Assessing the contribution of Korea-ILO Partnership Programme in achieving Decent Work Country Programmes in major Asian countries

Partners:

• Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MOLVT), Cambodia
• Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare’s (MOLSW), Lao PDR
• Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs (MOLISA), Viet Nam
• Korean partner agencies:
  • Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA)
  • Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea)
  • Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service (COMWEL)
  • Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)

Target beneficiaries

The ultimate beneficiaries include the tripartite constituents and women and men workers in participating countries, who will benefit from improved capacity on labour-related issues, including progressive employment practices, and safeguards from unemployment and work-related injuries.

Project Objective

In 2012 the Government of Korea conducted an assessment of the 10 years’ work undertaken by the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme. The results demonstrated the importance of the Korea’s contribution to the development of the employment and labour sectors. It also highlighted the need to further strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of the link between the Partnership Programme and the ILO’s Decent Work strategy, to enhance the effectiveness of development assistance and provide a broader base for future cooperation. The assessment also emphasized the need for a closer look at the impact of the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme in achieving the Decent Work outcomes in major Asian countries. Although the opportunities and challenges posed by ASEAN integration are considerable, the countries of CLMV are much more focused due to their late joining to the ASEAN and therefore require further assistance from ASEAN and development partners for their integration towards ASEAN Community 2015. In this regard, the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) has thus been set out aiming to narrow the development gap (NDG) and accelerate the economic integration of CLMV and three of them (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam) have been assisted by the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme.
The proposed project aims to review the impact of the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme on the achievement of Decent Work outcomes of these countries, identify lessons learnt and provide recommendations for future cooperation and improvements that will be extended to Myanmar to support implementation of the country’s Decent Work outcomes. In addition, the assessment will help to strengthen the ILO/Korea Partnership and its future programme development.

The immediate objective is to assess the contribution of the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme to the Decent Work outcomes of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam, and evaluate possible extension of the Partnership Programme to Myanmar. The project will also identify future areas for Korean bilateral cooperation in these countries, to ensure coherence between the Korean Government’s multilateral and bilateral assistance in major ASEAN Member States.

Main Activities

To achieve the objectives, the following activities have been held:

1. National tripartite seminar on assessing the contribution of the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme towards the Decent Work outcomes of CLMV.
2. Regional tripartite seminar on assessing the contribution of the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme towards the Decent Work outcomes in CLMV.
3. Publicity materials developed to enhance the visibility of the Partnership Programme.

Main Outcomes

• The ILO/Korea Partnership Programme is geared towards the Decent Work outcomes in four countries (CLMV).
• Partnership with tripartite constituents in CLMV is strengthened to support future collaboration and their engagement at regional and national tripartite seminars in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam as well as a consultation with Myanmar.
• The strategic framework of the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme in CLMV indicates more focused, long-term support to address these countries’ priorities in skills development (skills recognition), strengthening social protection and promotion of Occupational Safety and Health.

Multilateral and bilateral cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the CLMV governments becomes an effective partnership with support from different actors of the Korean government.