DEAD SEA, JORDAN (ILO News) A two-day knowledge sharing event in Jordan has brought together ILO experts and constituents from across the Arab region and beyond, to exchange case studies and good practices on the inclusion of refugees and displaced persons in the labour market.

Focusing on the ILO’s responses in crisis settings, the event examined key themes and models of intervention which have successfully generated decent jobs for refugees, displaced persons and host communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.

The event was attended by government officials, ILO’s social partners and development practitioners working in Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, as well as representatives from various UN agencies.

“This workshop is extremely important as it is bringing together an array of technical experts and partners, who are sharing their experiences in what has worked and what has not worked in efforts to include refugees and displaced persons in the labour market,” said Maha Kattaa, ILO’s Senior Regional Resilience and Crisis Response Specialist. “We have a lot to learn from these experiences and not just in terms of success stories but also challenges faced in regional and global crisis responses. This will help us redesign, adapt and improve our programmes and responses in future interventions.”
 
Sessions at the event focused on the impact ILO-led interventions have had in various countries, such as the implementation of Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP), the promotion of employment services, skills development, private sector development and entrepreneurship, social security schemes and access to legal support services for refugees and displaced persons.

The event was organised by the ILO and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO), as part of efforts to encourage a more coherent approach to the promotion of decent work in crisis settings, in-line with ILO’s Guiding Principles on the Access of Refugees and other Forcibly Displaced Persons to the Labour Market; ILO’s Jobs for Peace and Resilience Flagship Programme and implementation of Recommendation 205 on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience.
 
“This is a great opportunity because we are learning from different experiences and different case studies and we will really try to make this an activity that will promote more learning between different countries,” said Joel Alcocer, Manager of the Jobs for Peace and Resilience Training Programme at ITCILO.

Study Tour

The event followed a two-day study tour of sites and interventions being implemented by the ILO in Jordan, as part of its Programme of Support to the Jordan Compact, which promotes economic growth, job creation and quality service delivery in the country.

This included visits to farms, where a compliance model for decent work is being designed to improve the living and working conditions of agricultural workers. Participants were able to explore first-hand the impact these initiatives are having on Jordanian and Syrian men and women through meetings with workers as well as agricultural cooperatives supporting the implementation of projects in the sector.

The study tour also included a visit to ILO employment centres, set up to connect Jordanian and Syrian job seekers with employers, through career guidance, training opportunities and job matching services. Participants also met Syrian and Jordanian workers employed at a factory benefiting from the EU-Jordan trade agreement. The factory is being supported by the ILO to network with foreign markets, access qualified workers and improve working conditions in-line with national legislation and international labour standards.


This event was financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and by “Partnership for improving prospects for forcibly displaced persons and host communities” (PROSPECTS) - a strategic partnership between the Kingdom of the Netherlands, ILO, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Bank and IFC that supports refugees and host countries in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.