By Mariatou Ngum
The Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment (MoTIE) through the Employment Directorate on October 25th, 2022 organised a day’s workshop on ‘Proposing a strategic alignment and coordination mechanisms through dialogue and networking for the National Employment Policy (NEP) and Action Plan 2022 – 2026’. The workshop was held at the National Association of Cooperative Credit Union in Gambia (NACCUG) complex.
The objective of the workshop, which is supported by GIZ-PME, was to look at the strategies that have been identified and shared with partners.
MoTIE has received cabinet approval for its National Employment Policy and Action Plan 2022 – 2026 with a target to create 150,000 jobs with budget of GMD265 Million. Hence, an effective implementation of this Policy can only be attained with a joint concerted effort from public, private and development partners.
Mr. Fabba Jammeh, the Director, Directorate of Employment, MoTIE affirmed that the Ministry has been supported by GIZ-PME to look at the employment policy in terms of its implementation and budget cost. He disclosed that the budget for the National Employment Policy is above GMD265 Million and that it has to be implemented in five years within this budget.
GIZ, he added, has supported them by providing a national consultant to work with the Ministry particularly the Directorate of Employment and the Department of Labour to ensure that they are able to achieve the goal for the consultancy.
The employment policy, Mr. Jammeh explained, cuts across all sectors, industries and stakeholders; hence they have to work out a modality to ensure that they can bring forth the participation of stakeholders, identify coordination mechanism and see the possibility of resource mobilization for effective implementation of the policy.
The Employment Director expressed delight in partnering with GIZ, the national consultant and the participants along the different value chains that they are going to develop to have a comprehensive package in terms of the implementation of the Employment Policy.
