United Republic of Tanzania

Tanzania has experienced steady economic growth over 20 years and transitioned from low-income to lower-middle-income status in July 2020. The country remains a lower middle-income country despite the global pandemic-induced contraction of GDP per capita in 2020 (World Bank 2022). However, if Tanzania is to achieve its Development Vision 2025 to become a middle-income country, it will need to develop a robust and diversely skilled labour force to drive further growth.

Tanzania’s skills development system is overwhelmed by 800,000 young people who enter the labour market each year while the total capacity of the formal TVET system is about 400,000 to 500,000 trainees (ILO 2019). Informal training remains the only option for most young people, particularly those from rural areas and low-income backgrounds. Tanzania has a predominantly informal economy with scarce wage employment for its rapidly growing youth population. A majority of the country’s youth population, estimated at 42 Million (UNICEF 2022) enter the labour market through self-employment.

To mitigate these challenges, Tanzania envisages a comprehensive restructuring of its economy by strengthening its skills development system through the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS 2016/17–2025/26). The strategy covers formal, non-formal and informal skills development to respond to the needs of both the formal and informal economies. It focuses on six sectors identified as priorities which offer high returns on skills and strong potential for job creation: agribusiness; tourism and hospitality; energy; transport and logistics; construction; and information and communication technologies.

Strengthening the skills of youth in these sectors will put Tanzania on a trajectory for development that combines growth with poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

The ILO continues to work with the Government of Tanzania, workers’ and employers’ organisations to create a better future for young women and men in Tanzania by:

Supporting national skills development programmes
Building capacities of TVET institutions to strengthen skills development programmes
Supporting skills recognition and quality assurance to assure recognition through accepted standards

Supporting skills anticipation to ensure that training responds to labour market needs
Ensuring social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and individuals in TVET systems.

Publication

NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP GUIDELINES

                                                                            Publication Date:
                                                                            21 Dec 2022 

                                                                            Source:
                                                                             Governments-THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA	
                                                                        

The main objective of the National Apprenticeship Guideline (NAG) is to provide guidance to all stakeholders in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating apprenticeship training programmes in Tanzania. Specifi c objectives of the guidelines include:- (a) To set out the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders in training, funding, quality assurance and coordination of apprenticeship programs; (b) To establish a structured continuous dialogue mechanism between all apprenticeship partners; and (c) To provide a clear framework for quality assurance of apprenticeship programs.

Publication

State of Skills - Tanzania

                                                                            Publication Date:
                                                                            19 Dec 2022 

                                                                            Source:
                                                                             ILO	
                                                                        

Tanzania has sustained relatively high economic growth over the past decade, averaging 5 to 8 per cent per year, and leading to a decline in poverty rates. However, the country’s population is growing rapidly, and educational attainment is weak. Agriculture provides most employment. Economic growth and formal employment are concentrated in the main urban area, Dar es Salaam. Achieving structural transformation of the economy and poverty reduction, while preventing environmental degradation, will therefore require a massive effort in skilling the labour force. However, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has long suffered from limited access, poor quality, lack of labour-market relevance, and stretched governance capacity. An ambitious National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) has been designed to address these challenges.

Publication

GUIDELINES FOR RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT (RPLA) IN TANZANIA

                                                                            Publication Date:
                                                                            19 Dec 2022 

                                                                            Source:
                                                                             ILO, International organizations-United Nations Development Assistance
Plan	
                                                                        

The Vocational Education and Training Act, 1994 part II section 4 (1) stipulates the objectives and functions of the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA). The promotion of on the job training in industry for both apprenticeship training and for skills updating and upgrading and promote access to vocational education and training for disadvantaged groups. The Competence Based Assessment Guidelines which were approved by the VET Board in March, 2011 considers informal and formal apprenticeship as alternative modes of training delivery hence providing for mechanisms for assessing competencies attained therefrom. Recognition of Prior Learning Assessment (RPLA) is an integral part of Competence Based Assessment. The concept of recognizing and accrediting what people already know and can do is having a signiÀ cant impact on many of the education and training programmes currently being developed. If applied properly, the concept is very useful for integrating the marginalized populations both, the self employed who seek qualiÀ cations to access wage employment or the employed who aspire for promotion and better pay or further career development. The guidelines for RPLA have been developed to act as a tool that will facilitate the exercise by providing proper guidance to all parties that will be involved in the process. These include, among others, RPL facilitators, assessors and moderators/validators. The guidelines are as well important to other stakeholders who in one way or another, interact with apprentices/ employees. They include individual employers and their related umbrella associations, trade unions, regulatory bodies other than VETA, VET providers, the government, NGO and higher learning institutions. It is our belief that, involvement of all key stakeholders will not only strengthen the VET system but also forge linkages and hence get approval and recognition of its services especially the graduates who will undergo the RPL processes successfully.

Generic document

Working paper: How to strengthen informal apprenticeship systems for a better future of work? Lessons learned from comparative analysis of country cases.

                                                                            Publication Date:
                                                                            20 Apr 2022 

                                                                            Source:
                                                                             ILO	
                                                                        

This paper undertakes a meta study on informal apprenticeship in developing countries. It compares the findings of country-level research conducted by the ILO and others in the past 15 years to shed more light on apprenticeship systems in the informal economy. It discusses the features and practices of informal ap-prenticeship systems, their responsiveness to rights at work, and the effectiveness of such systems along criteria such as dropouts, training quality, and transitions to employment. The analysis is complemented by a selected number of country case studies that describe and assess the policies and programmes that were introduced during past years to strengthen and upgrade apprenticeship systems in the informal economy. The findings aim to improve understanding of this complex, heterogenous, yet self-sustained training system in the informal economy for evidence-based discussions and policy dialogue between ILO constituents and beyond.

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Newsletter

Monthly newsletter of the ILO SKILLS Branch - September 2022

 Date:
                                                                            30 Sep 2022
                                                                        

                                                                            Sources:
                                                                             ILO	
                                                                        

The ILO Skills and Lifelong Learning monthly newsletter highlights recently uploaded publications, reports, research items, videos and upcoming events on skills development and lifelong learning.

Sign up to receive the Newsletter by clicking here.

Event

ILO Inter-regional workshop on enhancing youth employability and easing labour market transitions

Date:
                                                                           																			   18 - 20 May 2016
																		                                                                           

 Sources:
                                                                            ILO	
                                                                        

The Youth Employment Programme and Skills and Employability Branch are organizing a regional workshop on the theme of enhancing youth employability and easing labour market transitions. This three-day interregional event is part of a series of ‘What Works in Youth Employment’ Knowledge Sharing Events to facilitate learning and dialogue through evidence-based ‘good practices’.

The objective of the workshop is to bring together stakeholders (including our tripartite constituents) from nine African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia) in an interactive forum for exchange and peer learning with guidance from technical experts on effective, replicable and scalable supply side initiatives that address employability, skills demand, anticipation of skills needs and the bridges between supply and demand. A report based on exchanges and lessons learned during the workshop will be produced.