Experts review WIL pilot project
The horticulture industry has the potential to create employment opportunities for the youth if they are equipped with skills that would enable them to transform the raw commodities into value added products.
This is the view of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) chief technical adviser Naomi Lintini.
Speaking in Lilongwe last week on the sidelines of the review meeting for the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) pilot project, she said upgrading skill levels in the high value vegetable sub-sector would contribute to Malawi’s readiness to develop the base needed to engage in export trade whilst at the same time build capacity for import substitution.
Said Lintini: “The WIL skills upgrading programme is a response to findings and recommendations of skills anticipation research conducted by ILO’s skills for trade and economic diversification [Sted] project which established that much as there is demand for horticulture products in the country and on the export market, there is need for the sector to increase productivity, improve quality products and ensure more effective market linkages.”
She said the project targeted 40 students from technical institutions, workers in the farms and vegetable farmers who had to undergo a 15-week training which comprised 75 percent practical work and 25 percent theory.
Presenting the WIL Pilot Review Report, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) research officer Chikondi Semu, whose organisation was tasked to carry out the review, said the findings showed that the WIL concept is the best approach because it prepares fresh graduates for work even when experience is required.
“The review shows that learners have acquired skills and hands-on experience to work at chain stores like Shoprite, Peoples Trading Centre and Sunbird Hotels, an opportunity which they would not have experienced without the pilot project.
“The trainees are better than other fresh graduates because they have been exposed to the practical and industrial world,” she said.
During the meeting, stakeholders, among others, noted that the WIL project will go a long way in employment creation, but recommended the need to institutionalise WIL to ensure its sustainability.
In his remarks, an official from the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Aubrey Matemba hailed the project, saying it would go a long way in adding value to the horticulture industry.
The meeting adopted the WIL approach as a sustainable method towards enhancing productivity in the horticulture industry.
The WIL pilot project was launched in July 2016 by Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Henry Mussa and is being coordinated by Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, Tevet Authority and Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam).
