Minister of Labour and Social Security, Brenda Tambatamba has said vocational skills training institutes are key to addressing the problem of unemployment in Zambia.
Ms Tambatamba has called on Zambians to consider utilizing the vocational trades schools positively to acquire productive skills to enable them respond to the current and future needs of the labour market.
She has said this during a courtesy call paid on her by Professor Evans Kalula, a resident of Cape Town, South Africa and a labour consultant who has consulted for among others, the International Labour Organisation.
Ms Tambatamba revealed that the National Productivity Department in her Ministry is working in collaboration with other stakeholders to help enterprises in the informal economy to develop their productive capacities through skills acquisition and formation of communities of best practices for knowledge and experience sharing.
She has highlighted that the programme has been particularly helpful in building resilience against the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic amongst informal economy players and has created a platform for their formalisation.
The Minister has also revealed that Government through the National Pensions Scheme Authority is providing social security coverage to workers in the informal sector and that through the National Health Insurance Scheme; government is providing compulsory health cover for all Zambians.
Meanwhile, earlier during the same meeting, Prof Kalula called on Government to consider the possibility of having a labour attaché at the Zambian mission in Geneva, Switzerland to represent the interests of the country at the International Labour Organization.
Prof Kalula further congratulated the Minister of Labour for leading a well representative and powerful delegation at the recent 110th International Labour Conference held in Geneva from 27th May to 11th June, 2022.
The professor expressed excitement at the national transformational agenda the New Dawn Government is championing and has encouraged the regime to continue on the same trajectory.
