PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Just before the end of the year the White & Yellow Cross Care Foundation received generous funding for three projects as part of the Dutch early recovery projects. Two of the WYCCF projects involve the training of two groups in the care and construction areas. On January 11th a first recruitment drive was held, which resulted in a large turn-out of 140 interested candidates. A first filtering of 67 future trainees was done, followed by an information session last week.
The training partners in these projects, The Department of Labour Affairs & Social Services, the St. Maarten Medical Center education department, NIPA and SVOBE-MPC shared information on the content of the courses. In a packed room at the government administration they further explained the audience what will be expected in terms of attitude and commitment related to theory and job placement.
At the end of the session attendees were requested to indicate their interest in the course and from there interviews were scheduled.
For the Care Assistant level one course, 25 trainees are selected and they will start the program on Thursday, February 1st at 2:30 in the White & Yellow Cross classroom in St. Johns.
A total of 20 candidates, as originally planned, are already selected for the Construction course. It was decided to allow a few extra spots to bring the group to 25 trainees. Interested persons can contact Jose Sommers, WYCCF project leader, at 581 5050 if they want to pursue a training and work in construction and have the Dutch nationality or permanent residence on the Dutch side.
The construction course starts on Monday, January 29th at 9:00 am in the Government Administration Building.
The Training partners were very impressed with the large turnout and the candidates’ commitment, open-mindedness and motivation. They want to expresses their sincere gratitude and wish all non-selected candidates much success with their future endeavors, encouraging them to continue pursuing their goals. Congratulations go out to the selected group of 45 trainees. The training staff is excited and looks forward to start the course as of this week and meet the future care giver and construction assistants.
The training courses are part of the early recovery projects, financed from the Dutch Recovery Fund for St Maarten, under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. A total of €7 million has been made available during the early recovery phase for projects that will have a direct positive impact on the population of St Maarten.’
