Following the production and validation of a Report on the LMIS Framework of The Gambia in November 2010, the Gambia Priority Employment Programme (Gamjobs) conducted a Training workshop on Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) on 14, 15 and 18 April 2009 at the Baobab Holiday Resort in Bijilo.
The Training Workshop brought together 30 key producers and users of LMIS in The Gambia, as well as policymakers and planners involved in employment promotion and human resources development and utilization in both the public and private sectors.
Also, the training served to elaborate on their respective roles and responsibilities as stakeholders; promote understanding of LMIS as a mechanism for achieving employment objectives for sustainable development; present the institutional framework for operation of LMIS: producing, analyzing and using LMI; facilitate communication between producers and users of LMIS, and finally develop an Action Plan for implementation of recommendations of 2010 report concerning establishment and operation of LMIS in The Gambia.
At the end of the three-day workshop the group reached consensus on actions to be taken in the short term.
These include among other things locating the LMIS within MOTIE/GAMJOBS (or its successor), which will undertake management functions of the system.
Participants attending the training seminar will serve as the LMIS focal points within their respective institutions. This group should remain cohesive and in constant communication with GAMJOBS and among members.
There will be need to constitute a national LMIS Steering Committee of 5-7 major stakeholders, chaired by GAMJOBS (National Coordinator), to advise on and monitor operation of LMIS.
Additionally, GAMJOBS technical capacity as co-manager of LMIS should be strengthened with additional staff with planning, policy analysis and statistical competencies that will form the nucleus of the LMIS technical secretariat.
Finally Gamjobs will organize a sensitization workshop for senior policymakers who will be using the LMIS.
It would be recalled that the previous workshop and this one were organised against the backdrop of growing concern about the scarcity of reliable data on employment activities and labour markets in The Gambia, which makes it difficult to properly plan for the development and utilization of human resources to meet present and future demand for skills in all sectors of the economy.
The Gambia Priority Employment Programme (GAMJOBS) is supporting the Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE) to establish a Labour Market Information System (LMIS).
Professor Franklyn Lisk of the Centre for the Study of Globalization and Regionalization University of Warwick was the Lead Consultant, assisted by a team of experts such as Mr Dele Jones of FJP Consulting Firm and Rebecca Latchford.