Training of Trainers on Youth Rights at Work

Background

In 2016, the labour force in Indonesia has reached 127.6 million with an overall total unemployment rate of 5.5 percent which translates to around 7 million people who are without work. . Over the years Indonesia’s labour market has continued to expand with the number of employed growing while unemployment rate has been steadily declining. However, the declining unemployment rate masks the employment situation in the country. More than 70 percent of the workers are engaged in informal employment, with a large proportion of workers in vulnerable employment (i.e. own account and unpaid family workers). Only 9 percent of the labour force has a university degree.

Unemployment and job quality, are likely to compound pre-existing challenges that include high youth unemployment and persistent informality. In February 2016, the youth unemployment rate stood at 17.8 per cent, down from 20.6 per cent a year earlier. This is a relatively high rate in comparison with other countries in the region (e.g. China).

Despites strategies, policies and programs targeted for more employment for young people, rights of young people, especially who is getting their first job, often neglected under various circumstances.

Young workers, particularly the low skilled and young migrants from rural areas can find jobs in a number of high growth sectors such as garment, constructions and trade. However, these jobs are often characterized by low wages and poor conditions. With limited knowledge and awareness of their rights at work, young workers rarely have access to social security, OSH, and labour protection.

In response to employment challenges for young workers, the ILO Youth Employment Programme has developed the training package “Youth Rights @Work: Decent work for young people” that consists of a guide for facilitators and a toolkit that provide hands-on examples of rights and entitlements of young workers as well as recruitment practices and workplace situations.

This package was developed by taking into account of the extensive multi-country and multi-regional experiences gained by the ILO through the implementation of several technical cooperation programmes in Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Many of these programmes tested and developed learning activities to promote rights at work for youth and the principles contained in international labour standards. They allowed young people to gain knowledge and understanding of their rights and entitlements in the world of work.

This training packages has been translated to Bahasa Indonesia in the last quarter of 2015 and ready to be rolled out for young people in Indonesia through training of trainers.

ToT Programme on “Rights@work 4 Youth” will be carried out in Jakarta on 20-21 April 2017, and in Semarang, 17-18 April 2017. The training is in cooperation between the ILO and the Ministry of Manpower.


Objectives

The overall purpose of this training workshop is to strengthen capacity of trade unions, employers organizations, business associations, public employment service centers, SMK/ SMA teachers, youth organizations, migrant resource centers and public training institutes to reach out to young workers with awareness-raising initiatives that aim to improve the conditions of work of young people.

The workshop will provide participants with skills and methodologies for conducting training sessions. It will enable them to integrate such events into the activities of their own institutions and, at a later stage, to roll them out to schools and training institutions.

Ultimately, the event aims to provide the participants with tools and techniques to promote decent work among their respective constituencies.

In summary, the main objectives of the training are to:

• Provide tools and methodologies for the design and implementation of awareness-raising and learning events on decent work for young people;
• Establish a network of young leaders on rights at work; and
• Discuss and agree upon an action plan to roll out the learning workshop within participating institutions and, at a later stage, among job centers, youth centers, migrant resource centers and training institutes, youth organizations, employers’ and workers’ organisations in Indonesia.