AT THE public hearing held yesterday for the draft Guam State Integrated Workforce Plan for 2012 to 2016, improved performance measures were presented to further enhance the implementation of programs covered under the plan.
The five-year plan details a strategic roadmap that would help meet the training and employment challenges faced by the island’s changing economy.
The Agency for Human Resources Development, Guam Department of Labor, and the Guam Workforce Investment Board (GWIB) are three of the key government agencies involved in the review and development of the plan.
According to AHRD Director Alfredo Antolin Jr., the new plan mandates the implementation of performance measures that will bring improved accountability in the current programs implemented by the agency.
In the current state plan, Antolin said Guam was not required to report performance measures. This year, funding mandates the establishment of performance measures to effectively gauge the successful implementation of programs.
More comprehensive
With the new performance measures and indicators, more comprehensive and intensive work will be conducted by AHRD staff and caseworkers, including external service providers. This entails monitoring the success of participants even after completion of the program.
Antolin explained: “We have to find out what happened to the client. What is the outcome? Once they end their program, what happens? Did they get a job? Do they need more training?”
He said these measures would ensure efficient tracking of the implementation of programs funded under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the Wagner-Peyser Act grants.
AHRD is the official recipient of WIA Title I funding and the key agency responsible for the administration of WIA programs.
Part of the agency’s mandate is to implement WIA Youth Programs, which consist of workforce initiatives that seek to provide comprehensive programs for at-risk and disadvantaged youth. One of its components is the Passport-to-Career program recently implemented by AHRD last summer.
