Strengthening the Impact on Employment of Sector and Trade Policies (STRENGTHEN)

The STRENGTHEN project is a joint initiative of the EU and the ILO and aims to strengthen the capabilities of country partners to analyse and design sector and trade policies and programmes that would enhance employment creation for more and better jobs. It consists of two components. The first component focuses on Sector Policies and  supports and builds capacity among partner countries and development practitioners to enhance the positive impact of sector policies and programmes on employment. The second component focuses on Trade Policies and assists developing countries in harnessing international trade and trade-related foreign investment to provide more opportunities for decent work and increase the number of productively employed workers. Read more about the project, including background information and objectives. 

The first phase of STRENGTHEN was launched in 2014 and concluded in 2020. This video shows how the project helped increase the capacity of the partner countries to analyse and forge new sector and trade policies and programmes for creating more and better jobs. Learn more about the project’s approach, its focus on capacity building, knowledge sharing initiatives, and tools in this interview.

Sector Policies

  1. Employment Impact Assessment (EmpIA) of Public Policies in Selected Sectors

    This project component supports developing countries and development practitioners in analysing and designing policies and programmes, which would enhance the positive impact on employment of sector policies and programmes such as agriculture, infrastructure and energy.

Trade Policies

  1. Assessing and Addressing the Effects of Trade on Employment – Phase 2 (ETE II)

    This project component supports developing countries in harnessing international trade and trade-related foreign investment towards providing more opportunities for decent work within developing countries and raising the number of developing-country workers who are productively employed.