All Hands in Kenya: Advancing Labour Standards through Cooperative Action, is a four-year project funded by The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), through U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL). The project aims at providing technical assistance to projects in Kenya to improve compliance with international labor standards and acceptable conditions of work (ACW), specifically within the tea and textile sectors, and is guided with three outcomes:

1. Increased government effectiveness in improving compliance with international labor standards and ACW—including but not limited to, improved compliance with Kenyan laws related to and consistent with those standards and conditions as well as technical assistance requested towards reforming laws that are inconsistent with those standards and conditions.
2.  Increased employers’ actions to improve compliance with Kenyan laws related to and consistent with those standards and conditions.
3. Increased engagement of civil society organizations including workers’ organizations, with government and employers; to improve compliance with international labor standards, ACW, and Kenyan laws related to and consistent with those standards and conditions.

Geographical coverage: Nairobi, Machakos (Athi River) and Mombasa Counties for apparel/textile industries and; Kisii, Nandi, Kericho, Kiambu, Nyeri, Muranga and Kirinyaga Counties for Tea sector.

The duration of this project is four years beginning December 2020 to December 2024

The project will work in collaboration with the tripartite partners, different government departments, players in the Tea and textile sectors, County Government entities responsible for labour law enforcement; to implement activities including:

•  Conducting an assessment of domestic law and practice against international labour standards and ACW, with recommendations for improvement
• Supporting the Labour inspectors to be able to effectively promote compliance with the law as aligned with Kenyan Law, international labour standards and ACW
• Developing and rolling out an electronic case management system (ECMS)
• Improving compliance with Labour law in the textile and tea sectors through the Strategic Compliance Intervention Model (SCIM)
•  Improving social dialogue and tripartite relations to promote mutual understanding of labour rights and responsibilities.
•  Increasing  access to judicial and non-judicial remedies related to international labour standards and ACW
•  Improving government capacity to promote ILS and ACW in trade negotiations
• Model procedures for workplace cooperation and workplace-level grievance-handling; A pilot programme on workplace cooperation and workplace-level grievance-handling in selected enterprises-tea and textile sectors
•  Increase the awareness among employers of the benefits of compliance with ILS and ACW, the use of permanent positions over causal workers, and the needs of vulnerable workers.
• Support Trade unions and civil society organizations to be able to represent and advocate effectively for workers through capacity strengthening and mentorship programs
• Support workers to develop a procedure to ensure they engage in workplace cooperation to promote more productive industrial relations and to handle grievance