By Paul Madise
Lilongwe, June 24, Mana: Chief Labour Officer and Head of Child Unit in the Ministry of Labour, Francis Kwenda, has appealed for public and private sector collaboration to ensure effective implementation of a set of initiatives aimed at strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the country.
Kwenda made the remarks on Tuesday in Lilongwe during the round table dialogue, which attracted Don Bosco Youth Technical Institute stakeholders. The dialogue aimed to spearhead proposed interventions to align vocation training with labour market demands, promoting decent work principles, fostering inclusivity, and integrating practical industry experience into TVET education, ensuring long-term employability, gender equity, and resilience among youth.
“We have little resources at the exposure, but, what we do not utilize those resources on other issues that killing the society, lets fight the enemy which is amongst us be it child labour, forced labour, human trafficking and all sorts of enemies that we have that depriving the country`s development agenda,” he added.
Edna Champeni, Don Bosco Youth Technical Institute Project Officer, called for action to address harassment issues and improve outcomes, highlighting the need to curb such cases amongst students and apprentices rather than just discussing issues.
“There must be a way out. We cannot continue talking and talking and talking. We need to walk the talk. And the only way we can walk the talk is when we act,” Champeni said.
Champeni also called for collaboration among stakeholders to take decisive steps, further expressing commitment to continue supporting the initiative's goals emphasizing the importance of collective action to achieve the intended objectives of the decent work initiatives.
Whilst assessing Challenges and Gaps in decent work in implementation in her presentation, Jessie Ching`oma, Deputy Director of Malawi Congress of Trade Union, identified that enforcement and implementation of disciplinary measures as key challenges affecting decent work ethics in various work environments.
