Ms. Tamira La Cruz, a consultant for the European Union visited the NTA on Monday 29, January, 2018 to meet with staff to conduct a final evaluation and review of the EU Funded CDB Project, “Enhancing the Capacity of Grenadian Nationals to take advantage of CSME”.
The Project which started in 2016 and was closed out in August 2018 provided funding in the form of a grant of US $189,531 through the CSME Standby Facility to support three areas of the NTA’s Strategic Plan 2014-2017. These areas included the following:
- The development of occupational standards Traditional Boatbuilding and Yacht Repair (as part of building training and certification capacity)
- The development of a Communications Strategy for the NTA
- The conduct of a feasibility study and development of proposals for the establishment of an Enterprise Training Fund to provide a sustainable long term funding mechanism to train the Grenadian workforce
The main objectives of the evaluation were to provide an independent assessment of the performance of the project, paying particular attention to the results of the various components against the objectives, the efficiency of project implementation, its impacts and sustainability; as well as, to look at key lessons learned and recommendations to improve current and future actions.
The consultant was able to ask questions and seek feedback to her satisfaction on the implementation of each component of the project. The projections are for further implementation processes to be put in place to execute training where necessary, to continue to disseminate positive TVET messages through an ongoing Communication plan, and to ensure the measures are put in place for the long-term sustainability of training and certification of the labour force.
Coming out of the meeting was the potential for Grenada to become a Marine repair training hub benefitting the entire region and the desire for more private sector engagement and involvement in project implementation activities.