More youths set to benefit from skills development plan

THE government has started working with stakeholders to raise funds for more youths to benefit from the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) 2016-2026.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Youth, Employment and People with Disabilities) Patrobas Katambi told the National Assembly here that the stakeholders include GIZ and International Labour Organisation (ILO).

He made the statement in response to a supplementary question from Special Seat Legislator Ng’wasi Kamani (CCM), who wanted to know about the government’s strategy for ensuring that more youths benefit from NSDS and other programmes, given the gap between the need for training and available opportunities.

In response, the deputy minister stated that there are several strategies in place to ensure more youths in the country are equipped with the necessary skills.

“We are engaging stakeholders to ensure that we provide this training to more young people and expose them with employment opportunities both within and outside the country,” he explained.

Mr Katambi went on to say that the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries has another strategy in place to ensure that many young people participate in the blue economy through fish farming.

Another strategy, he said, was skill development, for which the government had already trained more than 74,598 young people, but also a Building Better Tomorrow (BBT) strategy, from which 821 young people had already benefited. Another programme is that of the National Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NACTVET), which deals with ICT training.

He stated that such strategies are being implemented as per the third National Five Year Development Plan (FYDP III) 2021/22 – 2025/26, which calls for the government to reach out to over 681,000 young people through skill development programmes.

Regarding the system the government uses to assess the effectiveness and outcomes of these programmes, he said that the Prime Minister Office’s Youth Development Department has a special team that carries out assessments.

“The team is responsible for compiling database from relevant colleges where all the beneficiaries are sent for training, the statistics are kept to enable them to find employment after training but we also provide them with working tools,” Mr Katambi explained.

In her basic question, Special Seat MP Latifa Juwakali (CCM) wanted to know about the government’s strategy for developing skills for the country’s youths.

In response, Mr Katambi stated that the government has prepared an NSDS to ensure that the labour force participates in the development of the national economy.

According to him, the strategy is implemented through various programmes to develop knowledge and skills for young people implemented by various stakeholders, including the Ministries of Education, Science, and Technology, Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, and the National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC).

He said some of these programmes and plans include the National Skills Development Programme implemented by the Office of the Prime Minister’s Office – Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disabilities.

Mr Katambi said since the implementation of the programme commenced in 2016/2017, it has provided skills and training for a total of 118,415 youths.