Scotiabank, NGO partner to equip young people with construction skills

Scotiabank has thrown its support into equipping young persons with construction skills by pumping the sum of $3.8 million into a youth-focused skills training programme facilitated by Habitat for Humanity.
This programme commenced on February 3, 2024, and participants, who are between the ages of 16 and 30 years, would benefit from construction technology and disaster risk reduction training.
“We firmly believe that for real transformation to take place, the focus must be on youth development. Guyana has been experiencing a rapid rate of expansion of the construction industry in recent years. This, paired with the need for the advancement in skills of those who service this industry, provided a great opportunity for empowering the youth to contribute to this industry and national development. The youth and young adults with minimum construction skills will be building their capacity through a very intensive construction technology course, which also adds to community empowerment. We are honoured to partner with Scotiabank to deliver this training programme to the youth of Guyana,” Jennifer Massiah, National Director of Habitat for Humanity, Trinidad and Tobago branch, has said.

Country Manager of Scotiabank Guyana, Nafeeza Gaffoor, related, “Scotiabank believes in investing in the youth of Guyana. With this programme, there will be an increased number of persons, in particular youth, with the technical knowhow to engage in resilient construction practices, further supporting their employability and financial independence.
Through our partnership with Habitat for Humanity, we are seeking to increase the economic resilience of our country’s youth, so that they can get on, stay on, or raise the economic ladder to better futures,” she added.
The construction technology training (CTT) course, being offered free of charge to participants, is structured to address the existing knowledge gap within the industry, in particular about resilient building methodologies.
The course will introduce participants to important theoretical aspects of construction, covering aspects such as understanding structural and architectural drawings, health and safety, concrete technology, foundations and walls. The practical aspect of the course aims to develop dexterity through on-site sessions, wherein participants physically engage in core construction areas of building: set out, block laying, plastering, and wooden roof construction, giving each participant an immersive experience in the field of construction.