The Green Jobs initiative is a joint initiative by the ILO, the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Organization of Employers and the International Trade Union Confederation, which supports a concerted effort by governments, employers, and trade unions to promote environmentally sustainable decent jobs in a climate-challenged world, and it seeks to facilitate a "just transition" that reflects the environmental, economic and social pillars of sustainable development. As a part of the global initiative, the ILO has launched a “Green Jobs Program” and the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the Subregional/Country Offices in this region have developed demonstration programmes in Bangladesh, China and India.

In India, the pursuit of an inclusive growth strategy for poverty reduction and the search for environmentally sustainable paths are key concerns in the country’s development trajectory. With the Green Jobs Initiative, the ILO and its partners seek to address and build on the relation between these goals, by promoting economies and enterprises with a reduced environmental impact that generate meaningful employment and the regeneration of natural resources.

As a part of the regional programme, a demonstration initiative in India has been started in collaboration with Development Alternatives/TARA Livelihood Academy in the dairy sector in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The initiative attempts to pilot-test a value chain development methodology to foster sustainable development at the local level. The introduction and adoption of green technologies and practices is supported through a value chain approach that seeks to identify and promote win-win strategies that bring about economic social and environmental benefits for enterprises and workers and for the community as a whole, thus opening up opportunities for green jobs and decent work. A set of complementary interventions that include a participatory value chain development exercise, business case studies on selected waste management options, and capacity building modules for local stakeholders seek to facilitate the development of the local dairy sector while reducing its environmental impact and promoting socially responsible practices. This experience is providing key inputs towards the enhancement of the methodology and toolkit for Value Chain Development for Green Jobs, which will allow for the replication and scaling up of the approach elsewhere in India and in other countries.