Features

2012

1. 

   Local development

   Rebuilding lives shattered in Sri Lanka’s conflict

   19 October 2012

   Three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war, victims are still struggling to rebuild their lives. A joint UN project seeks to give them a new start through training and job placement.

2. 

   Rural economies

   Cultivating the green shoots of rural areas

   18 October 2012

   The ILO looks to harnessing the potential of the world’s rural areas as city dwellers in the developing world struggle to find work.

3. 

   School-to-work transition

   The lure of apprenticeships in times of crisis

   15 October 2012

   Apprenticeships have been around for centuries but they are now getting a lot of fresh attention as the world struggles to defuse the potentially explosive youth employment crisis.

4. 

   Microinsurance

   Insuring livestock to protect the poor

   12 October 2012

   Livestock insurance has the potential to reduce the vulnerability of poor populations. The challenges are formidable, but recent technology offers hope.

5. 

   World Teachers Day

   Teachers struggle to be top of the class

   05 October 2012

   Teachers face severe challenges in different parts of the world and are still under pressure to produce results. As the profession marks World Teachers Day, two teachers working thousands of miles apart tell their stories.

6. 

   World Tourism Day 2012

   Trekking boosts rural income in Nepal

   26 September 2012

   Following the end of the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, the ILO launched a project to promote employment and accelerate peace-building in 2007. Opening new routes for tourism that benefit local people is part of the project.

7. 

   From Pakistan

   All aboard the women’s rights bus

   24 September 2012

   For working women in Pakistan, the bus ride to work can be particularly uncomfortable. The country’s National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) has been trying to change that, with a bit of help from the ILO.

8. 

   European labour migration

   From public sector worker in Portugal to cleaner in Switzerland

   20 September 2012

   As protests spread in southern Europe – especially in Greece, Spain and Portugal – against austerity measures, more and more people hit by the crisis are moving to northern countries in search of decent jobs. Public sector workers are not an exception.

9. 

   From the Philippines

   Domestic work is no longer a “domestic issue”

   05 September 2012

   The ratification of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers by the Philippines this week breaks new ground in extending basic labour rights to the nearly 100 million of domestic workers worldwide. We look at what it will mean for these workers when the Convention comes into force next year.

10. 

    Article

    China’s latest revolution: Basic health care for all

    03 September 2012

    On 6 April 2009, China unveiled an action plan for a radical and ambitious health-care reform aimed at attaining universal health insurance coverage by 2020. Three years later, the country has almost reached this goal. What’s the secret behind the success?