ILO hails Tanzania’s transformation drive

ROSE ATHUMANI

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Director (Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda), Ms Mary Kawar.

THE government is on the right track in its plans to bring about transformation in the country, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Director (Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda), Ms Mary Kawar, has said.

She told the ‘Daily News’ during the recent national forum on the ‘Future of Work in Tanzania’, that the country has enjoyed massive economic growth in the past decade – only that the growth has not been inclusive.

“Although the economy has grown in the past decade, the informal economy, low wages and a large number of young people without the right skills, still persist. She pointed out that Tanzania has the opportunity to change this trend through the nation’s vision 2025 and the second Five-Year Development Plan.

Both being focused on transforming Tanzania into a middle-income country through economic transformation, hand in hand with human development, Ms Kawar noted that to achieve the objectives, understanding, perseverance and consistency of policies over a long period of time were needed.

“I do think that Tanzania today has the vision. We are here to partner with them, what is required is perseverance, consistency of policies over a long period of time, because you will not get the desired change immediately. And in the short time, there might be some negativity,” she explained.

According to the ILO Director, a common understanding for all of what economic growth, human development, inclusiveness and equality of opportunity mean is important as people have different views.

Another important factor, Ms Kawar added, is consensus building, saying all sections of society -- the private sector, the government and workers -- need to have trust in each other. “Without trust and dialogue, consensus will not be build that will actually bring the transformation needed.

This is very important. What is needed is not to have programmes and projects, but a complete comprehensive transformation and that requires so many people, thinking together, working together and trusting each other,” she explained.

We must ensure no one is left behind, informal economy is upgraded to formal economy, young people have the appropriate skills and the right institutions to help them have the skills and to help them find employments and that there is equality of opportunities between those in the region and those in the cities,” she noted.

She added: “The future of work discussions are extremely important because they tell us what we want the future to look like and if we know what we want it to look like, then we can plan what to do in the meantime to arrive at the final picture,” she explained.

According to her, to create enough good jobs, a nation needs a vibrant economy, for the case of Tanzania the economy was vibrant but the private sector is small to generate the required amount of good jobs to satisfy the informal sector and the growing number of young people entering labour markets.

“So the government and the private sector need to think big and create employment or good jobs on a massive scale.

I think the government is on the right track by focusing on the agro business. We would then need laws and regulations to reflect the intentions,” she explained. She said often times, societies and governments around the world tend to blame the vulnerable workers, noting that they were inactive and cannot help themselves. She stressed that it is the responsibility of the government to help them.

“If you are a parent and have a child that sways away, you don’t blame him or her, but help him/her to get back on track and give him a good opportunity ... so it is the role of the government to take care of the youth through short-term plans in public investments.

While the long term plans should focus on labour laws, vocational training system, and all forms of reforms in the labour market institutions that govern the world of work need and have a modern perspective on managing the labour market,” she explained.

When unveiling the 2016/17, 30 trillion/- national budget early this month, the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango, mentioned industrial development, integrated economic and human resource development, health and social affairs, energy and agriculture as priority financing sectors in the coming financial year.

The government plans to inject some 967bn/- in the energy sector to execute various power generation and distribution projects in support of the industrial revolution that President John Magufuli’s administration has vowed to pursue.

In a move to empower young people with the right skills, the higher education will get a big boost in the coming fiscal year, with over 100bn/- budgeted for the renovation and expansion of 12 high learning institutions while 270,000 students at tertiary level will have 450bn/- to share as loans for their higher learning needs.