Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Namibia will soon sign a new Decent Work Country Programme with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which reflects the priorities and agreement of government and its social partners. This was revealed by Minister of Labour, Industrialisation and Employment Creation, Erkki Nghimtina, at the recent launch of the
Enabling Environment for Sustainable Enterprises (EESE) Report by the Namibian Employers’ Federation (NEF).
According to Nghimtina, the first priority of the new programme is the promotion and coordination of employment. Measurable outcomes and outputs of the new programme will include factors such as facilitating the transition of youth from school to work, with an emphasis on skills development through internships and learn ship programmes and support for micro-enterprise development, transition from the informal to the formal economy, sustainable enterprise development, an upgraded Public Employment Service, mainstreaming gender in planning for the labour market, and the establishment of an appropriate coordination mechanism and funding modalities for employment creation. Another priority addresses the means of strengthening social dialogue.
Nghimtina noted that the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) will be implemented in a coordinated manner across government ministries and between sectors in order to ensure that its goals are met.
Speaking at the same event, Director of the ILO Country Office for Zimbabwe and Namibia, Hopolang Phororo, noted that an environment conducive to the creation and growth of sustainable enterprises needs to combine the legitimate quest for profit with the need for development that respects human dignity, environmental sustainability and decent work.
“With the recognition that the private sector is a key driver of sustainable and inclusive growth, employment creation, and decent work; it is therefore important that the challenges they face are effectively addressed. It is thus important that business membership organisations respond better to the needs of their members and effectively promote policies for a conducive environment for business that enable investment, increase enterprise and job creation and contribute to sustainable development,” said Phororo. DWCPs have been established as the main vehicle for delivery of ILO support to countries. DWCPs have two basic objectives; Firstly, they promote decent work as a key component of national development strategies. And, they organise ILO knowledge, instruments, advocacy and cooperation at the service of tripartite constituents in a results-based framework to advance the Decent Work Agenda within the fields of comparative advantage of the ILO. DWCPs are the distinct ILO contribution to UN country programmes and constitute a major instrument to better integrate regular budget and extra-budgetary technical cooperation. Each DWCP is organised around a limited number of country programme priorities and outcomes.
These are further detailed in an implementation plan while monitoring and evaluation guidelines complement this approach. A DWCP is the expression of the ILO Programme and Budget in a country. The country programme priorities and outcomes reflect the strategic results framework of the ILO, adapted to national situations and priorities. In turn, programme and budget strategic outcomes and indicators are based on Decent Work Country Programme outcomes.