USF Programmes ICT Skills Training for 260 Additional Unattached Youth This Year

Another 260 unattached youth are, this year, expected to benefit from information and communications technology (ICT) skills training under the Universal Service Fund (USF) Technology Advancement Programme (TAP).

This is in keeping with plans by the USF to collaborate with institutions/organisations to provide ICT literacy skills to more Jamaicans to enable them to secure jobs.

More than 1,500 unattached youth have benefited from skills training under TAP, which has assisted them to secure meaningful employment, since the USF’s establishment in 2017.

Details of this and other engagements are outlined in the Jamaica Public Bodies Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the Year ending March 2025.

The USF’s operations will also continue to focus on the implementation of key strategic objectives intended to facilitate increased access by more Jamaicans to affordable ICT outputs, through the deployment of broadband services, equipment and devices.

The agency plans to maintain the Connect Jamaica Programme, which has facilitated the provision of public Wi-Fi islandwide at no cost to users.

USF will also continue work to transition from the Community Access Programme (CAP) to the Community Wi-Fi Programme.

The programme is critical to efforts supporting expanded access to enable full ICT penetration across the country.

This thrust is expected to result in expanded internet access in public spaces through the rollout of one new community Wi-Fi site per constituency per year, targeting the unserved and underserved. As a result, 63 new locations will be added to the existing 315.

The USF also aims to supply devices and applications to train students in utilising the Internet and other ICT services, in keeping with the Government’s objective of fostering an information and knowledge-driven society.

An agency of the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, the USF’s principal activities include collecting the universal services levy from telecommunication companies; analyzing projects to ensure internet access for all Jamaicans, and disbursing and ensuring accountability for funds allocated for approved projects.

The USF’s mission is to positively impact Jamaica’s socio-economic development by enabling a knowledge-based society through universal access to the Internet and digital inclusion.