October 2022

1. ILO Research Department Training

   Africa regional training on evidence-based policy making for decent work

   It is widely recognized that evidence (data, research, best practices) is essential for decision and policy making. In practice, the use of evidence in the policy-making touching the world of work is still at its early stages and unevenly practiced. As a result, policies are not as effective as they could or should be in responding to employment and labour market challenges facing the world of work. There is so much information available and yet they are not used appropriately for effective policy making. This training for the countries of Africa intends to build capacities and skills of the users of research and data and especially the policy-makers, while providing them with the necessary instruments and tools to find, evaluate, and understand the relevant evidence for policy making in their work and influence policies based on evidence in return. Specific topics related to informality, social protection, wages and migration will be included in the training. The training is part of the broader capacity-building initiative of the ILO in strengthening capacities at various levels such as individual, organizational and societal and includes one-year follow-up activities to ensure learning transfer. This training is targeted to policy makers and policy influencers from the Africa region representing the trade unions and workers, employers representatives as well as government officials from various ministries.

May 2022

1. Research Seminar

   General Labour History of Africa: Workers, Employers and Governments, 20th-21st Centuries

   The aim of the edited volume is to better understand the historical processes of transformation of African labour over roughly 100 years.

October 2021

1. ILO Research Department Training

   Ethiopia national training on evidence-based policy making

   It is widely recognized that evidence (data, research, best practices) is essential for decision and policy making. In practice, the use of evidence in the policy-making touching the world of work is still at its early stages and unevenly practiced. As a result, policies are not as effective as they could or should be in responding to employment and labour market challenges facing the world of work. There is so much information available and yet they are not used appropriately for effective policy making. This training intends to build capacities and skills of the users of research and data and especially the policy-makers, while providing them with the necessary instruments and tools to find, evaluate, and understand the relevant evidence for policy making in their work and influence policies based on evidence in return. The training is part of the broader capacity-building initiative of the ILO in strengthening capacities at various levels such as individual, organizational and societal and includes one-year follow-up activities to ensure learning transfer. This training is targeted to policy makers and policy influencers representing the trade unions and workers, employers representatives as well as government officials from various ministries.

September 2019

1. ILO Research Department Seminar

   Fertile Ground for Conflict

   We investigate how variations in soil productivity affect civil conflicts. We first present a model with heterogeneous land in which variations in input prices (fertilizers) affect appropriable rents and the opportunity costs of fighting. The theory predicts that spikes in input prices increase the likelihood of conflicts through their effect on income and inequality, and that this effect is magnified when soil fertility is naturally more heterogenous. We test these predictions using data on conflict events covering all Sub-Saharan African countries at a spatial resolution of 0.5 _ 0.5 degree latitude and longitude over the 1997-2013 period. We combine information on soil characteristics and worldwide variations in fertilizer prices to identify local exogenous changes in input costs. As predicted, variations in soil productivity triggered by variations in fertilizer prices are positively associated with conflicts, especially in cells where land endowments are more heterogeneous. In addition, we find that the distribution of land fertility both within and across ethnic groups affects violence, and that the effect of between-group heterogeneity in soil quality is magnified in densely populated areas. Overall, our findings imply that inequality in access to fertile areas { an issue largely neglected in the literature dealing with the roots of Sub-Saharan African civil wars { constitutes a serious threat to peace at the local-level.