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Member of Parliament for St. James North, Edmund Hinkson, who previously served as Minister of Home Affairs, but who was recently appointed as Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s Special Envoy.

Constituents in tourist belt hard hit by pandemic

A significant number of constituents in St. James North who not only live, but worked in the heart of the tourism belt, have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Member of Parliament for St. James North, Edmund Hinkson who previously served as Minister of Home Affairs, but who was recently appointed as Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s Special Envoy, acknowledged the above, whilst also calling for a Building Blocks Programme for his constituency, to assist young people there.

Acknowledging comments by Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Dwight Sutherland that the Building Blocks Programme which he took over from former Youth Minister Adrian Forde will be expanded, Hinkson used the opportunity to call for such a programme to be established in his area, to also complement the ongoing Life and Work Skills Programme there.

“St. James North has been the constituency that perhaps has been the most affected by COVID-19. In the heart of a tourist belt, 80 per cent plus of the households have been dislocated, in terms of jobs,” Hinkson pointed out, noting that hundreds of people in his constituency worked in tourism.

“Therefore, to give some of these young people the opportunity to get back into mainstream life, they have to be assisted with these kinds of projects. This project has other aspects of development of the individual, because tied in with this are issues of development, of team work, your personality, working together with other people, your ability to resolve conflict, because if you are working with others in terms of a job and employment, there will be conflict. You are not going to agree with you partner, with those who you are working with at each and every stage. So you have to be able to resolve conflict and there would have to be training in that, as well as how to solve problems, because when you have your own business, your own enterprises, there will be problems, problems in life period, far less in terms of your business. You will have ups and downs and therefore, we need to also ensure that they get training in problem solving,” Hinkson observed.

He added, “These are fundamental issues which I am sure that the current administration will focus on, as a means of developing the personalities and characters of those in the Building Blocks scheme.” (RSM)

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