Workers' Education and Environment
Final Evaluation, 20-31 January 1999
Evaluation Worksheet

(a)

List planned outputs and corresponding activities

3.1

• five advance missions by the CTA in charge of the project (two in Africa and three in Asia)

The missions have been carried out in cooperation with ILO colleagues, ACTRAV’s senior specialists on workers' activities among the MDTs, and the cooperating national and international trade unions. Meetings have also been held with trade unions, employers' organizations and government officials, relevant NGOs and institutions. Reports from all these missions have been distributed to Headquarter colleagues concerned and to ILO offices and MDTs in all areas where the Project is operational.

• integration of additional environmental considerations within EDUC's regular programme of training activities
• preparation of training materials on environment and development issues for integration within existing EDUC training programmes

• environmental indicators of development;
• political indicators of development;
• economic development and security;
• social development;
• equality of opportunity and treatment;
• education and training;
• international development.

Based on these indicators, relevant environment issues are included in the activities of the Workers' Education Programme and some of the Turin Centre's workers' education courses. However, more work will be required to achieve this linkage on a continuing basis in the Workers' Education Programmes and the Turin Centre's workers' education courses.

Students from Turin visit ACTRAV during the courses, and the CTA meets with them and informs about the Project’s work in environmentally sustainable development and the materials which have been produced. This has created an enormous request for the materials. The CTA conducted a two-day programme with a group of participants from Africa in February 1997 at the Centre. During the visit further discussions for future activities and training were encouraged.

Throughout the Project the CTA has had continuous communication with desk officers of the Bureau for Workers' Activities (EDUC merged into the department of ACTRAV) and the senior specialists on workers' activities in the field (MDTs).

• participating trade union centres will be assisted in integrating environment and related issues in their education programmes, national campaigns and traditional action such as collective bargaining negotiations

The aims concerning policy development have been achieved in most respects, but the trade unions' influence on the policies in the respective countries remains limited. The ministries/local authorities and often the employers refuse to accept trade unions in the different advisory and/or decision-making bodies.

According to the recommendations of the Mid-term Evaluation, the Porject has continued to increase its activities in India. Environmental issues are a vital area of concern for workers in India, and HMS has made case studies on the Supreme Court closing down work places because of pollution. HMS has been very active with national workshops, meetings, the development of local materials and posters and case study development. The national centre has made very good use of the materials which have been translated into Hindi. They reported that the fact that the materials are available in Hindi has made the Project particularly unique for their members.

HMS conducted three national workshops, including one in New Delhi on "Environment and the New Bargaining Agenda" where the results of the research, training and case studies were presented to the leadership. The report of the results of this workshop along with the materials which HMS developed were distributed to the TUPEP affiliates. A mission to follow up the TUPEP and AITUC/HMS activities was scheduled to take place in May 1997 but was postponed to August of that year. Unfortunately it had to be cancelled due to the CTA’s illness. TUPEP reports that the authorities have finally accepted trade union representation in the national advisory committees on environment. It is interesting to note that members of TUPEP such as AITUC, CITU, and BMS have responded very positively to the evaluation questionnaires requested by the CTA, even though they have not received financial support from the Project. HMS is the only national centre to have received such support, while the other three centres worked with the materials and developed policies on sustainable development independently.

Both CTUC and ITF have carried out lots of activities in India that have promoted trade union awareness and actions, especially with women workers.

Malaysia

Three workshops were conducted in 1995, and it was planned to provide more support for policy formulation. However, due to elections and the merging of national trade union centres in Malaysia there were no follow-up activities in the period before the CTA went on sick leave.

However, ICEM and ITGLWF have carried out workshops and campaigns on national sectorial levels.

The Philippines

Two national workshops on policy-making have been conducted, which led to the improvement of representation of trade unions on environmental advisory committees.

FFW, through the Philippines Social Institute, has developed case-studies including both training of members and negotiations with management at workplaces "Greening the Workplace." ICEM has also conducted a case-study after a serious mining accident in Marinduque in 1996.

Eritrea

The Project has continued to increase the support in Eritrea, according to the recommendations of the Mid-Term Evaluation report. The NCEW conducted a series of workshops at national, district, and workplace levels to agree on a policy on environmentally sustainable development. They adopted an environmentally sustainable development policy, and now they are attempting to convince the Ministry of Environment that they should be included in a tripartite meeting on the ESD programme at the national level.

During the last part of the Project period, the national centre requested assistance for developing bi-partite structures at workplace level, especially in the context of imminent privatisation. NCEW conducted 18 workshops at workplaces to train workers in occupational safety, health and environment issues. They established committees at the workplaces in three provinces. They produced local materials including a video in both Tigrigna and English languages in addition to having arranged campaigns which included a photo exhibition and radio interviews.

In spite of the difficult political situation in the country, the NCEW has returned the evaluation questionnaire and have sent reports, accounts, and samples of local materials to the Project after the return of the CTA in August 1998.

Southern Africa

With SATUCC in Southern Africa the Project has promoted trade union research capability into the links between Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and environmentally sustainable development. At a sub-regional workshop in South Africa in May 1997, the subject was discussed and a policy was agreed upon for presentation at the May 1997 SALC meeting. They did succeed in persuading the SADC LCS to include EPZs as a standing item on the agenda. This was an excellent example of how the Project was able to help the SATUCC leadership in their participation in a decision-making body. With the SATUCC programme there were a number of national workshops and two at the sub-regional level. There was also a sub-regional workshop in Harare for educators in Southern Africa.

Namibia

The national centre conducted three provincial workshops on policy-making based on the booklets produced in the Project. Participants in these workshops then took part in a national workshop and drafted trade union policy and action plans on priority environmentally sustainable development issues. The national educator, who has been trained in this Project and other ACTRAV programmes, has been involved in the organization and carrying out Project activities.

Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda

Workshops and follow-up campaigns have been conducted in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, assisted by the MDT for the region.

The development of case studies illustrate how trade unions can improve their working conditions and promote environmentally sustainable development in future activities. A workshop held in cooperation with EI showed the large impact the materials and the programme can have when targeting regional educators and coordinators together with the international leadership. This also applies to the development of policies and workers’ education.

The Project cooperated with the ILO/Asia WEA-OSH and ILO/Africa WED/OSH programmes, the Interdepartmental programme on the environment and the APPOT programme. These four programmes were terminated two years ago and the Project has not had specific ILO programmes to work in cooperation with after that time.

It is also interesting to note that the Project’s cooperation with ITGLWF in Pakistan resulted in policies and campaigns on child labour, which is now being continued by the Norwegian-funded Child Labour project.

• preparation and implementation of advisory missions for follow-up action at the national level.

During the missions conducted by the CTA, important information and experiences were shared with the cooperative partners. This way of communication has shown to be one of the most effective and sustainable.

The ongoing work on the establishment of forums on environmental protection support the reporting and registration systems, as does the building up of networks and exchange visits in some of the programmes established in the field (SATUCC programme).

The cooperation with senior specialists on workers' activities and other ILO colleagues allows for monitoring, follow-up and evaluation of the training activities.

The Project has cooperated with the ICFTU in the preparations and participation of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UN/CSD) since 1996. In New York in May 1997 the CTA presented the main problems encountered in the implementation of Agenda 21 emphasizing the unwillingness by authorities at all levels to accept trade union participation in advisory- and decision-making bodies. The two folders of materials were distributed during the meeting to the UN Commission, and the ICFTU reports that this meeting led to a better understanding among CSD members concerning the role of trade unions and the need for them to actively participate in the development of environmental policies. The Project is still involved in cooperation with the ICFTU concerning the UN/CSD meeting in April 1999, where one of the main issues to be discussed will be the environmental impacts of tourism. The Project also cooperates with the ICFTU concerning climate change and employment.

The Project also developed informational posters about the Project to the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions Congress in May 1997. The display of training materials and information brought to the Congress was done in cooperation with the Norwegian-funded Child Labour Project.

Reports have been provided from all workshops and meetings. The cooperating national trade union centres and international trade union organizations inform and report on their activities to those involved and the Project according to letters of agreement signed by the respective organizations and ACTRAV.

During the one-year absence of the CTA, the Project slowed down a bit where some workshops and cooperations were not executed as initially planned. However, the CTA was in contact with ACTRAV by e-mail to receive information on activities and to give comments on proposals. Since the CTA’s return, all the cooperative partners have sent reports and financial statements according agreements. In addition, the Project has received other relevant documents and local training materials. (See Appendix 4)

• implementation of five sub-regional seminars/workshops (25 participants each), 3 workshops in Africa, and 2 in Asia

Policy-making workshops, on a small scale, have been carried out in the Caribbean to follow up and finalize the first phase of the Project. The CTA has planned a mission to the Caribbean in February/March 1999 to follow up the activities, especially with the University of West Indies, Jamaica.

• preparation and implementation of advisory missions for follow-up action at the national level
• sixty follow-up national activities (25 participants each - 30 Africa and 30 Asia)

Although, as mentioned above, it is very difficult to state numbers of trained people, the number of trade unionists directly taking part in the Project activities, amounts to approximately 2,665; 780 before October 1996 and 1,885 since that time. These later figures can be broken down into 1,410 men and 475 women for a total of 56 workshops. Therefore, the number foreseen in the project document has long been surpassed. (See Appendix 5)

It should be noted that the number of workshops include district and local level. During the last part of the Project period, national centres and international trade union organizations have been successful in conducting workshops and activities at the district, local, and workplace levels.

It should be noted that all of the workshops have achieved their aims (draft policy development and action plans on priority environmentally sustainable development issues), except the workshop held in cooperation with APPOT in Malaysia in1995. At this workshop the participants encountered difficulties when they realized that not all of the three parties had the same level of knowledge of the issues. The trade unions had an approved policy to present (developed during a previous Project workshop), which was not the case for the employers’ representatives. Therefore, constructive dialogues were not possible.

It is easy to count the number of workshops, but it comes to be more difficult to count national activities, which include campaigns, court cases, meetings, exhibitions, newspaper articles, media interviews, and the like. Activities such as this have taken place in Eritrea, India, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Malaysia, and the Philippines, among others. The number of 60 national activities has therefore been surpassed. (See Appendix 6)

• include environment and trade union action on the issues included in trade union publications and exchange of information and training materials.

The TUPEP in India has worked on publishing their policy and actions in publications at national level, as have HMS and INTUC. At first the Project did not assist in any special activities to promote the inclusion of environment issues in trade union publications. However, case studies have now been developed and selected to be used as both exchange of information and training materials. The SATUCC programme in particular is dealing with the exchange of information and training materials, as is the CTUC programme in India.

Awareness raising has taken place through leaflet campaigns in Malaysia, Pakistan and India. Exhibitions regarding environmental issues have been held in Eritrea and Tanzania.

• preparation of trade union training policy materials including those for use locally as well as in specific industries such as chemicals, plantations, mining, etc.

Training materials from Phase one have been integrated to a certain extent into existing ACTRAV training programmes, and have been distributed during the entire period of Phase two.

Further local materials have been developed in India based on the above mentioned modules which includes materials from Phase one plus those published in Phase two. This is also the case in Eritrea. Some material has also been developed in the Thai language in cooperation with the DANIDA WEA-OSH Project in Asia. At the end of Phase two, the Project materials were translated into French and Spanish, and part of Project materials have been locally adjusted and translated into Hindi, Korean, Russian, Tigrigna.

The CTA has continued discussing and demonstrating the manuals whenever possible in meetings with visiting groups and on missions to the field.

The collection of case studies is just about complete, and the Project plans to print a booklet on this topic to be used in training activities. Case studies have now been produced by CTUC, ICFTU, ICEM, HMS, IFBWW, FFW/PSI, ITF, IUF and ITGLWF. (See Appendix 7)

There were also plans for the development of posters and handouts to promote the integration of relevant environmental issues in trade union activities. Due to time constraints, priority has now been given to placing information about the Project on the Internet homepage and the development of CD-roms.

• Mid-term evaluation
• Final evaluation

The mid-term evaluation took place as planned in cooperation with the donor and the evaluation team visited India and Eritrea in addition to Geneva.

The final evaluation will take place in Geneva and the ILO Training Centre in Turin from January 20 to 31, 1999.

A final evaluation questionnaire was sent to all focal points, national centres, international trade union organizations, consultants, and other interested individuals. Despite the short return time allowed, approximately two-thirds have returned the questionnaires with valuable information.

(b)

What major assumptions were identified as necessary for the achievement of the immediate objective?

(c)

For each assumption, show whether it has materialised, remains valid or is no longer valid

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