ONEMCIL Awareness Program Promotes Smart Technology

The Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour hosted its sixth ONEMCIL awareness program on the 14^th and 15^th March, 2019. This year we decided to host it hand in hand with the World Consumer Rights day commemorated every year on the 15^th March. The theme of this year’s WCRD is Trusted Smart Products’. As more people come online across the world including Samoa, our connection to the internet becomes better and faster, smart products will become more of a day to day reality for consumers everywhere, marking a major change in the way many consumers interact with products and services.

The emergence of smart technology brings many opportunities for consumers; access to new services, more responsive products, greater convenience and choice. There are however, some significant causes for concern: lack of security, privacy and meaningful choice over how we use them, as well as lack of clarify about who is responsible when things go wrong.

Hence, it was a great opportunity to target school students who are the popular users of smart products and are increasingly exposed to smart products promotions by service providers and retailers in the country to be aware of the benefits of smart products. The objectives of this awareness were:

To promote world consumer rights day theme of Trusted Smart Products;
To promote MCIL’s services through mandate roles/functions of each division especially the Apprenticeship and Trade Tests schemes, Jobseekers and employment services and seasonal workers programs

To provide an avenue to update MCIL’s informational products – brochures, newsletters, and so forth;

To engage with the stakeholders and students on areas where MCIL could further improve on in the provision of its services

So not only did we get the chance to share with our students the different services that MCIL offers, we also had the chance to enlighten them on the significance of using smart phones but also how we can use them wisely. This awareness program was carried out as a Roadshow and targeted Year 12 – 13 students of selected Secondary Schools in Upolu and Savaii. The schools that were selected to be a part of this awareness program included:

Upolu:

Latter Day Saints Church College Pesega
St Joseph’s College
Maluafou College
Samoa Adventist College
Don Bosco Technical College

Savaii:

Tuasivi College
EFKS Technical College
Uesiliana College
Uesiliana Technical College
Don Bosco Technical College

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the high schools and technical schools mentioned above for their participation and contribution to improving the services of MCIL.