|
Drive to expel poverty earns a lot of praise
2007-05-20 09:28:54
By Correspondent 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 given by Selim Jahan, the UNDP’s Senior Advisor and Cluster Leader, Strategies and Policies for Poverty Reduction a Joint Committee of the joint UNDP/ILO Advisory Mission, while briefing journalists after the team had met President Jakaya Kiwete in Dar es Salaam on Friday.
He said his team was satisfied with the efforts the government of Tanzania had made in alleviating poverty and creating jobs so far.
``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, taking into consideration the Employment Policy of the government.
He said in order to achieve the intended goal, coordination among the government`s departments is necessary.
Another team member, Jose Salazar-Xirinachs from the International Labour Organisation said the private sector must be fully involved in the whole process because it plays an important part in job creation and poverty alleviation as it is the one which employs 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 his team would recommend to the government,`` he said.
He said his team has seen that these two sectors, if properly implemented, 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), Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) and Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA).
On his part, the ILO Director Jurgen Shwettman was of the view that the UN system is keen in supporting those initiatives of the government, particularly the programme aimed at enhancing agriculture and the mining sector.
He said the youth’s employment is still an issue which the government has to embark on and financial resources need to be mobilized if it wants to see real development progress in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Ladislaus Komba, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development said the aim of the team in visiting Tanzania was to review the progress made so far in job creation and poverty alleviation strategy.
He said among the recommendations the team has made to the government is that the issue of job creation should feature prominently in all future programmes of the government.
``All ministries should incorporate creation of jobs, particularly that of the 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 has promised to help Tanzania in statistics to ascertain jobs are being created so that at the end of a five-year term, people should quantify the number of jobs created.
|
