Ecam, Myjobo.com partnership to enhance youth employment
Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam), a representative body of employers, and Myjobo.com, an online job portal, have signed a partnership to enhance youths’ employability skills.
The partnership comes after a research by Ecam/GAN Malawi showed a skills mismatch in the country, with fresh graduates often lacking skills required to meet the existing local labour market needs.
The partnership is expected to help through work experience, skills development, career guidance and education.
In a statement, Ecam chief executive officer George Khaki said Ecam member companies and GAN Malawi have prioritised efforts to remedy the skills mismatch through skills development, offering internships and apprenticeships and improving engagement with young people and educational institutions.
“Our partnership will utilise the Talent Guardians Platform to facilitate engagement between employers, educators and youth to help employers build young people’s work readiness and increase their access to a wider range of quality employment pathways,” he is quoted as having said.
On her part, Myjobo.com talent guardians adviser Nini Sulamoyo–Ruebush said more often employers argue that young people are not ready for the workplace or that they do not have the right skills for the industry.
“Yet we see persistently high levels of youth unemployment in the country. This partnership is a practical step to help tackle the problem at its roots,” she said.
The partnership will help to bring employers closer to schools and colleges by offering more opportunities for young people to relate what they learn in the classroom to what happens at the workplace. Activities will include job fairs, career guidance, competitions, internships, apprenticeships and student attachments.
