Activities
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| Project Social Finance for Support to Self-Employment |
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» December 3: International Day of Disabled Persons: The ILO’s Activities in Central and Eastern Europe
Together with the Social Finance Programme from
the ILO, the ILO Subregional Office for Central and Eastern
Europe is implementing a two-year project (2004 - 2005)
on Social Finance for support to self-employment. The project,
funded by the French government, targets three countries
of South Eastern Europe - Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.
Through its activities, the project aims at taking forward
the decent work agenda of the ILO by advocating the potentials
of micro finance as a strategy for self employment creation
and SME development.
"Microfinance makes an important contribution to the
ILO's Decent Work approach to poverty reduction in three
ways: job creation [...]; enhanced security [...]; empowerement
[...]" (Working out of poverty, report of the ILO
Director General to the International Labour Conference
2003, p. 50). In the targeted countries, in the course
of restructuring of enterprises and closely linked with
proivatization, an important contingent of qualified workers
is being laid off. Governments have increasingly promoted
active labour market policies, and lately supported the
development of SME and self-employment. However, once candidates
for the creation of small enterprises have benefited from
training and consulting services, they are faced with financial
barriers, as a very limited number of financial institutions
offer the appropriate financial services. Several programmes
supporting microfinance can be identified in these countries,
but they remain isolated, and there is a clear lack for
the integration of microfinance at the policy level.
In November 2002, the ILO Committee on Employment and Social
Policy discussed the role of microfinance for decent work.
The need for a more systematic integration of microfinance
into the ILO agenda was underlined, notably with regard
to the office work on the informal economy, PRSPs and the
Global Employment Agenda. The employers' and workers' groups
also wished to see the Office develop more tools to strengthen
their capacity to advise the constituents on financial issues,
such as the costs of capital and investment, capital market
access for SMEs, asset formation in the informal economy,
property rights and collateral, and the empowerment of women
(ILC June 2003 Provisional Record, No. 1. p. 9). In March 2005 the Governing Body of ILO discussed the role of microfinance in the promotion of Decent Work. The unique role of ILO was recognized and the Governing Body called upon a strengthening of social finance activities for poverty alleviation. (more) Within this
mandate, and based on the experience of the Social Finance
programme that developed a strong expertise on social finance
issues in developing and industrialized countries, the ILO
stands as a key player to promote dialogue between the social
partners and advocate the potentials of social finance for
self-employment and SME creation - tools for the promotion
of Decent Work.
For further information:
Ms Séverine Deboos,
Technical Expert, Social Finance >> more
 Microfinance in south-eastern Europe: How small business helps to create jobs
Events of the “Social Finance for Support to Self-Employment” project
Research papers in the framework of the “Social Finance for Support to Self-Employment” project
Social Finance Programme
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| ILO Film |
| Fully fit at work |
Film about the advantages of employing persons with disabilities. As this ILO film (Fully Fit at Work) shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. Produced for the ILO by the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Watch the film online in Polish with English subtitles. Duration: 21 min 11 sec
If the video is not displayed, download the free RealPlayer™
Press release in English and
Polish |
| ILO, UN deliver as one in Albania |
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A package for social and economic progress
The Albanian pilot of the One UN Programme will make use of the experiences of the International Labour Organization (ILO) gained in the field. As the only tripartite organisation within the United Nations system, the ILO plays a key role in involving social partners in the recently launched UN reform process.
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