Over 250 graduate from Skills for the Future

On Tuesday, December 13, a virtual graduation ceremony was held for Skills for the Future pilot programme. The FLOW Foundation equipped over 250 Jamaicans with certification in digital skills. The graduates spanned three cohorts which included data practitioners, Internet practitioners and level-two data literacy graduates.

Director of the Center for Innovation, Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM), Maurice McNaughton, spoke with the graduates.

“I am especially delighted by the graduation events that we have around the Caribbean School of Data (CSOD) because of the importance of what this programme represents. Graduations represent not only an end, but they also represent an accomplishment and transition into another phase, both for the programme and the individual,” he said.

The Jump Programme is a new public/private partnership aimed at bringing connectivity to vulnerable households and providing digital literacy training for family members. The project will come into effect in 2023.

Muriel Bailey, a graduating student of the Internet practitioner (IP) cohort, shared her journey in the programme.

“My objective was to get a better feel and understanding of all things Internet and to become digitally savvy. I also wanted to explore the possibility of online employment so I dove right in. It was easy to log on to the CSOD platform and complete the modules. The way it was set up, made it really easy for us,” Bailey said.

“For the modules that we did in the IP track, our facilitator Mr. Anthony Davis was very accessible and patient with his guidance, and no matter what questions you asked, he didn’t make you feel like that’s a foolish question,” she shared.

OWN SPEED

She also recalled how the course was designed for people to learn at their own speed.

“One of the things I liked was that you could work at your own pace. Although we had weekly check-ins if you weren’t where the other persons were, it wasn’t a problem. I would strongly recommend to anybody who has questions about the Internet to delve into this course,” Bailey said.

Another graduate, from the data practitioner (DP) cohort, Mikaelia Morris, shared that the course has been beneficial to her current role.

“After completing this programme, I can safely say I have gained the knowledge and learned more innovative ways to do my current job. I want to thank the FLOW Foundation for granting this opportunity. We all learnt a lot and I want to also big up my cohort,” she said.

Director of communications at FLOW, Kayon Mitchell, shared key highlights from the programme over the year.

“Over the period of our digital education pilot programme, we had over 4,000 Jamaicans enrolled. We’ve had close to 1,000 people completing the full programme, digital literacy and data literacy. We have over 2000 Jamaicans now certified and competent in digital literacy. We again commend you for taking that first step, for staying the course, for challenging yourself, and today, we congratulate you on graduating. The world is your stage! You now have that level of competence and certification that you can use on your journey to bigger and better opportunities. Our heartiest congratulations to all our graduates this morning,” she said.

Since the Skills for the Future Programme went live in 2021, the Flow Foundation’s mandate has been empowering and enabling the progress of Jamaicans through its digital education programmes, including Skills for the Future.

The project is a partnership between the FLOW Foundation and the Mona School of Business and Management through the Caribbean School of Data.