Articles
2012
-
Quick impact employment creation project, SIERRA LEONE
26 December 2012
Quick Impact Employment Creation Project (QIECP) was designed to generate rapid employment opportunities and income generating activities for youths as well as build the foundation for sustainability of the labour-based method by strengthening the capacities of private and public entities in the country to be able to implement infrastructure works by the labour-based method.
-
Wanted: Local workers for the oil and gas industry
12 December 2012
The oil and gas industry is facing increasing shortages of skilled workers. This could be an opportunity for oil- and gas-producing countries to boost the involvement of their local workforce.
-
Liberia: Waging war on youth unemployment
06 December 2012
By Dennis Zulu, Chief Program Officer, ILO Office for Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
-
Maternity protection: Not just a personal issue
23 November 2012
Many countries have ratified ILO conventions on maternity protection, but pregnant women still face workplace discrimination. Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25), the ILO publishes guidelines on how to implement maternity protection policies.
-
AfDB President spells out agenda for job creation
22 November 2012
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr Donald Kaberuka, talks about what it takes to generate income, jobs and sustainable employment.
-
“Alien plants” boost green jobs in South Africa
20 November 2012
South Africa has become a success story when it comes to creating jobs and protecting the environment through its Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Many other countries in the global south are also benefitting from similar programmes.
-
African judges’ labour of law
26 October 2012
The ILO helps 25 African judges fight sex discrimination in the courts but cultural challenges remain the biggest obstacle for some.
-
Cultivating the green shoots of rural areas
18 October 2012
The ILO looks to harnessing the potential of the world’s rural areas as city dwellers in the developing world struggle to find work.
-
Youth employment: What works
09 August 2012
International Youth Day – marked on August 12 – sets the spotlight on the pressing challenges faced by young people. ILO News looks at practices that can help turn around the dramatic youth employment situation.
-
Campaign against human trafficking held against Olympic backdrop
27 July 2012
As crowds throng London for the Olympics, passers-by are lured to enter huge boxes, only to be confronted with the horrors of human trafficking. The installations aim at raising awareness about a crime that – according to ILO figures – has claimed more than 20 million victims.
-
Cooperatives show the way out of the crisis
04 July 2012
Cooperatives have been more resilient to the global economic and jobs crisis than other sectors. The UN International Day of Cooperatives, which takes place this year on 7 July, offers a chance for cooperatives to reassert their position in the world economy. ILO News interviews Simel Esim, Chief of the ILO’s Cooperative Branch.
-
Green and fair: Cooperatives in Ethiopia
19 June 2012
By their very nature, cooperatives can balance economic, environmental, and social needs. The ILO will be showcasing some of its successful experiences in this field at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). One of them involves more than 200,000 coffee producers and almost 200 cooperatives in Ethiopia.
-
Cape Verde: How social protection can help the elderly
04 June 2012
The International Labour Conference is considering adoption of a Recommendation on Social Protection Floors. The ILO is convinced every country can move towards social security for all, and cites the example of impoverished Cape Verde.
-
Tackling child labour: from commitment to action
01 June 2012
This paper considers the progress that ILO member States are making in the application of ILO Conventions and Recommendations. It draws on two reports considered by the 2012 International Labour Conference: 'Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: From commitment to action' and 'Giving globalization a human face.
-
High unemployment and growing inequality fuel social unrest around the world
27 April 2012
More than half of 106 countries surveyed by the ILO face a growing risk of social unrest and discontent, says the new World of Work Report published by the International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS) – the research arm of the ILO. An interview with IILS Director, Raymond Torres.
-
How the ILO supports change in the Arab world
17 January 2012
The world has been transfixed in admiration at the courage of the women and men who have taken to the streets across the Arab States over the past year. Farah Dakhlallah, ILO Regional Outreach and Advocacy Officer in Beirut, reports from Yemen and Lebanon where the ILO assists in preparing a better future for workers in the region.
2011
-
From the depths of an African shantytown, a nascent youth employment movement grows
14 December 2011
In Africa’s second largest slum, youth unemployment is sky high. But cooperative projects are helping youth find work and slowly lift themselves out of poverty through such projects as raising food in community gardens, processing waste for bio-fuel or providing improved sanitation. Journalist Anne Holmes reports on how this emerging economic revival is making a small but significant dent in a major ongoing challenge.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.