YSEP ORIENTATION – PARTICIPANTS INTRODUCED TO NEW DATA COLLECTION SOFTWARE
Orientation has begun for the 7000 Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP) participants, who will be working within the Municipal Corporations and affiliated agencies this summer. This year, participants will primarily gather information on streetlights, old and dilapidated buildings, trade licenses, GIS Road Mapping, garages, hairdressers and barbershops using the Survey123 Application.
During Clarendon’s orientation, Mayor of May Pen, His Worship, Councillor Joel Williams, encouraged participants to approach their assignments with diligence and professionalism, noting that the programme offers a valuable foundation and early exposure to the world of work.
“As a training exercise, as a training programme, some of you are going back to school and a programme like this you’ll be able to put on your resume… so I want you to take the matter very seriously,” he said.
While speaking after the evening orientation session in Manchester, Human Resource Manager Damion Chen said that the use of the digital platform to gather the data is step in the right direction as it allows the Municipal Corporation to track the data in real time.
“We will see the students using online portal of the YSEP programme instead of the paper-base, so this has cut out the use of paper for the corporation… it is easier for the participants to get the information instead of them bringing the paper base to us so that’s good [for] the corporation and the Ministry of Local Government,” he stated.
“Regarding the online portal, it is Survey123, this online application will give the corporation a real-time upload of data so once the student or participant goes out and gather that information, it will automatically upload in real time…the corporation is also aware of what the students are doing in real time,” he continued.
Meanwhile, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation wrapped up their series of orientation exercises last Friday (July 17) with more than 800 participants across 40 divisions.
Participants will work with the local authorities for four weeks and the batch of 200 participants who will be working alongside the Disaster Risk Management team are expected to begin training and field work in August.