Impact and people

2011

  1. Developing self reliance – Building hope: The ILO Employment for Peace Programme in Somalia

    07 April 2011

    Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, has been racked by violence and insecurity for nearly two decades. But there are signs of hope: among them, an ILO programme which provided a visible peace dividend to poor communities by engaging them in large scale employment-intensive projects. This and similar projects will be discussed at the ILO-IGAD-African Union Conference on "Employment for Peace, Stability and Development" on 11-12 April 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Conference will map out a regional strategy for the Horn of Africa built upon a “virtuous triangle” consisting of the creation of employment opportunities, social protection for the most vulnerable and empowerment of people and communities. ILO Online reports from Mogadishu.

  2. Youth unemployment in the Arab world is a major cause for rebellion

    05 April 2011

    While images from protests in the Arab region go around the world, it is timely to look at the reasons that brought these mostly young people on to the streets. An extremely high youth unemployment rate of 23.4 per cent in 2010, is one major but not the only cause for these popular uprisings, says Dorothea Schmidt, senior employment expert in the ILO office in Cairo.

  3. Training better supervisors means better business for Cambodia’s factories

    29 March 2011

    By Maeve Galvin, Communication and Advocacy Officer and Ying Bun, Better Factories, ILO Cambodia. Good supervisors help workers become more efficient and productive, bad ones affect morale and competitiveness. But when ordinary workers are promoted they often find it difficult to acquire the necessary skills. In Cambodia, a specially-created training programme is answering this need, helping train supervisors to be firm, fair and effective leaders in Cambodia’s US$2.5 billion garment industry.

  4. World Water Day (22 March 2011) - Bringing safe water to communities: the role of the ILO

    16 March 2011

    Despite the UN General Assembly declaring that access to safe water is a human right, thousands die each day because of water-related diseases, and many countries are not expected to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals on water. The ILO is working with governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations to identify priorities for investment infrastructure in order to create employment opportunities and bring safe water to communities. In advance of World Water Day on 22 March, ILO Online spoke with Carlos R. Carrión-Crespo, ILO Sectoral Specialist for Public Services and Utilities.

  5. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and International Women’s Day: 100 years on

    08 March 2011

    The first International Women’s Day commemorated a demonstration by women workers in New York in 1857. But what established the modern celebration of International Women’s Day in history, was the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York on 25 March 1911 that killed 146 young women workers, most of whom were immigrants. From the ashes of that tragic event, the pursuit of social justice for women and men ignited that day continues be felt around the world 100 years on. From New York, ILO On-line reports on the fire that changed everything.

  6. Forging stronger partnerships for decent work in Asia-Pacific

    01 March 2011

    By Cristina Tiron and Wolfgang Schiefer, Regional Unit for Partnerships, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Assisted in part by the region’s faster recovery from the global economic crisis, Asia and the Pacific is seeing an increase in the number of middle-income countries. This enlarged group brings new opportunities to exchange knowledge and expertise and forge new partnerships - between agencies, institutions, governments - including South-South cooperation that can help realize decent work for all.

  7. UN Cares India

    18 February 2011

    On 1 December 2010, a van was parked on Lodi Estate, in the city centre of New Delhi, India, with an unusual mandate: to offer voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing. The mobile clinic was part of the activities organized jointly by the United Nations (UN) agencies to raise awareness on HIV among their staff members.

  8. 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.

  9. “Any fool can stuff a container?”: ILO to discuss safety in growing container industry

    14 February 2011

    The container shipping market represents about 16 per cent of the world’s goods loaded in tonnes. With its growing market share, the risk of accidents also increases, says a report prepared for an ILO Global Dialogue Forum on Safety in the Supply Chain in Relation to Packing of Containers, to be held in Geneva on 21-22 February 2011. The meeting will try to find a common approach throughout the supply chain to ensure the application of the appropriate standards for packing containers.

2010

  1. ILO launches new web-based information and assistance service for business: ILO Helpdesk for Business on International Labour Standards

    09 December 2010

    Building on the success of the ILO Helpdesk confidential assistance service established in March 2009 to help companies implement principles of international labour standards in business operations, the International Labour Office (ILO) has now launched a web-based information service component drawing on all sectors of the ILO. News item, 9 December 2010