A groundbreaking eight-month apprenticeship initiative designed to place young Belizeans directly into skilled trades careers has officially launched at the Orange Walk Institute of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ITVET), bringing tangible employment opportunities to the country’s youth workforce.
Twenty aspiring tradespeople are already enrolled in the program, dubbed “Breaking Barriers”, which focuses on three high-demand skilled areas: air conditioning maintenance, refrigeration systems work, and electrical installation. By the end of the training cycle, participants will earn a Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Level 2 credential in their selected field, a widely recognized certification that opens doors to regional employment.
The project is a collaborative venture between Orange Walk ITVET and Belize’s Ministry of Education, with full funding provided through a grant from Canada’s Local Engagement Action Fund. According to the program’s project manager, planning for this workforce development effort has been years in the making. “Back in September last year we got the good news that we can apply for this grant, and we put all efforts to apply. And we were blessed to receive the grant from the Local Engagement Action Fund in Canada,” she shared in an interview following the official launch.
Notably, two of the twenty current apprentices are young women, breaking traditional gender barriers in the skilled trades — both have already secured early internship placements with private sector companies ahead of their program completion.
The program’s curriculum is structured to combine traditional theoretical instruction on the ITVET campus with immersive, on-the-job practical training hosted directly by local industry partners. This hybrid model was intentionally designed to address a common gap in vocational training: unlike many programs that only offer paper certification, Breaking Barriers is built to ensure graduates are fully job-ready from their first day of employment.
For the initiative’s national coordinator, the impact of the program extends far beyond individual credentials. “What makes this programme especially meaningful is that it connects education directly with opportunities,” she explained, highlighting the program’s broader goal of strengthening Belize’s skilled workforce and reducing youth unemployment across the country.