Samoa’s second Samoa National Employment Policy (SNEP 2) has been officially launched by the Minister of Commerce Industry and Labour.

Leatinu'u Wayne So'oialo did the launching of the Policy, which runs from 2021 to 2022 and 2025 to 2026, in the presence of the ILO Pacific Director, Mr. Matin Karimli through a virtual connection.

The Policy was approved by the Cabinet in early September this year after two years of consultations, debate and reviews, stated a media release issued late Thursday night.

The Policy was then validated by constituents and the Cabinet Policy Committee and was eventually finalised by M.C.I.L. ahead of ILO’s final review. 

There were several needs for the policy's development from the different sectors based on the national consultations; the common theme from these consultations was the need for the policy to assist constituents in the socio-economic recovery from COVID-19 impacts, and to address the challenges to ensure readiness to support the labour market from the disruptions affecting employment and incomes. 

"This involves stimulating the economy to generate decent jobs and possible fiscal assistance to be provided by development partners and government to those who have lost jobs due to the crisis."

The ILO said in the statement that it will continue to provide Samoa with assistance on the implementation of the Policy, including the advancement towards a more job-rich and resilient recovery. 

"This will ensure that Samoa’s implementing partners for SNEP 2 will transform these priorities into practice. 

"Solid commitment and coordination are required from all actors involved as well as extensive efforts to define roles and responsibilities by a well-coordinated governance structure."

 In the last two weeks, in partnership with the M.C.I.L. the ILO has provided two days of training on capacity building to support constituents and stakeholders to undertake measures supporting the implementation of the Policy over the next five years. 

This was requested by MCIL (with the support of the Samoa National Tripartite Forum) to coincide with the launch of the Policy. The seminar is aimed at strengthening the governance and capacity of implementing partners and to explore different approaches to implementation based on national and ongoing dialogue.

The National Employment Policy is a policy that provides a concerted and coherent vision, as well as a framework linking employment objectives in Samoa. The focus of this second employment policy was based on the outcome of the situational analysis conducted in 2020 that saw the need for integrated policy interventions to ensure job-rich recovery from the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.