Malawi launches new decent work programme

Launch of the Malawi Decent Work Country Programme II

Lilongwe, 8 September 2021 – Malawi’s Deputy Minister for Labour, the Honourable Vera Kamtukule, presided over the launch today of the country’s second Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP-II, 2020 – 2023). The DWCP-II envisages a Malawi that has gainful, secure and human rights-based employment opportunities for work for youth, women, and men.

In particular, the DWCP-II stands to make a concrete contribution a labour market in Malawi that is more productive and delivers a fairer income, provides better security in the workplace, ensures effective enjoyment of the rights freedom of association and collective bargaining for workers to express their concerns and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, ensures equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men, and offers improved quality and coverage of social protection for workers and their families.

Accordingly, the three key priority areas of the Country Programme are employment promotion and the creation of sustainable jobs; the ratification and application of International Labour Standards (ILS) and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW); and enhancing and extending the coverage and quality of social protection.

“On behalf of the International Labour Organization, and the United Nations in Malawi, I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Labour for its leadership in this milestone moment in the excellent cooperation between the ILO and the UN, the Government of Malawi and the non-government social partners represented by the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions and the Employers Consultative Association of Malawi”, said George Okutho, Director of the ILO Country Office for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

“The Malawi Decent Work Country Programme II is demand-driven and reflects our joint commitment to contribute to Malawi’s national priorities as set, amongst others, out in Malawi Vision 2063, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, the Abidjan Declaration on the future of work in Africa and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework”, said Mr. Okutho.

“In order to ensure that the Country Programme is effectively carried out, we propose that the Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Labour, quickly mobilize a Tripartite Technical Working Group to spearhead implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme. Malawi can count on the ILO for support to ensure the effective implementation of this second national Decent Work Country Programme”, said Mr. Okutho.

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Contact: Dylan Van Tromp, Senior Project Officer, ACCEL Africa, International Labour Organization (ILO) +265 99 007 8377 vantromp@ilo.org