NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 29, 2020) — Hon. Eric Evelyn, Minister of Youth and Social Development says the opening of the Yes To Success (YTS) skills training and diversion site is another demonstration of the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) dedication to the empowerment of young people in Nevis.

Minister Evelyn declared the YTS site in Pinney’s Estate open on October 27, 2020. The centre will provide job training, skills development and diversion for young persons and assist them in seeking employment.

He said the NIA invests in programmes like Yes To Success to ensure the development of the youth on the island.

“This programme that we are launching today is a very good demonstration of what the Nevis Island Administration is investing in our young people. Of course it looks quite simple, but it would have cost quite a bit of money, and of course anything to do with the development of our young people, this ministry will ensure that wherever the funds come from, that we will have the funds to complete programmes like these. This is an administration that not only talk the talk, we walk the walk, and that is what we are doing through this programme.

“We are walking the walk with the young, and we want to ensure that our young people have a future, and that is why we are empowering our young people through this programme, to make them more marketable out there on the job market,” he said.

Minister Evelyn described the YTS programme as another success story of the Department of Social Services and by extension the NIA, aimed at skills development in at risk youth.

“This Yes To Success programme is geared towards not just to our at risk young men but young women as well…Our mantra at Social Services is to leave no one behind and this programme will ensure that we are leaving none of our young people behind.

“We will ensure that we bring along those who are not so well academically inclined and, of course, we know most of the times when graduation the focus is on the academics, but we must now shift the focus and ensure that those who are not so well academically inclined that they are part of the system, and the administration and this department and this ministry will ensure that they are brought along as well,” he said at the opening ceremony.

He encouraged those who would use the facility during their training to take full advantage of the opportunities provided through the YTS programme.

The programme is a joint effort of the NIA, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).