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UNDP, ILO back govt efforts to combat poverty
2007-05-22 09:02:19
By Nasser Kigwangallah
The government`s initiative aimed at alleviating poverty by empowering its citizens through MKUKUTA has received backing from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The praise was made by Selim Jahan, a UNDP Senior Advisor and Cluster Leader, Strategies and Policies for Poverty Reduction, a joint committee of the UNDP/ILO Advisory Mission, while briefing journalists after the team had met President Jakaya Kiwete in Dar es Salaam last Friday.
He said his team was satisfied with the efforts the government had made so far in alleviating poverty and creating jobs.
``We are particularly impressed by the promise made by President Kikwete that his government would create one million jobs in the next five years,`` he said, adding that his team would make some significant recommendations on the framework and how best that target could be achieved.
He said in order to achieve the intended goal, coordination among the government`s various departments was necessary.
Another team member, Jose Salazar-Xirinachs from the International Labour Organisation, said the private sector should be fully involved in the whole process because it played an important part in job creation and poverty alleviation as it employed a good number of people.
``Employment is the issue of every sector, how those sectors could be involved in the whole programme is the question which this team would recommend to the government,`` he said.
He said his team had seen that the two sectors, if properly involved, could create millions of jobs.
He said they had the opportunity to visit various ministries involved in job creation, the Trade Union Confederation of Tanzania (TUCTA), the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) and Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA).
On his part, ILO Director Jurgen Shwettman was of the view that the UN system was keen in supporting those government initiatives, particularly the programme aimed at enhancing agriculture and the mining sector.
He said youth`s employment was still an issue which the government had to embark on and for which financial resources needed to be mobilised if it wanted to see real development progress in the country.
Speaking at the occasion, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development Principal Secretary Ladislaus Komba said the aim of the team`s visit to Tanzania was to review the progress made so far in job creation and poverty alleviation strategy.
He said among the recommendations the team had made to the government was that the issue of job creation should feature prominently in all future programmes of the government.
``All ministries should incorporate creation of jobs, particularly for youths, in their development programmes, and the mines and agriculture sectors should be given preference because these are the sectors that could generate many jobs,`` he said.
He said the team had promised to help Tanzania in statistics to ascertain jobs were being created so that, at the end of a five-year term, people should quantify the number of jobs created.
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