On 7^th May 2021, Honorable Rwanyindo Kayirangwa Fanfan, Minister of Public Service and Labour officially opened the Official Opening of the 2021 Employment Stakeholders’ High Level Policy Dialogue, which was held virtually through WebEx.

Participants included Mr. Wellington CHIBEBE, ILO Director for United Republic of Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda; Mr. Vincent MUNYESHYAKA , CEO/BDF; Mrs. Elodie RUSERA, Chief Skills Officer/RDB; Mrs. Amina RWAKUNDA, Chief Economist/ MINECOFIN; Mr. Gatabazi Pascal, TA/MINEDUC; Ms. Tadhim  UWIZEYE, Co-Founder & CEO, Olado Business Group Ltd - Young  Women Entrepreneur; Mrs. Marie-Pierre NGOMA, Programme Administrator - APEFE; Mr. Africain BIRABONEYE, General Secretary of CESTRAR; Ms. Elodie RUSERA, Chief Skills Officer- RDB; Mr. Theoneste NTAGENGERWA, SP/PSF; Senior Government Officials; Social and Development Partners, among others.

In her opening remarks and keynote address, Minister Rwanyindo, welcomed the participants and called upon all the actors to invest special efforts overcome Covid-19 shocks. She mentioned about the purpose of the dialogue where she said: “The role of social dialogue is to help the Country to stay competitive, to build a strong and responsive labour market and foster good employment relations. For effective social dialogue, we need, among others, to: work towards achieving National Decent and Productive Jobs Agenda; Function within our National values; Enhance our collaboration.”

The dialogue included two moderated panels: one on “Economic and Employment Recovery” to address economic recovery and economic transformation, another on “Social Dialogue and Productivity” to discuss about increasing social dialogue, productivity for Decent work and enhance social economic status.

Minister Rwanyindo also mentioned challenges found in jobs creation including, among others: Limited entrepreneurship and innovation support system; skills mismatch between education and labour market needs; the design of financial products which is not adapted to youth realities and demands. She also urged employers to adopt a fresh look at global trends which are changing the future of jobs and of businesses across the world, she said: “Covid-19 has also come with new challenges which, like other layers of life, has heavily affected the world of work, thus calling us to invest more and achieve resilience and sail through the fragile labour market the pandemic has created to deal with all these trends and changes, we need to continue putting into actions the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) which outlines our Country’s target to create 1.5 million Productive and Decent jobs by the year 2024.”

She also mentioned different key actions to deal with trends and changes brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, including: to continue putting into actions the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) which outlines our Country’s target to create 1.5 million Productive and Decent Jobs by the year 2024; a collective goal of increasing productivity together with stakeholders, support industrial relations for Decent Work and enhance social economic status of Citizens.

The dialogue also hosted the awarding ceremony of young entrepreneurs with innovative and transformative projects trying to respond to Covid-19 challenges and contributed to job creation. The dialogue also recognized remarkable and rewarding efforts invested by the Country and particularly the Health Sector to fight against Covid-19 and prevent the collapse of labour market.

The 2021 Labour Day is celebrated under the theme: “Promote employment for rapid economic recovery and transformational development.”  Employment Week, which started from 1^st to 7^th May 2021, covered different activities including two live talk shows at RBA and different social media platforms, the Kigali Special Economic Zone visit by Hon. Minister of Public Service and Labour to acknowledge the role of industries in jobs creation within this Covid-19 era; and the 2021 Employment Stakeholders’ High Level Policy Dialogue.

Young entrepreneurs who were awarded are:

At national level:

1^st winner: NIYONIZEYE Abdulrahman, project: Online education services/smart classroom (employed 82 people);

2nd Winner: MARIFASHA Jean Claude, project: Africa Digital Internship linkage system (employed 89 people);

3rd Winner: SEBASHYITSI Eric, project: Fabrication of face masks and other fashion (employed 47 people);

At provincial level:

Kigali City: ISHEMARYAYO Jeanne Bovine. Project: COVID-19 Contact tracing system E-rinde (employed 61 people)

Northern Province: NSENGUKURI Elie.  Project: Production of hand sanitizers, liquid soap, body lotion (employed 11 people);

Southern Province: RUTAYISIRE Gilbert. Project: Production of liquid soap, hand sanitizer and detergent (employed 10 people);

Western Province: ABAYISENGA Fabrice. Project: Fabrication of step and wash (Kandagira ukarabe) (employed 10 people);

Eastern Province: BANKUNDIYE Charlotte. Project: Farming of Chili (employed 600 casual workers in a year).

In recognition of the devotion demonstrated by the Health personnel during this challenging times of Covid-19, Mrs. GASENGAYIRE Agnes was congratulated as an outstanding staff member selected by all her colleagues from the Health Sector to represent them.