Suva, March 05– The Minister for Youth and Sports Hon. Laisenia Tuitubou led talks this week with a delegation from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Minister was joined by senior Ministry officials at the talks where discussions centred on the work carried out by Government to improve the lives of young Fijians. Their discussions also centred on the ADB’s collaborative work with the International Labour Organisation in undertaking analysis and research on employment and labour markets and the formulation of a National Employment Policy.
Minister Tuitubou told the visiting delegation of the Ministry ’s plans for the future and how the services offered by the Ministry would be tailored to suit the needs of young people in order to promote self-employment and encourage entrepreneurship.
The visiting mission was informed of the strategies the Ministry would undertake to ensure the development of youth in the country like the upgrading of training centres and programmes offered by the Ministry to strengthen employment opportunities in the informal sector for young people. Discussions also looked at the challenges faced by the Ministry in carrying out trainings. They highlighted the lack of female participation in youth groups, which was something the Ministry advised, was working to address.
The mission discussed the findings of the analysis and policy recommendations from other relevant government agencies and stakeholders in order to solicit feedback for the finalisation of the report. They also discussed the possibility of partnering with relevant government ministries to further develop non-formal education in the country and how to boost empowerment training conducted by the Ministry.
They had previously held discussions with key relevant government ministries such as the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment, Fiji Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics.
The fact finding mission was led by ADB senior economist Ms Sakiko Tanaka, principal social sector economist Mr Andrew Parker, Labor Market (Law) specialist consultant Mr Bernard Banks and Fiji National University consultant (TVET / Education) Dr Isimeli Tagicakivereta.