburban community in St. George, Grenada. She is a college graduate with an Associate Degree in Electronics Technology. She cultivated a keen interest in Electronic Maintenance early in her studies and considered it a possible career path. However, she was daunted during an internship when she experienced gender discrimination. While the field of programming is considered to be fairly gender-balanced, Electronic Maintenance remains a male-dominated field. Perturbed by that personal experience and still lacking confidence and experience, Allana returned to the Community College to complete CAPE Mathematics which she hoped would enable her to diverge into Electronics Engineering at the university level.
A RESUSCITATED PASSION
During her time at the college, Allana received a cell phone SMS broadcast of the training available at the Center for Enhancing Educational Performance (CEEP) under the UKaid funded SkYE programme. She immediately pursued that opportunity by completing the registration and selection process as a Full Stack Web Development Trainee.
Allana Boca – Screen Star
Allana shares that, “The training was more intense and challenging than I anticipated”. She was forced beyond her comfort zone but remained tenacious. She further notes, “It required extended hours at nights conducting additional research and practicing techniques demonstrated in class.”
Her passion for further training in a field of interest to her was restored, rather than simply seek employment after college. For the first time, she genuinely enjoyed the comradery amongst her peers, especially the way they shared knowledge and supported each other in the classroom. Her gender was no longer a barrier as CEEP is inclusive of all young people, as training providers under SkYE are required to be, and she was welcomed to the training as an equal.
CHARACTER BUILDING IN COVD TIMES
As classes abruptly shifted online as a result of COVID, she sadly recalled that the peer-support fizzled out considerably even though she reached out to classmates periodically. In addition, virtual learning at home had many challenges including the distractions within her domestic environment and limited teacher support. This motivated her to intensify her self-taught sessions – practicing simulations and troubleshooting.
She asserts that overall, the entire experience helped her to recognize her weaknesses and ways to resolve them. She credits her motivation to having a very competent and self-less trainer at CEEP. She disclosed that her parents and friends commend her remarkable change in personal growth. They now support her professional choice; although they were skeptical in the beginning because they did not comprehend this career field.
TRAINING REWARD
After a month of internship, Allana was offered a full-time position at Sonover Incorporated. She is elated that she was given the opportunity to demonstrate her skills and to continue learning on the job. This has provided a clear vision for her career; she would like to pursue advanced training in software engineering.
Allana confidently recommends the CEEP training to other young persons but warns they must be prepared for long hours of training in and out of the classroom. She has proposed that the training should include mobile application development, as this is another area with increasing market demand and adds value to the field of IT development. CEEP is seriously considering this.
FACTS
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.
