World Bank Approve USD120m to Improve Job Skills in Tanzania
On 15th June 2016, the World Bank
(WB) approved the Education and Skills for Productive Jobs (ESPJ) Program in
Tanzania to promote skills development in its key economic sectors.
Tanzania’s ESPJ is being financed
with USD120m under the WB’s International Development Association (IDA).
The funds will be directed at
training 30,000 youths in tourism, agriculture, agribusiness and
agro-processing, transport and logistics, construction, communications and
energy.
At the same time, the project
estimates that 15m young Tanzanians will enter the labor market over the next
15 years.
Most of the employment will be in
the private sector, particularly in agriculture but also in services (trade,
hotels, transport, construction, and financial services), and manufacturing and
mining to a smaller extent
. “The improvement of human capital
by helping address the skills gap is critical for the attainment of the
country’s goal to become an industrialized economy, create income opportunities
and reduce poverty […]”, said Bella Bird, WB’s Country Director for Tanzania,
Malawi, Burundi and Somalia. ESPJ aligns with Tanzania’s Five Year Development
Plan 2016–2021 (FYDP II), which implements Tanzania’s 2025 Vision to become a
semi-industrialized country by that year.
To achieve this, Tanzania aims to
develop a broad and diverse base of manufacturing, processing and packaging
industries that will lead both the productive as well as the export trade
sector.
Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs)
are expected to provide the capital for the desired industrial development.
In addition the Government will
support Tanzania’s industry through the establishment of an industrial
development bank and reduction of taxes on locally produced goods.
In order to accelerate
industrialization, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli urged banks to lower
interest rates for industrial projects.
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