The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council is in the final stages of establishing a new unit which will oversee the Competence-based Training Fund (CBTF).

This was disclosed by Minister of Labour, Senator Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo, who said the aim of the CBTF was to ensure that TVET would be more relevant and attuned to the needs and requirements of employers.

Speaking at a media launch of the WorldSkills Barbados Competition 2014 at the Courtyard by Marriott today, she explained that the new training fund would finance opportunities for partnerships between employers and training providers. This would allow them to develop and implement projects to train, assess and certify workers to approved occupational standards.

The CBTF forms part of the Inter-American Development Bank funded Skills for the Future Programme which supports the execution of the Barbados Human Resource Development Strategy.

“The CBTF programme will facilitate the development of a demand-led, outcomes-based education and training system in Barbados where employers lead the way to the establishment of a trained, certified and competent workforce.

“The success of the programme, along with those being directly implemented under the Barbados Human Resource Development Strategy, will ensure that Barbadian workers can be fully productive and can contribute effectively to our efforts at achieving high levels of competiveness in every sphere of development,” Senator Byer Suckoo pointed out.

The Labour Minister, therefore, encouraged all employers to take full advantage of the Fund and to work closely with Government as it sought to again place Barbados on a path of sustainable and economic development.