ILO and East Africa Employers put skills development as top priority
Hon. Minister Jenista Mhagama calls upon the employers to promote youth employment in the region
29 March 2017
ILO News (Dar es Salaam) The East African Employers Organizations from five countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) met in Arusha, Tanzania, for their Annual General Meeting with the theme ‘Skills development, a challenge to employers in East African Community: An employer’s perspective’.
The Minister who was the Guest of honour, in her remarks, challenged the employers to take an active role in contributing towards youth employment by providing job opportunities for the young people at their work places based on the youths’ gained skills and experiences such as through apprenticeships and internships.
She also urged the employers to engage government on pertinent issues, insisting on the role of government to facilitate an enabling environment and social dialogue as a means of maintaining a cordial relations.
In his presentation, the ILO employment specialist, Mr. Jelous Chirove, representing the Director ILO CO Dar es Salaam, Dr. Mary Kawar, insisted on the importance of skills development especially through apprenticeship and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) at the workplace.
“… skills development, in particular workplace based training programmes such as apprenticeships are in recent times increasingly being prioritized as a proven approach in promoting employment for young people… adequate education and skills increase the ability to innovate and adopt new technologies” he said.
He further highlighted on some of the work being done by the ILO to support employers’ organizations in the subregion on skills development and industrial relations that includes:
The Minister who was the Guest of honour, in her remarks, challenged the employers to take an active role in contributing towards youth employment by providing job opportunities for the young people at their work places based on the youths’ gained skills and experiences such as through apprenticeships and internships.
She also urged the employers to engage government on pertinent issues, insisting on the role of government to facilitate an enabling environment and social dialogue as a means of maintaining a cordial relations.
In his presentation, the ILO employment specialist, Mr. Jelous Chirove, representing the Director ILO CO Dar es Salaam, Dr. Mary Kawar, insisted on the importance of skills development especially through apprenticeship and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) at the workplace.
“… skills development, in particular workplace based training programmes such as apprenticeships are in recent times increasingly being prioritized as a proven approach in promoting employment for young people… adequate education and skills increase the ability to innovate and adopt new technologies” he said.
He further highlighted on some of the work being done by the ILO to support employers’ organizations in the subregion on skills development and industrial relations that includes:
- Supporting to upscale the pilot formal apprenticeship in the tourism and hospitality sector in Tanzania
- Supporting the Government of Tanzania in upgrading informal apprenticeship through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) system in 2017, The Government adopted the RPL programme by rolling it throughout the country targeting to assess, recognize and certify 5,000 young people.
- Supporting the development of the National Apprenticeship Framework in Uganda through a consultative process with constituents.
- Plans underway to implement a four year workplace based project in Kenya titled ‘Better Utilization of Skills for Youth through Quality Apprenticeships (BUSY) and
- Supporting social partners in Rwanda with capacity building support on collective bargaining and labour relations.