Nandi Outerbridge On Planning For The Future
[Opinion column written by OBA MP Nandi Outerbridge]
When we talk about maintaining our national infrastructure, people think of repairing the Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse and keeping the buses and the ferries running.
But it’s quite a lot more than that.
Our workforce is also part of Bermuda’s infrastructure, and we can be proud of the fact that international business is attracted to Bermuda in part because ours is a skilled and intelligent workforce – a robust part of our infrastructure.
Nonetheless, if we have learned one thing during the recession-driven increase in unemployment, it is that we have a lot of work to do in making sure we build into our system the ability to match jobs and skills with people available. Now that we have so many people out of work, we are able to see that we do not always do a good job of synchronizing their needs with the needs of the workplace.
There are jobs out there. There are training and re-training opportunities out there. But despite the fact that we have more unemployed than ever, we have difficulty filling the jobs and the courses we are providing.
Part of the challenge is simply making sure the information is available to those who want jobs, and those who want jobs done. A lot of work has been done in that area. Websites have been created. Department of Labour staff have been re-tasked to offer help to those who need it.
But there is still a big job to be done, and part of it has to do with planning for the future.
When he took over as Minister of Home Affairs, Michael Fahy asked the Chairman of the National Training Board and my fellow MP, Mr. Jeff Sousa, to head up a team charged with creating a National Training Plan, so that Bermuda makes sure it coordinates its needs with the skills it develops in young Bermudians.
The Minister and Mr Sousa presented the first part of that Plan to Bermuda at a press conference last month, and it’s quite a document.
You can find the document at the web address at the bottom of this article. If you’re the parent of a child intending to one day find a place in Bermuda’s workforce, or if you are yourself intending to find a place in the workforce, you should read it.
It’s the first part of a two-step process. This document describes the workforce and its needs, now and over the next foreseeable few years. The next part, on which Mr Sousa and his team are now working, will focus on how to marry training and workforce needs, list the resources required to do that and outline the policy changes the Government will have to agree to make the plan work.
This document brings together information which existed in a multiplicity of places before. It confirms many things all of us know and understand, but it also demonstrates some things we only suspected.
For example, Bermudians were once known for having extraordinarily good life skills – honed no doubt when we were a country that depended upon tourism for our livelihood. But those skills have been lost by many young people, and will need to be re-taught. I’m speaking, among other things, of the ability to keep time, to have a good work ethic and to make a good impression on those one comes in contact with.
This is an important document because it provides pathways for people to develop the skills they need for the economy we have – pathways that lead to gainful employment, lifelong careers and personal fulfillment.
All praise to Mr Sousa and his team for producing the National Training Plan.
- Nandi Outerbridge
a good example of how to cut, paste and attach your photo to it
rofl exactly my thoughts
how to scratch and win. simple girl. no depth
So who wrote this one?
#yawn#…..wake me up when she does, or even says something that will benefit her constituency…..
Dose three fellows built that bustop accross SAL in southampton really out did themselves…good work boys!all older fellows too…didn’t take them long at all either….years of experience at work….steady workers…
My question’s to the Honorable Member, Nandi Davis MP, are: Who is your ghost writer? Who wrote this opinion piece for you? We all know opinions are not allowed in the OBA especially if you fit the definition of “surrogate” as defined by the not so secret UBP report.
Minister of YUM!!!!
More people MUST take advantage of the opportunities that exist under the One Bermuda Alliance. This program entitled, “National Training Plan” is available to / for those interested in a positive change to their lives and all they must do is apply. It’s that simple.
Very informative – thank you! Best wishes on moving forward with the Plan to provide Bermudians with a job.
Lol! When did job market deterioration go from being PLP-driven (under the PLPs tenure) to “recession-driven” under the OBA’s rule?!?! Clearly we still live in denial about the realities in this world beyond our small-time petty local politics…
Quay Low is that you????? What has this MP done for her Constituency? The OBA has used this face to attain a seat and failed to utilize her talents for the good of the country. Oh Wait……. what are these talents? Maybe there is an opening at auto solutions for ” car detailers”
I rememebr the OBA saying that any MP could be recalled at any time……
“All praise to Mr. Sousa” – sounds like Hail Hydra! Lol!
so all it takes to fix the economy is signing up on a website? Is that the plan that was promised pre election, are there 3000 vacancies listed on that site?
And this ladies and gentlemen..is who Bermuda voted for. Well done. The only Nandi Davis news worth hearing is the BS she gets caught up in that the entire island gossips about. No one cares that you can copy and paste.
So what is wrong with the message? It’s clear, concise and aimed at those who find it most challenging to find jobs in this recession driven economy.
Is it a take note message, take note of what is available to those who seek employment? If the answer is yes, then there should be much more emphasis on encouraging those who may be very discouraged by not being able to find a job in Bermuda.
The message is not highly inspirational, thought provoking nor does it lay out what is on the horizon to get people into work or how many have taken advantage of the Minister’s and Mr Sousa’s plans for the unemployed.
The key to employment is to do your research, present a CV that immediately catches the attention of those who seek to employ, and treat finding a job like a job itself – spend the time and energy seeking employment as the exclusive investment in your future.
Nandi Outerbridge is in need of mentoring as a new and young politician, and the OBA needs to provide that mentoring so that the public has a clear perception of who she is politically, what she stands for and what issues she can handle with credibility and skill.
London, England
“When we talk about maintaining our national infrastructure, people think of repairing the Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse and keeping the buses and the ferries running.”
Do really think this way about Bermudians?
It is funny call it what you like,recession ,No Jobs….lol it’s not that there’s no job ,,it’s the financial assistience program that’s been a busied every day and as there is free handouts there will always be no jobs….how is it no jobs? all one has to do is go spent sometime at the L.f.wade international and see new faces every day ,Portuguese,,phillipinnos , Indians,,ecuadorians ,and so on and on ….and don’t blame them,cause no one gets up in the morning and decides to come to Bermuda just like that, ca use there as to be Bermudians employing these people WHY ?and Please before anyone startes ,it’s not Oba,it’s not Plp,it’s people not wanting these jobs ,,,,there is nothing wrong with these jobs especially in a recession but as long as. We have a program on like the financial assistience that’s failing to government then there will always be no jobs,,,,,see it every day,,,people coming in the shop with a paper asking to sign the paper so that they could go and show someone back in gov, office that they are looking for jobs and when you ask them if they would like a job interview they look at you and laugh,,,why get a job if gov, is paying you for doing nothing,,,,so it not OBA,or PLP. It’s the mind set of some people that as to change along with some gov,programs…..
Premier Cannonier backpedals on the closure after thousands of Bermudians sign a petition against the decision and a march on Parliament. New Health Minister Trevor Moniz contradicts the Premier’s earlier statement and says Lamb-Foggo may close in 2015.
MP Kenny Bascome in a rare non-talk show statement, came out in support of the closure and attacked and disrespected the people who supported the petition drive.
Nandi Outerbridge said nothing while many of the people she is supposed to represent were fighting to keep Lamb Foggo open. When she finally found her voice, she joined Kenny Bascome in opposing the people’s wishes and backed shutting it down.
East enders this is who you voted for.
Her words….
“This is really a community problem, in which we all share responsibility for figuring out how to deal with a White Elephant that was misconceived right from the very start. It cost $7.5 million to build and equip. If it were a store selling groceries, the low number of customers it has been getting would have put it into bankruptcy a long time ago.
Especially in a country that has the kind of crushing debt Bermuda has, not fixing it is a crazy extravagance. It’s like not fixing a gas leak in the car, or the boat, so that money constantly drips onto the ground, or into the ocean. We just can’t afford that kind of waste.
It might be okay if the financial burden fell only on East Enders, but it doesn’t. The bulk of the waste comes out of the pockets of people from the East all the way to Dockyard and everywhere in between.”
Please read the truth. It is an Urgent Care Centre. Many people do not really understand the concept because they have not been properly educated by the government in Bermuda. Urgent care centers are becoming a very viable choice for people that cannot get an appointment with their GP or need after hour care. This is a category of walk-in clinic focused on the delivery of ambulatory care in a dedicated medical facility outside of a traditional emergency room. Urgent care centers primarily treat injuries or illnesses requiring immediate care, but not serious enough to require an ER visit. Urgent care centers are distinguished from similar ambulatory healthcare centers such as emergency departments and convenient care clinics by their scope of conditions treated and available facilities on-site. While urgent care centers are usually not open 24-hours a day, 70% of centers in the United States, New Zealand and now the UK are open by 8:00 am or earlier and 95% close after 7:00 pm. The UCC in St. David’s is staffed by one qualified ER physician, 2 ER nurses and an X-Ray tech from 4 PM to midnight during the week and 12-12 on the weekends. Unless you are experiencing a life-threatening illness you should see your GP or visit the UCC. Perhaps if more Bermudians refrained from using KEMH ER for non-life threatening illnesses they would not have experienced an 8.2% increase in their health care premiums. You can be seen by an ER doctor in a brand new facility very quickly and efficiently. Its not just for the east enders. Check it out.