Over the next four years, it is expected that 4,400 school dropouts, between the ages of 16 and 25, will be trained and eased into the working world under Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CCSP).
Mark Ross, Community Action Specialist, who is in charge of the Ministry of Public Security’s implementation of the Inter-American Development Bank-funded programme, told Stabroek News that the initiative will give the youths, who dropped out of primary or secondary school and are unemployed, an opportunity to go back to a technical institute and pursue a skill of their choice.
The initiative, which is budgeted at US$3M, is the first component of the CCSP and is designed to address crime and violence at the community level by reducing the contributing factors while at the same time strengthening the protective factors.