IDB Administrative Mission April 11-15

BARBADOS:  Government’s progress with respect to the Skills for the Future (SFTF) programme will once again come under the microscope when the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) team visits the island from Monday, April 11 to Friday, April 15, to conduct an Administrative Mission.
A key objective of the mission will be to review the status of various components of the loan, particularly that related to the Competency Based Training Fund (CBTF) and arrangements for a fourth cycle of partnership training under this Fund.
The team led by Education Lead Specialist, Dr. Sabine Reible-Aubourg, along with officials of the Ministry, will visit, interact and follow up with several winning partnerships which have gained funding from the CBTF, since 2014.
Two such partnerships to be visited on Wednesday, April 13 are the Barbados Youth Business Trust and CILC Action Coach, at BYBT Pinfold Street, St. Michael, and Nature Care and Assymetrix Consulting, at Searles, Christ Church.
Discussions will also centre on the procurement budget; resource availability and the school improvement grants. There will also be a review of the status of teacher training for competency based training.
An impact evaluation of the A Ganar programme will form part of the mission and it is expected that the GOB/IDB team will examine the use of grant funding provided recently to A Ganar by the United States Agency for International Development.
Meetings will be held with the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, the Higher Education Development Unit, the Barbados Statistical Service and the Caribbean Examinations Council.
The Skills for the Future Programme, which was signed by the Government of Barbados in 2012, is being executed by the Ministry of Education, Science Technology and Innovation. It is funded by the IDB under a US $20 Million loan agreement.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb