Webinar, 17 May 2021 15.00-16.15 CEST

Webinar on promoting social cohesion and peaceful coexistence through TVET

On International Day of Living Together in Peace, ILO’s Skills and Employability Branch together with the Coordination Unit for Peace and Resilience (CSPR) and under the Partnership for improving prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons (PROSPECTS), is organizing a webinar to launch a new guide on Promoting Social Cohesion and Peaceful Coexistence in Fragile Contexts through TVET.

Introduction: Tine Staermose, Special Adviser to the ILO’s Deputy Director-General for Policy, Labour Market Institutions, and Governance
  • Presentation of the Guide: Raj Bhari, Peaceful Change Initiative - co-author of the guide
  • Reactions from UNDP and UNHCR
  • Moderation: Christine Hofmann, Skills and Employability Specialist, ILO, Skills for Social Inclusion
  • Panelists: Catherine Musuku, Kenya Technical Trainers College (KTTC); Jehan Morgan, TVET trainer, Jordan; Jean Byamugisha, Uganda Hotel Owners Association; Ernest Nadome, Central Organisation of the Trade Unions, Kenya; Lam Cosmas, Peace facilitator, Uganda
  • Closing statements: Mito Tsukamoto, Chief, ILO Development and Investment Branch; Srinivas Reddy, Chief, ILO, Skills and Employability Branch

Background


More than a century ago, in 1919, the ILO was born from the ashes of war with a vision that workers, employers, and governments together could build a world of universal peace, based on social justice. In 2017, the ILO International Labour Conference adopted Recommendation No. 205 (R205) on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience, a unique normative framework for the world of work in conflict and disaster settings. It promotes the adaptation of curricula and the training of teachers and instructors to promote “peaceful coexistence and reconciliation for peacebuilding and resilience” (para 19).

Based on the R205, the ILO Jobs for Peace and Resilience (JPR) flagship programme combines employment-intensive investments, technical, vocational, and entrepreneurial skills training, and employment services to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable, including the unemployed, underemployed, and low-skilled, with a particular focus on youth and women. 

In fragile and post-conflict situations, access to decent employment and vocational training can be considered secondary to the policy discussions on social cohesion and peaceful coexistence. Training in fragile contexts is often short-term and narrowly focused on assisting vulnerable populations to acquire capacities for enhancing employability and accessing incomes. Limited attention is given to the training environment potential as a space to promote the positive values of peace and respect through strengthening inter-group contact and addressing underlying grievances. There is a growing evidence base of training strategies that have the potential to contribute to peaceful coexistence in fragile settings. Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) can therefore act as a peace and resilience hub. 

the ILO’s Skills and Employability Branch together with the Coordination Unit for Peace and Resilience (CSPR) and under the Partnership for improving prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons (PROSPECTS), developed and piloted a new guide to foster the peace responsive role TVET plays in fragile settings. The guide is aimed at TVET practitioners to strengthen their role as active promoters of social cohesion and peaceful co-existence through inclusive learning methodologies and the training of relevant core skills. The guide provides practical guidance to trainers and managers of training centres on how to adapt training delivery to mixed groups, embeds conflict resolution skills, cooperation, and other relevant core skills into training curricula, and create conflict-sensitive, inclusive, and diverse learning environments for all.