Human Capital Development
Summary
People are the wealth of a nation – a country’s primary asset. Development is about people expanding their choices in every aspect of human life. This expansion will be achieved by enhancing their capabilities and creating opportunities to utilize those improved abilities. Building human capital also requires allocating resources to health concerns. With these two priorities in mind, the focus for human capital development will be ensuring:
- Nutrition and universal, modern, quality health services for all
- Promoting wellness and well-being
- Providing adequate educational services and skills for the 21st century, characterized by the five Cs: Creativity, Critical thinking, Cognitive skills, Collaboration, and Communication.
Vision & Goals
People are the wealth of a nation – a country’s prime asset. Development is all about people – expanding their choices in every sphere of human life. That expansion can be achieved through enhancing their capabilities and creating opportunities to use those enhanced capabilities. It is not so much of the richness of economies, but the richness of human lives that is of prime importance. Human resources and development represent a two-way street – human resources contribute to development and development also enhances human capital.
In the context of St. Kitts and Nevis, like many other developing countries, absence of capabilities, weaker human resources and lack of skilled workers have been identified as major development constraints in every sphere of the economy. In this context, the relevance of the education imparted, the need for training and the mismatch between skills demanded in markets versus the skilled supplied have been raised. Therefore, it is no wonder that capacity development, building human resources and formation of skills have been highlighted as priority areas for St. Kitts and Nevis.
Good Health and Well-Being
Sports
Vision
This vision of the Government is to invest in a healthy, active population benefitting from physical education and enjoying quality sport, physical activity and recreation in a thriving sport sector.
Goals
- Promote health through physical activities
- Establish pathways to excellence
- Utilize sport as a tool for development
- Establish governance body for Sports
- Strengthen collaboration between public and private stakeholders in the Federation in support of strategic investments in the sport sector
- Build Capacity
- Maintain fully functional facilities
Good Health and Well-Being
Health
Vision
The super-arching vision of the national health system is to safeguard the health of the people of the Federation through the core principles of equity, good governance, evidence-based decision-making, and shared responsibility.
Goals
- Empower individuals and families to manage their own health
- Recognize, reorient and strengthen the building blocks on the national health system to improve health outcomes
Health Strategic Priorities
- Reducing mortality from CNCD by 10 percent
- Establishing national HIV prevalence and related indicators for Kitts and Nevis
- Reducing overweight and obesity of adults by 20 percent and of adolescents by 25 percent
- Addressing the needs of health challenged children
- Reducing the national aedes aegypti mosquito household index
- Improving the scope and quality of health and social services provided to the elderly
- Maintaining 100 percent immunization coverage among children 0- 11 month olds
- Improving the management, coordination and delivery of mental health services
- Reducing levels of drug and alcohol use and abuse among young adults
- Refining the national health policy and regulatory framework to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the health sector
- Establishing the essential human resources for health needs of the public health sector
- Developing core capacities to ensure effective public health in response to the global spread of diseases
- Establishing a national health information system
- Establishing and implementing National Health Insurance(NHI) as an essential component of the public health sector
- Institutionalizing epidemiological research as a core function of the health sector
- Strengthening policy and planning framework for health emergency management
- Expanding strategic partnerships
Good Health and Well-Being
Quality Education
Vision
The vision is to provide all citizens and residents, with a comprehensive course of quality lifelong education that would enable individuals to develop and achieve their full potential, thus allowing them to make meaningful contribution to national development.
Goals
- Improve equitable access to and participation in education at all levels
- Strengthen the quality and relevance of education at all levels to improve learning outcomes
- Enhance governance, planning, and management to improve efficiency and effectiveness throughout this sector
Education Strategic Priorities
- Developing a new the current education Sector Plan to make it more climate responsive
- Reducing the dropout rate in secondary school, especially at the Form 4 level
- Including TVET competencies in the national curriculum at primary and secondary level and implementing a strategic plan
- Expanding access to postsecondary and tertiary level training and lifelong learning opportunities
- Strengthening the regulatory framework and upgrading institutional infrastructure to support special education needs
- Developing and improving to support vulnerable groups in accessing quality education
- Developing a National Curriculum Framework and related policy documents for ECD to post-secondary
- Providing adequate space for children 0-5, including those with exceptional needs
- Building human resource capacity to manage curriculum development, monitoring, and assessment reducing the dropout rate in secondary school, especially at the Form 4 level
- Developing and enforcing compliance with existing quality standards for education and training programmes at all levels
- Developing and implementing a proactive recruitment strategy
- Implementing a continuous professional development framework: Assessing the system capacities
- Implementing medium- to long-term human, material, and financial resource planning
- Establishing a National Teaching Council to assist with the management of the teaching profession
- Implementing equitable deployment of qualified teachers to and within
- Building the capacity of system leaders and teachers in using ICTs to manage data for decision making
- Developing systems and capacity within the Ministry of Education for supporting improved policy development and implementation.
- Revising the organizational structures of the Ministry of Education
- Enhancing leadership skills of system leaders and establishing functioning entities at the institutional and ministry levels
- Implementing policies to strengthen equity and resource management at all levels
- Providing adequate space for children 0-5, including those with special need
- Implementing early stimulation and education programmes for children aged 0–2