Congratulations to National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) are in order with expanding to St. Eustatius and Saba (see related story). While it regards a one-year Social Pedagogic Worker (SPW) course for now, the intention is to add more in the future.
This concerns a good example of inter-island cooperation despite the former Netherlands Antilles having been dismantled. It makes perfect sense to keep doing so due to the economy of scale and logistics involved.
Sharing, for example, medical resources is a no-brainer, but this applies to certain forms of specialised training as well. In this case, strengthening childcare by upgrading participants is part of the Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba BES(t) for Kids programme, which translates to the availability of Dutch funding.
After initial start-up issues including some internal strife, NIPA has grown into an essential vehicle to prepare persons for the local job market. Academic education obviously remains important, but especially a tourism economy because of its very nature requires a lot of “hands on” technical and vocational skills too.
NIPA played a key role in retraining and/or upgrading hundreds of persons left under- or unemployed by the devastating impact of Hurricane Irma on the local hospitality industry in September 2017. Ties were also forged with a reputable trade school in Trinidad, giving content to the institution’s stated ambition of becoming “the pathway to a rewarding career in the region.”
One would say that NIPA by now has earned its stripes as St. Maarten’s premiere job training institute, allowing more people to make a living based on primarily practical knowledge and abilities. Investments made in establishing, developing and operating such appear to have been well worth the money.
