Cameroon: Gov't Launches Employment Policy

A new national policy on employment and professional training was launched last Thursday, April 29 at the Mont Febe Hotel in Yaounde. The launching took the form of a seminar to acquaint the various ministerial departments and institutions on this new policy. Speaking at the Occasion, the Minister of Employment and Professional Training, Zacharie Perevet, appealed for employment to be considered as a national concern just the same as basic education and HIV/AIDS. The national policy on employment and professional training, he said, is just the frame work that gives orientations which institutions have to draw inspiration from in order to implement their employment policies.

The Regional Director of ILO, Mayenga Diana, said employment is an important factor in attaining the Millennium Development Goals. She said the ILO's is to have employment at the centre of economic development. She called on government, to preserve the existing jobs, create new ones and create partnerships with the economic sector, the educational system and facilitates access to financing for people to build up projects. Mayenga Diana urged government to focus on youth and women employment saying agriculture could be a great purveyor of employment. She however congratulated Cameroon for having included employment in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, saying the unemployment has dropped over the last three years.