Saint Lucian skills mapping in the UK
Programme of activities
With support from a diaspora professional, Mandy Preville-Findlay, co-founder of Beyond Iyanola, we are equipping relevant departments of the government of Saint Lucia with the skills, knowledge and tools to map the skills of their diaspora.
A needs assessment was conducted with staff of the Diaspora Affairs Office and the Saint Lucian High Commission in the UK to determine mapping objectives and training needs.
A two-day workshop was delivered by EUDiF to staff of the High Commission as well as members of the diaspora. The workshop covered research principles, survey design, data collection and analysis, as well as outreach and dissemination. The workshop including a session to refine the content of the survey and to prepare the roll-out plan.
EUDiF and the diaspora professional accompany the government partners to finalise and build the survey, with workshop participants acting as UX testers.
Promotional materials was created to launch the survey across a variety of channels used by the diaspora, as determined during the workshop.
The survey was rolled out to the diaspora at the start of June. It remained open for one month.
Survey data was be cleaned and analysed. The results were made available in a report for Saint Lucia, designed for the government to use in its programming.
Government representatives in Saint Lucia joined a skills workshop on skills mapping, covering similar content to the first training workshop, with additional sessions on the results of the exercise and opportunity to reflect on next steps. A particular focus was on results dissemination, replication potential, and how to use the results of the UK skills profile for data-driven programming.
The partners reviewed and validated the materials produced in the course of the action, including the training materials, templates and the skills mapping results report.
A final webinar was conducted during Saint Lucia's Diaspora Week to present the results of the action to all interested stakeholders, with a focus on the Saint Lucian diaspora in the UK.
Results
The Diaspora Directorate assessed their capacities at the start and end of the action, showing how the various activities have helped to accelerate their knowledge and practical skills in areas essential to achieving their long-term objectives.
EUDiF actions are designed to plug into a partner's existing vision and/or workplan, in order to help enhance, catalyse, or accelerate initiatives in a way the partner will be able to maintain beyond the end of the action. This is why the focus is on enhancing capacities, rather than providing a finished product on behalf of the partner. No partner ever begins from zero capacities, but the progress made during the course of an action can have a huge impact on its operations.