Feature articles

November 2003 

• Xth African Regional Meeting. Gender and poverty: Planting the "SEEDs" of change
  26 November 2003 - Many women in Africa are inordinately affected by poverty. But there are success stories. This article explains how the ILO Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development (IFP/SEED), and its team working on Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE), can help plant the seeds of change for Africa's women workers.
• Xth African Regional Meeting. Youth Employment: A leap to the future
  25 November 2003 - More than half of Africa's population is under 18 and is hard hit by unemployment. What's more, only 5 to 10 per cent of new entrants into the job market can be absorbed by the formal economy. This article explains how a new Youth Employment Network" ("YEN") – grouping the ILO, the World Bank and the United Nations – is working to help young people find more and better jobs on the continent.
• Xth African Regional Meeting. Social security in Africa: A universal need
  21 November 2003 - The majority of Africa's workers today have no social security coverage – and the systems which do exist are threatened by such phenomena as weakness of governance and the impact of HIV/AIDS. ...
• Xth African Regional Meeting
  14 November 2003 - Decent work for Africa’s development: Signs of hope
• Old and new ways of solving social problems
  11 November 2003 - While trade unions have played an essential role in social dialogue between workers, employers and governments, their membership in many countries has declined dramatically in recent years. ...
• Failing health systems in Eastern Europe
  03 November 2003 -

October 2003 

• Women seafarers: Fighting against the tide?
  16 October 2003 -

September 2003 

• In Nepal, micro-insurance helps the poor cope with health needs
  26 September 2003 - The ILO's "STEP" programme (Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusion and Poverty) promotes innovative systems of social protection for excluded populations. In Nepal, ILO/STEP is working with local partners to develop health micro-insurance that will improve access to health care for workers in the informal economy. ...
• ILO: Up in smoke: what future for tobacco jobs?
  18 September 2003 - Some 100 million people are employed worldwide in the tobacco sector. As the risks associated with smoking and the forces of economic modernization continue to pressure the industry, the ILO has been looking at the future employment prospects for tobacco workers worldwide.

August 2003 

• For millions of migrants, a new Convention
  06 August 2003 - The UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families entered into force on 1 July 2003. More than 10 years in the making, the new Convention represents a major step in efforts to improve the lives of the world’s vast mobile workforce. ...