Two hundred young people graduated from the Ministry of Culture and Community Development’s Trailblazers National Youth Apprenticeship and Community Development Programme on Thursday.
The programme, a new initiative from the Ministry, aims to guide young people from across Trinidad and Tobago towards personal and professional development.
Project Associate for the Ministry’s Community Recovery Unit, Delano Joefield, shared an overview of the programme.
“Trailblazers is designed to be a comprehensive youth development programme that combines several important components. These components include life skills and professional development training, leadership and employability development, mentorship and professional networking, career pathway and workforce readiness sessions, paid apprenticeship placements with partner organisations and community engagement and national development initiatives.”
Mr Joefield said the initiative, which targeted young people between the ages of 15 and 25, goes beyond skills training, giving participants exposure to the workplace and connections with people who can help guide their careers.
“We have to prepare them to take advantage of those opportunities. We have to equip them with skills. We have to expose them to the world of work, and we have to connect them with people who can guide them along the way. And to understand that they have a role to play in their communities and in the development of Trinidad and Tobago. That is the purpose of this programme. The Trailblazers bring together young people from across Trinidad and Tobago in five different cohorts.”
One of the programme’s mentors from Tobago, Whitney Balfour-Joefield, offered some advice to the graduates.
“The person who has travelled the road before you cannot guarantee that you will never encounter difficulties, but they can help you recognise some of the traps before you step into them. They can warn you about roads they have already travelled. They can share lessons they learned the hard way, and they can help you make wiser decisions as you navigate your own journey.”
The programme was introduced in 2025.