Features

2012

1. 

   South-South cooperation

   “Alien plants” boost green jobs in South Africa

   20 November 2012

   South Africa has become a success story when it comes to creating jobs and protecting the environment through its Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Many other countries in the global south are also benefitting from similar programmes.

2. 

   Article

   Greening Haiti

   31 August 2012

   Decades of environmental degradation have left Haiti on the brink, posing a serious threat to lives and livelihoods. Training programmes are helping Haitians move towards a greener, more sustainable economy.

3. 

   Article

   Bangladesh: Lighting the Way to a Greener World of Work

   22 June 2012

   Solar home systems can be an alternative source of energy in developing countries like Bangladesh, where half of the population, or about 85 million people, lack access to grid-based electricity. Solar panels bring clean energy and green jobs to rural areas, an issue that is high on the Rio+20 agenda. Allan Dow reports.

4. 

   Article

   A green plumber for a greener economy

   21 June 2012

   The transition towards a greener economy is expected to affect about half of the global labour force or roughly 1.5 billion people. This means changes in terms of job types and workers’ skills – a topic that is high on the Rio+20 agenda.

5. 

   Article

   Green and fair: Cooperatives in Ethiopia

   19 June 2012

   By their very nature, cooperatives can balance economic, environmental, and social needs. The ILO will be showcasing some of its successful experiences in this field at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). One of them involves more than 200,000 coffee producers and almost 200 cooperatives in Ethiopia.

6. 

   Article

   Giving young people the right skills for today’s jobs

   15 May 2012

   At a time when youth unemployment has reached alarming levels, governments are urgently seeking ways to tackle the crisis and defuse the potential time bomb of an increasingly disheartened and angry generation. Journalist Patrick Moser reports.

2011

1. 

   Article

   Skills for Green Jobs: selected stories from the field

   08 November 2011

   There are many stories from the field about how countries have dealt with the challenge of developing skills for green jobs. Here is a sampling of some of these stories, providing a representative overview of the types of projects and initiatives underway around the world today. More of these stories can be found in the new study entitled Skills for Green Jobs: A Global View.

2. 

   Feature story

   Questions and answers on the skills for green jobs challenge

   07 November 2011

   Developing new skills or upgrading existing ones is the key to unlocking the potential of green jobs. The Green Jobs Initiative of the ILO, the UN Environmental Programme, the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has been working to turn this potential into reality since 2008. ILO News talks to Olga Strietska-Ilina, Skills Development Specialist with ILO’s Skills and Employability Department, about a new landmark ILO study developed together with the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) on skill needs for greener economies.

3. 

   Article

   The banana agribusiness in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica: rich ground to create green jobs

   16 September 2011

   The ILO, through the Joint Program for strengthening the Banana value chain by Growing Inclusive Markets, invited a delegation of fifteen technicians and producers of bananas from the Dominican Republic to visit Costa Rica to learn about the experience of this country's banana sector in plastic recycling as well as environmental and labor practices.

4. 

   Article

   Youth join green jobs push in China

   15 February 2011

   Yang Shumbo, a Chinese electronic sciences student invented a device to save electricity. He developed this into a business under a pilot project of the Greener Business Option (GBO), an ILO Green Jobs Programme initiative. GBO aims to encourage entrepreneurship in green businesses among young people. Report from Chengdu, China, by Satoshi Sasaki, Specialist on Enterprise Development and Job Creation, ILO Beijing and Vincent Jugault, Senior Specialist in Environment and Decent Work, ILO Bangkok.