The Rapid Results Initiative is working to increase the numbers of people who hold Caribbean Vocational Qualifications by April 2017.

Business owners in Saint Lucia participated in the first stakeholder consultation for the Caribbean Growth Forum’s Rapid Results Initiative (RRI).

The Rapid Results Initiative fast tracks the implementation of reforms agreed under the CGF.

"The purpose of this consultation is to further the implementation of reforms agreed under the Caribbean Growth Forum through the use of the Rapid Results approach," said World Bank Representative Cynthia Alexander, who works with the Rapid Results Initiative teams. "We aim to introduce this [plan] so that we can actually undertake initiatives within a hundred days."

The current initiative is to increase the numbers of people certified under the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ).

A team comprising the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) unit of the Ministry of Education; the Saint Lucia Coalition of Services; and the National Skills Development Centre (NSDC), is working on CVQ certification at levels one to four.

The CVQ is a competency-based approach to training, assessment and certification. Candidates are expected to demonstrate competence in getting occupational standards developed by practitioners, industry experts and employers.

"Although progress has been made on this important reform, the uptake of CVQs are still very low and obviously lower than desired; so the objective of this team is to increase the numbers of people certified under the CVQ prior leaning through the business associations by 20 percent by April 2017."

The CVQ standards, when approved by CARICOM, allow for easy movement across the region.