Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Zambia has formalized its membership to the World Skills International (WSI) by officially announcing the establishment of the World Skills Zambia (WSZ) at a ceremony held in Lusaka this morning.
This follows the country’s earlier securing of membership to the WSI in September 2014 by the sponsoring institutions which are the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA), Engineering Institute of Zambia (EIZ), National Council for Construction (NCC), the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) and the Road Development Agency (RDA).
Speaking during a media breakfast meeting to announce the establishment of WSZ, board Chairman David Chakonta disclosed that his organization which is a Public –Private Partnership based NGO, is premised on the mission of improving the world with the power of skills.
Mr. Chakonta who is also TEVETA Director General says the WSZ has also been established as a multi-stakeholder special purpose vehicle to provide experimental or leaning- by-doing opportunities for all age groups with due reference to relevant international skill standards through its 5 set programmes.
He has named the programmes as Skills Competitions, Career exploration, Skills Catwalk, Skills Legacy Ambassador program and the Information sharing Conference.
And TEVETA Board chairperson Francis Ndilila has expressed happiness that the foundation under which the WSZ has been established falls within the country’s Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP).
Dr. Ndilila says this is because WSZ seeks to solve some of the challenges government has indentified on the country’s labour market which were considered when the SNDP was being formulated.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication are other stakeholders that have been instrumental in the establishment of the World Skills Zambia.