Articles

March 2010

Small Premiums, Long-term Benefits: Why Poor Women Need Microinsurance

05 March 2010

15 years have passed since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing decided on a global platform for action on gender equality and women’s empowerment. For poor women in developing countries, microinsurance coverage is an important safety net, providing a powerful tool to protect their households and productive assets. ILO Online reports from Kenya where microinsurance represents a new frontier of economic and social development.
Questions and Answers on Intellectual Disabilities

04 March 2010

An estimated 10 to 15 million people in Africa have some form of Intellectual disability and the majority live in poverty and isolation. The ILO-Irish Aid Partnership Programme will be gathering representatives from East African countries, Australia and the United Kingdom at a conference in Lusaka on 9-11 March to focus new attention on the issue and discuss ways of promoting training and employment opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. ILO Online provides questions and answers on people with intellectual disabilities in Africa.

February 2010

Employers’ organizations responding to the impact of the crisis

17 February 2010

With the adoption of the Global Jobs Pact by the 183 member States of the ILO at the International Labour Conference in June 2009, the world’s governments, employers and workers have at their disposal an integrated portfolio of policies to address the global economic and social crisis. ILO Online spoke with Jean-François Retournard, Director of the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities, about a new report which shows that employers’ organizations played a major role in worldwide efforts to stem the crisis.

January 2010

Vulnerable employment and poverty on the rise, Interview with ILO chief of Employment Trends Unit

26 January 2010

The economic crisis has had a major impact throughout the world on the level of employment as well as its quality. The ILO’s annual report on "Global Employment Trends 2010" says the share of workers in vulnerable employment worldwide may have increased by more than 100 million in 2009, and with it global poverty. ILO Online spoke with Lawrence Jeffrey Johnson who directed the publication of the report.
Questions and answers on jobs recovery and the development of decent work for people in the Pacific Islands

11 January 2010

In February 2010, at Port Vila, Vanuatu, Labour Ministers, Senior Labour officials and representatives of worker and employer organizations from all eight countries – Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – as well as Australia and New Zealand – took part in the first high-level gathering of its kind. After two days of rich debate a tripartite accord was adopted – The Port Vila Statement on Decent Work and the Pacific Action Plan for Decent Work. ILO Online spoke to Ms. Sachiko Yamamoto, the ILO’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific about the accord and development plans in the Pacific.

December 2009

Tripartism in the times of neoliberalism

18 December 2009

For much of the 1990s and the first half of the present decade, many developing countries seeking integration into the global economy adopted the type of market-oriented measures pushed forward by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Much has been written about the impact of these measures (known as the Washington Consensus) on governments, employers and workers in the developing world. Now a new book published by the International Labour Office (ILO) takes this issue forward and looks at how the process of consultation and negotiation between these three social partners – in other words, tripartism – altered the pace, sequence and content of these reforms. ILO Online spoke to the editor of "Blunting neoliberalism: Tripartism and economic reform in the developing world", Lydia Fraile.
Green policies and jobs: a double dividend?

11 December 2009

Nearly 40 per cent of all jobs worldwide are in high carbon intensive sectors. If we want to arrest climate change, this will inevitably create an employment challenge as workers will have to move to different jobs and sectors. And it raises the question to what extent “green” policies can produce a double dividend, in terms of environmental and employment goals. Here are a series of questions and answers on climate change, green policies and jobs.
Helping women and men with disabilities fulfil their potential

02 December 2009

December 3 marks International Day for Persons with Disabilities. This year, the theme focuses on the empowerment of persons with disabilities and their communities. Emanuela Pozzan, ILO Subregional Coordinator on Disability for East Asia, looks at a Vietnamese woman whose work in this area has received international recognition.
ILO, WTO joint study on trade and informal employment: Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries

01 December 2009

This study finds that the high incidence of informal employment in the developing world suppresses countries’ ability to benefit from trade opening by creating poverty traps for workers in job transition. It is a product of the collaborative research programme of the ILO International Institute for Labour Studies and the WTO Secretariat.
From Bismarck to Beveridge: Social security for all

01 December 2009

120 years ago, Germany became the first nation in the world to adopt an old-age social insurance programme, designed by Otto von Bismarck...