Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Zambia (Ratification: 1979)

1. The Committee refers to its observation and would be grateful if the Government would provide additional information on the following points.

2. The Committee takes note of the measures that have been taken or are contemplated to improve management and planning capacity in the public service (heavy increase in salaries, improved conditions of work, job evaluation). It also notes that the project to establish a public Employment Service is being actively pursued. It asks the Government to provide additional information on wages and employment policy in the public and semi-public sector. Please indicate also whether the public Employment Service has been organised and, if so, state its role (particularly in the formal sector) in matching manpower supply and demand in the various occupations and the different regions.

3. The Committee notes with interest that Youth Training Programmes have been implemented by the major institutions and organisations involved in Youth Development in the country in accordance with the objectives and strategies of the Interim National Development Plan (INDP) for 1987-88. It also notes the areas covered by these Programmes and that 10,703 young people benefited from the programmes in 1989, 4,646 of whom were involved in production units. Please continue to provide information on the implementation of the Youth Training Programmes coming under the INDP (particularly Chapter 5) or, as appropriate, provided for in the FNDP, and indicate the share of vocational training in education curricula.

4. With reference to its previous direct request, the Committee notes that in its next report the Government will furnish an evaluation of regional development policies and improvements in infrastructure carried out as part of the Interim National Development Plan (INDP).

5. With reference to point 3 of its observation concerning the tourism policy, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to promote handicrafts, or more generally, small industries or technologies that use local raw materials, and their effects on employment and training.

6. The Committee notes that the self-help approach to agriculture has been successful in increasing production, and that many young men and women have found employment in this sector. Please give detailed information, as far as is possible, on the impact of such an approach in terms of production, employment and income.