Articles

November 2011

1. 

   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. 

   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. 

   Knowledge management: How microinsurance can best benefit low-income households

   01 November 2011

   In 2010, the ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility introduced a knowledge management framework, aligning its research and communication strategies and new approaches for improved capture, analysis and sharing of lessons learned from its activities. ILO Online spoke with Craig Churchill, Head of the ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility about the benefits of the new approach.

October 2011

1. 

   International Year of Cooperatives: In Kenya, working hand in hand with the ILO to create cooperatives and jobs

   31 October 2011

   Cooperatives provide some 100 million jobs around the world. Many of these jobs provide for basic human needs, such as the dairy farms of Kenya. Today, some 13,000 cooperatives in Kenya have some 9 million members. As the United Nations launches its International Year of Cooperatives, Anne Holmes reports on how cooperatives are thriving, and the role of the ILO in their growth.

2. 

   Building a social protection floor in Mozambique

   10 October 2011

   Mozambique is a low-income country with high levels of poverty, informal and rural labour. Seriously affected by HIV and AIDS and exposed to climatic shocks and crises such as floods and droughts, the country’s institutions only have a limited capacity to deal with such shocks and offer social protection for the poor and vulnerable population. To address these challenges, an ILO technical cooperation project financed by Portugal works, together with other UN Agencies, to improve public policies and strengthen institutional capacity for the extension of social protection in Mozambique and other Portuguese-speaking African countries.

3. 

   Decent work for Africa’s Youth

   10 October 2011

   Africa has the youngest population in the world: Young women and men represent the continent’s best hope for getting on a sustainable development path. However, youth unemployment rates are double adult unemployment rates for Africa as a whole – for North Africa they are even four times higher. ILO Online reports from Egypt where the ILO supports a pioneering project helping youth to find decent employment after leaving school.

4. 

   Empowering South Africans with decent work

   07 October 2011

   While African economies have bounced back from the economic crisis, daunting challenges for the continent remain, including poverty, unemployment and underemployment. Faced with these and other major challenges, the Republic of South Africa is one of the 27 African ILO Member States that are implementing Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) aimed at promoting decent work as a key component of their national development. ILO Online reports from Johannesburg, South Africa.

5. 

   Inequities in health care access in the European region

   06 October 2011

   The objective of providing universal health coverage is high on the agenda of countries in the broader European region, yet vulnerable groups often do not have full access to health services, according to Dr. Xenia Scheil-Adlung, Health Policy Coordinator at the ILO’s Social Security Department. ILO Online spoke to Dr. Scheil-Adlung, who has published a study looking at the situation in the region, which includes the European Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central and Eastern Europe.

September 2011

1. 

   Greying of the workforce in retail commerce: Questions and answers

   20 September 2011

   According to a recent ILO study, 2 billion people will be aged 60 or over by 2050. While most discussions about population ageing turn around the sustainability of pension systems, a forthcoming ILO meeting to be held in Geneva on 21-22 September, will focus on the impact of the greying of societies on labour supply in the retail commerce sector, an industry that has traditionally drawn a large proportion of its workers from people aged 30 and under. ILO Online spoke with John Sendanyoye, the ILO’s Commerce Sector Specialist.

2. 

   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.