ILO news (Dar es Salaam) After the successful conclusion of the Skills-Up apprenticeship pilot project, the ILO in collaboration with key stakeholders, Ministry of tourism and natural resources, the National College of Tourism (NCT), Hotel Association of Tanzania (HAT) and the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) , are set to launch a post apprenticeship training programme for 200 young men and women in Arusha, Tanzania from 18 to 22 March 2019.

The apprenticeship programme, funded by the Government of Norway, works by the ethos that skills development should be demand driven.  The programme provided a rare opportunity for employers to actively shape the skills and knowledge of future employees and enabled previously unskilled youth to secure jobs in the hospitality sector.

In a continued attempt to ensure impact sustainability, the post apprenticeship programme is in response to a call by tourism and hospitality management for better soft skills for workers and apprentices. The main areas for improvement highlighted are; communications skills, both written and oral as well as leadership and supervision skills.

As the global youth labour force continues to decline dramatically by 15 % between 1993 and 2018, Tanzanian youth are just as vulnerable as their peers in other developing nations. One major challenge facing the country’s youth workforce is a mismatch in skills which creates barriers of entrance to various sectors.

The ILO in collaboration with the stakeholders and expert consultants have designed a holistic training module focused on interactive and practical learning in order to address this skills gap among the apprentices. Consulting trainers who are successful gurus in their respective fields will lead training sessions on, among others:

•  Customer satisfaction and service provision        
• Staff motivation and supervision         
• Job application         
• Entrepreneurial and business management and        
• Awareness raising on business opportunities

The training is part of a three phase programme to be conducted in Arusha, Dar es Salam and Zanzibar, one among various areas of ILO’s support to the Government’s drive to promote skills training and access to the labour market.

The ILO’s role in technical assistance in skills and employability has a longstanding history and experience around the globe and within Tanzania. Through its unique tripartite structure the ILO provides a unique platform to guide and design market relevant skills programmes and responsive skills governance systems.