Jamaica. Ambassador Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, Permanent Representative, 0000 Xxx Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx XX., Xxxxxxxxxx XX 00000, phone (202) 986–0121, 0123, 452–0660, fax 452–9395.
Jamaica. Ambassador Audrey Marks, Permanent Representative, 1520 New Hampshire Ave- nue, NW., 20036, phone 986–0121 / 0123 / 452–0660, fax 452–9395.
Jamaica. The Program began recruitment and selection for a Specialist in Scholarships, Access, and Labor Bridging. This position will be filled next quarter. Activity 2: Hold meetings with USAID/Washington and key FHI 360 stakeholders The Program held regular meetings with USAID in each country throughout the quarter to update them on the progress of Program activities. Specific details on these meetings are provided in Activity 6 on page 6 below. Activity 3: Establish country offices and local operations Guatemala and Jamaica: The Program teams in Guatemala and Jamaica collaborated with other FHI 360 projects to ensure efficiency of resources and identify areas for program collaboration. In Jamaica, Country Program Director Xxxx Xxxxxxxx continued to meet bi-weekly with the country directors for Linkages and the Local Partner Development projects to xxxxxx collaboration and coordination. Activity 4: Develop and submit work plans and M&E plan The teams in each country worked to develop the Year 3 annual work plan, including a regional level narrative, country-level Xxxxx charts, and country-level estimated costs. The Program will share a draft Year 3 work plan with USAID next quarter. Activity 5: Develop Program communications plan, project summary, and other relevant materials At the start of the quarter, FHI 360 submitted an updated Branding and Marking Plan to USAID for review and approval. USAID approved use of the Advance logo on Program materials, although approval of the Branding and Marking Plan and Communications plan is still pending. Activity 6: Initiate contact with USAID missions, local stakeholders, and partner organizations Honduras: The Honduras team held four meetings with USAID Honduras. The first meeting took place on September 13 to present the main findings of the SBAC study to USAID representatives and implementing partners (see Cross-Cutting Assessment section below for more details). On September 19, the Program met with USAID at the Instituto Nacional de Formación Profesional (INFOP) to meet INFOP’s new director and continue collaboration with USAID workforce development projects in Honduras. The Program participated in a third meeting on September 21 with the USAID Honduras workforce development projects to initiate a strategic alignment of the workforce development portfolio. The fourth meeting took place on September 26 at INFOP to find ways to strengthen INFOP’s institutional capabilities. This visit consisted of a guided tour of INFOP ...
Jamaica. The XXX in Jamaica was instrumental for the selection of the technical degree programs and institutions and has served as a key input to design the SBAC. Activity 3: Study of Barriers to Access and Completion (SBAC) Honduras: The Honduras team completed Phase 2 of the SBAC – data collection – by conducting over 1,150 interviews with youth and 12 focus groups in the communities of the selected institutions. The Honduras team also analyzed the data and initiated Phase 3 – Final Report – by developing a draft SBAC report and sharing it with USAID for review. On September 13, Chief of Party Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx and Honduras Country Program Director Xxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx presented the results of the SBAC to USAID Honduras and USAID implementing partners. This presentation included an overview of the youth population in the target region of Honduras, as well as a discussion of the four categories of barriers that the SBAC identified: situation, institutional, epistemological, and dispositional. The Program will complete the SBAC report next quarter and will disseminate it to local stakeholders. Guatemala: The Program extended Xxxxxx and Associates’ (J&A) subgrant through the end of August to allow time to complete the data analysis and draft report for the SBAC in Guatemala. The delay on this report was due to a serious illness of the J&A lead researcher. After receiving final inputs from J&A, the Program identified gaps in the report and had to hire a consultant to review and clean the SBAC data, strengthen the quantitative analysis, and assist in finalizing the SBAC report. This report will be completed next quarter, and the main findings will be presented in a public event. Jamaica: The Jamaica team worked closely with Hope Caribbean Company – the local firm selected to conduct the Jamaica SBAC – to gather inputs needed for a subcontract. FHI 360 submitted the subcontract to USAID, and it was approved. Hope Caribbean initiated Phase 1 activities, which consisted of developing an initial work plan and methodology for the study. The Program expects to complete the SBAC in the first quarter of Year 3 and will build on the SBAC methodology and results from Honduras and Guatemala.
Jamaica. The Jamaica team has gathered curriculums and inputs from institutions that will be used to host a workshop with university partners next quarter to conduct asset mapping of degree programs in tourism, creative industries, and agriculture and to establish collaboration among the three institutions. Activity 2: Develop guidelines for curriculum revisions for each pilot degree program (CBS) Jamaica: The Jamaica team worked with the CCCJ to form a curriculum task force consisting of four officers from CCCJ (2 curriculum specialists, examination officer, registrar) and the FHI 360 technical education specialist. The task force evaluated two degree programs - Hospitality Management and Spa and Salon Management – and made the decision to repurpose Spa and Salon Management into a new degree program called Health and Wellness Tourism, which will draw content from six other existing associates degree programs. The Program developed a draft curriculum outline for this new degree, currently under review.
Jamaica. To contact Flow Jamaica’s Data Protection Officer, please send a letter or email to the following: Data Protection Officer
Jamaica. Advance administered the survey to eight additional students. Five of these declared having gotten a new/better job. Of the students who did not have new/better jobs, one reported to be continuing their studies, while the others struggled to find work due to the lack of open positions, which they attributed to the effects of COVID-19 on the local economy. Activity 2: Monitor and update institution reporting tool on a semi-annual basis Guatemala: The Program worked with all partner institutions to plan for and request institutional reports pertaining to the next fiscal year (Year 7). During Year 6 Q4 the program finally received pending data from a university in Guatemala (URL). This new data pertains to graduates originally to be reported as part of Year 6 Q1. In total, the Program got record of 57 new graduates from URL: Hotel Management & Gastronomy (27 total; 20 female, 7 male), Physical & Occupational Therapy (25 total; 19 female, 6 male) & Primary Care Nursing (5 total; 4 female, 1 male).
Jamaica. Advance converted an additional 13 face-to-face courses to online modality for CCCJ. Advance supports six member colleges, which are poised to benefit from this activity. Ten courses were previously converted. These courses are under the Agro-processing and Business Management and Health and Wellness Tourism Associate Degree programs. The online courses all include original and YouTube videos, PowerPoint presentations and assessment activities. A sample curriculum map and lesson plan are included (see graphic). Advance planned to continue training faculty on imparting and using the online resources, however, due to the various challenges faculty experienced for the upcoming academic year, training was not feasible. Therefore, the Program provided a tool kit for current and future faculty to accompany the converted courses. The toolkit serves as a guide on how to deliver the online content to their students. Dominican Republic: No updates to report this quarter as this activity will happen after the Program concludes curriculum revisions explained in activity 2. Activity 4: Develop specialized modules based on target industries for pre-service teachers training programs for technical education in Jamaica Jamaica: While discussions have stalled with UTECH, the focus remains on training faculty on how to deliver specific technical content for the degree programs, specifically in the Fundamentals of Stagecraft and Intro to Lighting Design. Advance will also help CCCJ to develop an onboarding package for new lecturers with content from trainings provided by the Program, so that the institution will be able to sustain the use of tools and resources in this area when Advance closes. Activity 5: Design and implement modules in social emotional learning (SEL) for pre-service teachers in Guatemala Design of asynchronous e-course on SEL The Program completed the adaptation of content and materials for the primary education level. The design is the same as the current course with six modules with slight adaptations on the activities for the appropriate grade levels at the primary education level. While the Program could not implement these modules, Advance completed the full transfer of the e-modules to EFPEM’s platform who will launch these modules next Year. As a final step the Program will conduct training sessions for EFPEM faculty to deliver and facilitate these modules for future cohorts. Implementation of the asynchronous e-course on SEL The Program continued t...
Jamaica. Advance continued work with private sector partners to xxxxxx opportunities for work experience. Two students studying Agro-processing and Business Management did internships with Grace Foods, a subsidiary of the GraceKennedy Group. Students were engaged in mixed modality internships including both virtual and face- to-face components. They were assigned to factories across the island and worked with staff on product development. They also worked with the Grace team to develop products using local agricultural inputs. This gave students the chance to use skills developed in the classroom in the real world. During this quarter, 10 students who completed the entrepreneurship coaching sessions participated in a pitch competition in which they were able to showcase their communication skills and become more comfortable talking about their businesses. Students pitched to a panel of judges who scored them mainly on their ability to convey clear information on their business idea. The top three students were awarded prizes including start-up equipment for their businesses. Advance also developed a relationship with the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), a local financial institution, through their foundation, the JMMB Xxxx Xxxxxx Foundation. A representative led a financial planning session for the entrepreneurship student activity, and a cash donation was also made toward the top three winners of the business pitch competition.
Jamaica. Advance completed the distribution of multimedia resources in the employability guide to CCCJ and UTECH as well as youth and community groups. The Program finished over 1,000 physical copies of videos to include in the employability guide. This resource will improve labor bridging services offered by the career and student services departments. Partner institutions such as the Portmore Community College (PCC) at CCCJ have shared the resources with students, with physical copies distributed to the library as well as student services department. The Placement Officer at PCC plans to use the guide as a resource for final year students about to enter the workforce, as well as students preparing for work experience. Dominican Republic: As part of the initial diagnostics to understand the career and student services departments at ITLA and ITSC, the Program used Student Survey data to triangulate information collected during the past quarter. Per survey results, more than 90% of the students know about career services, student services or orientation; 60% of the students have attended these departments and have received some type of support from them. Result 2 Activities Result 2: Equitable access for marginalized and disadvantaged individuals to target fields increased. ANNUAL SUMMARY While COVID-19 greatly limited in-person activities related to increasing access to technical education, the Program progressed in both IR areas of Result 2 to expand access to technical tertiary education for disadvantaged students. Below is a summary of Year 6 highlights in each area:
