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1. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report for the period ending in May 2002. The Government indicates that a strategy has been adopted for employment and vocational training as an essential means of combating poverty. It indicates that vocational training programmes have been implemented in the provinces of Namupla and Inhambane; micro-enterprise nurseries, each of which has a capacity for 60 micro-employers, have been set up in the provinces of Sofala and Inhambane; and the national classification of occupations has been updated to take account of developments in the global economy. The Committee also notes with interest the detailed statistics on employment, underemployment and unemployment. It hopes that the Government will continue to provide information on the labour market and the active population, both in the aggregate and for certain categories such as women, young people, older workers and disabled workers.

2. The Committee notes that PARPA (Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (2001-2005)), approved in April 2001 by the Council of Ministers, is based on the concept that private initiative by citizens, families, firms and other institutions, is the engine of development, the State’s role being to provide the necessary infrastructure and services to realize such initiatives. Also according to that concept, employment derives essentially from the multiple initiatives of citizens, families, firms and other private institutions (paragraph 204). The Committee recalls that, according to Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention, governments undertake to declare and pursue "as a major goal", an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. The policy must take account of the stage and level of economic development. It must be decided on and kept under review "within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy" (Article 2). Consequently, the Committee requests the Government in its next report to provide information on the measures taken by Mozambique to attain the objectives set out in the Convention in implementing its poverty reduction strategy.

3. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the manner in which the education and training policy measures taken or envisaged in the context of PARPA contribute to better coordination between this policy and employment prospects.

Article 3. In its direct request of 2001 the Committee noted the Programme for the Labour and Employment Sector for 2000-2004, which includes social dialogue as a matter of priority. The Committee recalls that, under the Convention, consultations must be held on the employment policy measures to be taken, so as to take full account of the experience and views of the persons affected and secure their full cooperation in formulating such policies and enlisting support for their implementation. As well as employers’ and workers’ representatives, consultations with representatives of the persons affected should involve representatives of other sectors of the active population such as rural workers and workers from the informal economy. The Committee trusts that the Government will not fail to include in its next report the information requested in the report form under Article 3 of the Convention, on the requisite consultations concerning employment policy.

Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to refer to the comments it has made this year under the Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88), the implementation of which should contribute to making an active employment policy more effective.