In a letter that I wrote to the local media yesterday, Tuesday, I expressed my hopes about what I saw as growing employment opportunities for Solomon Islanders after years of limited job prospects at home and high unemployment numbers.
Today, I was pleased to read in the Island Sun newspaper that pre-employment training for Tina Hydro villagers had started.
The article began by saying after months of preparation, the first group of 30 participants joined the Community Benefit Sharing team from Tina River Hydropower Development Project Office facilitators from Pasifika HR for a week-long Pre-Employment (PET) program.
The article continued, and I quote.
The Human Resource initiative is a component of the Community Benefit Sharing Project designed to support the members of communities in the project area in accessing employment opportunities to be created by Tina River Hydropower Development Project.
The inaugural group, made up of 15 men and 15 women, were selected from a database of 700-plus people identified in the Project catchment communities as eligible participants to attend the Pre-employment training (PET) Programme.
The weeklong training will be conducted by Pasifika HR who have developed the content and a course manual specifically in line with the Tina River Project employment requirements; covering topics such as social & environmental issues, seeking economic opportunities, and project works & procedures.
The PET training is one of the pre-requisites required to be completed by people wanting to be considered for employment on the Project in the future.
A course manual has been developed to guide the participants through various modules identified as essential training for any workers employed on the Project. Facilitators will train on areas such as workplace rules, health & safety, Solomon Island Labour law, grievance handling mechanism, understanding gender, time management and decision making.
“This is a great opportunity for people in the Tina River communities to be trained and equipped for potential future employment with the largest renewable energy project in Solomon Islands history,” said Francis Kapini, CBSP Coordinator from the Tina River Hydropower Project Office.
“Our aim is to have a trained local workforce who are able to contribute economically to their communities through gainful employment.”
Participants will all receive a certificate of completion and training will continue until Friday at the New Hope Academy Kindergarten Hall next to Guadalcanal Province Headquarter at Bahai.
End of quote.
Source –TINA HYDRO MEDIA and Island Sun newspaper.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
