IZMIR – The Training of Trainers on “Enforcement and Compliance through Labour Inspection” was delivered to the employees of the Directorate for Guidance and Inspection under the “Opportunities for Lives Project” jointly implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Directorate-General for International Labour Force (DG-ILF) of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS).

The 5-day training in Izmir was attended by 40 Labour Inspectors from Ankara, Adana, Bursa, Istanbul and Izmir and 2 judges from the Turkish Academy of Justice. The training was delivered by experts from the ILO’s International Training Centre (ITC) based in Turin, Italy. Senior Programme Expert Fernando Fonseca, International Consultant Luiz Carlos Lumbreras Rocha and Strategic Compliance Expert Valkyrie Hanson provided information to the participants on “Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work”, “Strategic Planning”, “Non-Standard Forms of Work and Working Conditions” and “Psycho-social Risks”.

Mr. Numan Özcan, Director of the ILO Office for Turkey, stated in his opening remarks that the Governance and Institutional Capacity Building Component of the project aimed to strengthen the existing institutional capacities of labour inspectors by providing support on national and international legislation, labour inspection and judicial processes to guide public and private employers and employees. Recalling that 280 inspectors were reached in 2019 through the training sessions delivered on “International Practice and Judicial Process in Labour Inspection” in Ankara, Adana, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, Mr. Özcan noted that five labour inspectors participated in a training programme at the Labour Inspection Academy organised by ITC-ILO in Turin, Italy where more than 100 representatives from 30 countries participated.

Mr. Özcan said: “By the Training of Trainers Programme completed last week, we took a significant step towards the sustainability of our activities. The programme included such important topics as ‘Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work’, ‘Strategic Planning’, ‘Non-Standard Forms of Work and Working Conditions’ and ‘Psycho-social Risks’. It is a source of great happiness for us that the Directorate for Guidance and Inspection received ILO’s training module.”

The Director of the ILO Office for Turkey added that the effective cooperation would continue in the upcoming days through other activities and projects with labour inspectors as persons who monitored the implementation of national and international legislation in the world of work, worked on legislative drafting, and identified deficiencies in legislation through their inspection and audit work.

The training was organised in the context of the project “Job Creation and Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Syrians under Temporary Protection and Host Communities in Turkey” (Opportunities for Lives) financed by the European Union.