GENEVA (ILO News) – The Italian government and the International Labour Organization (ILO) today signed a new Programme Cooperation Agreement (PCA) for the period 2008-2010 aimed at promoting key areas of the Decent Work Agenda, including employment creation—especially for youth—labour rights, social dialogue and social protection and the empowerment of women.
The PCA funds are allocated on an annual basis. For 2008 the ILO has already received almost USD 18 million (14 million euro). The funds were equally distributed between the activities to be carried out by the ILO – which included one million euro for the Regular Budget Supplementary Account – and those of the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin, Italy.
Italy has a long history of cooperating with the ILO. For the period of 2003-2007, the Italian government provided USD 47 million to the ILO, making it the fifth largest donor of the organization. Italy has supported some of the best-known ILO projects such as the global campaign against child labour, small enterprise development in the Maghreb region and the promotion of decent work in Argentina and Uruguay following the 2001 financial crisis.
Italian funding has also made possible HIV prevention programmes in Africa and assisting unemployed youth and working adults in Kosovo and Albania. The Training Centre of the ILO in Turin has implemented, among others, projects on vocational training and entrepreneurship training for women in Afghanistan and on capacity building related to freedom of association.
For more information, contact Donor Relations, Department of Partnerships and Development Cooperation, Secretariat +4122/799-7309, Fax: +4122/799-6872. codev@ilo.org