Tanzania: Development Programme to Improve Employment for 30,000 Youth

At least 30,000 youth will benefit from a new skills improvement programme that will promote the expansion as well as the quality of skills development opportunities in key economic sectors in Tanzania.

A statement issued by the World Bank said that the Education and Skills for Productive Jobs (ESPJ) Programme for results approved by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors will support the establishment and strengthening of institutional mechanisms operationalising Tanzania’s new National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS 2016-2021), which seeks to increase the supply of skills for industries with high potential for growth and job creation in the country.

The 30,000 targeted beneficiaries of the program will include trainees enrolled in university, technical, vocational and alternative training programs in six key economic sectors, namely tourism and hospitality; agriculture, agribusiness and agro-processing; transport and logistics; construction; information and communications technology and energy. Employer participation and labor market relevance of skills development form key elements of the programme.

New mechanisms being established under the government strategy and funded by the program will include a competitive, results-based Skills Development Fund open to skills training proposals from public and private providers to help address critical skills gaps in these sectors; and Trainee Voucher Scheme for low income youth to remove financial barriers to accessing training programmes.

“The improvement of human capital by helping address the skills gap is critical for the attainment of the country’s goal to become an industrialised economy, create income opportunities and reduce poverty,” said Bella Bird, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Malawi, Burundi and Somalia, adding that with the population of jobseeking youths growing ever so rapidly, these actions are important for long term development.

“That is why in the program’s design, the private sector was involved in consultations from the beginning and they are also part of the institutional structure of the Skills Development Fund.”

The ESPJ is being financed by US$120 million under the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and aligns with Tanzania’s new Five Year Development Plan (2016-2021) which centres on industrialisation and emphasis addressing skills gaps as a critical lever to achieving its goals.

The World Bank’s International Development Association, established in 1960, supports the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and below zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives.

IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 77 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.8 billion people living on less than $2 a day.

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Source: All Africa