Africa-Press – Mozambique. The National Institute of Employment (INEP, IP) and Beluluane Industrial Park (BIP), with its Mimi Niko Kazi (MNK) Youth Employment Programme, have established a partnership to promote internships in Mozambique. The partnership will support young Mozambicans to start their careers and help them to gain their first professional experience. Internships can facilitate a successful transition from education to work. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties was signed in a ceremony on June 17 in Beira.
The MNK Youth Employment Programme is managed by Beluluane Industrial Park and exists since 2018. More than 500 young women and men took part in the first phase of the programme, resulting in employment for over 50% of them. The programme is now called Mimi Niko Kazi, which translates to “I am at work” in Swahili and is available in all provinces of Mozambique.
The new phase is funded by the Employment and Skills for Development (E4D) programme, which is implemented by GIZ, a German implementing organisation in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development.
The aim of the MNK Youth Employment Programme is to connect qualified young Mozambicans to employers, while at the same time helping companies to identify, train and recruit the best skilled candidates.
Commenting on the new partnership, Juvenal Dengo, the General Director of INEP,IP, stated “The Government promotes internships as a way of inserting more youth into the workplace. Therefore the government supports the Mimi Niko Kazi initiative of BIP. This partnership will support and facilitate the entry of young Mozambicans into the labour market”.
Onorio Manuel, General Manager of Beluluane Industrial Park, said “We want to cooperate with INEP, because we see ourselves as part of a national effort to support youth employment. We are very grateful for and proud of their support for our programme, and we look forward to our partnership with INEP.” Beluluane Industrial Park is currently developing a network of industrial parks in Mozambique and aims to take the MNK programme to future parks.
About BIP
Beluluane Industrial Park is a Public-Private-Partnership between the Mozambican Government Agency for Investment & Export Promotion (APIEX) and Swiss-Mozambican investors. It is the biggest industrial park in Mozambique and it is developing a national network of special economic zones to support the sustainable industrialisation of the country. Youth employment is a pillar of the BIP’s corporate social responsibility strategy.
About INEP
The National Institute of Employment (INEP) is the government body responsible for promoting measures to ensure the creation of balanced employment and professional training opportunities, adequate capacities to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the economic sectors, so that Mozambique can compete successfully in the global market, achieve the social objectives of employability of the workforce, raise the living standards of the population and ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the management of public resources applied to employment promotion.
