The transformative journey of the Regional Seminar for Labour-Based Practitioners

Since its modest beginnings in the early 1990s, the Regional Seminar for Labour-Based Practitioners has grown into one of Africa’s most impactful platforms for promoting employment-intensive approaches. What began as a small sub-regional gathering of project staff has evolved into a major international conference influencing policy, training, and resource mobilization across the continent.

The origins of the conference are rooted in the ILO’s Advisory Support, Information Services and Training (ASIST) programme, which was operational in Eastern and Southern Africa. Initially conceived as an annual project monitoring meeting, the gatherings were designed to share best practices, identify operational challenges, and formulate common solutions among project managers and staff. This event started involving relevant decision-making authorities and sector ministries to be able to resolve issues that go beyond the capacity of project management.

According to Asfaw Kidanu, in EMPINVEST responsible for the Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP), the first two events held in Mbeya, Tanzania (1990) and Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho (1992), were fully financed by the ASIST programme and was made up of a few project staff. Yet, even in these early years, they played a vital role in spreading the word on EIIP, the importance of employment and decent work, focusing mainly on labour-based construction methods, and winning over local authorities, academia, and the private sector.

© Rwandan Ministry of Public Service and Labour / ILO

© Rwandan Ministry of Public Service and Labour / ILO

Over time, the conference’s scope expanded significantly. As participation grew, so did the need for broader partnerships and more sustainable financing. The third event, held in Zimbabwe in 1993, marked a turning point, co-sponsored by the Zimbabwe Institute of Civil Engineers (ZICE). By the fourth and fifth conferences, co-hosted by universities and government departments, the Conference had transitioned into a regional platform for knowledge development and dissemination. Kidanu notes, “the objective of the conference started evolving from a project monitoring for a wider goal of knowledge development and dissemination.”

Content and form evolved as well. The 5th conference in Ghana introduced a self-financing model through participant fees. The 10th conference in Arusha adopted a “Participants’ Seminar Statement” as a collective action plan to be monitored by the ILO. In 2007, the Durban conference added a parallel Ministerial Meeting and Statement, strengthening the link between technical practitioners and policymakers.

"The objective of the conference started evolving from a project monitoring for a wider goal of knowledge development and dissemination.”

Asfaw Kidanu

Beyond institutional evolution, the Regional Seminar has played a pivotal role in shaping the labour-based sector. It helped establish networks such as the Inter-Africa Labour-Based Training Institutions Forum and the Network of Universities on Labour-Based Works. It has also facilitated the development of joint guidelines like the “Green Guide” for improving the contracting industry and supported the creation of national training centres in over ten countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique.

“The Seminar assisted in so many ways,” Kidanu explains, highlighting its contributions to disseminating knowledge products, enabling practitioners to showcase the technical, economic, social and environmental benefits of labour-based works, and serving as a platform to “put employment and employability at the centre of regional dialogue.”

As the Seminar for Labour-based Practitioners celebrates its 20th edition, it does so against a backdrop of profound global shifts—economic distress, the digital divide, geopolitical tensions, and rising informality and displacement. With the theme focused on building resilient communities and healthy environments, the 20th Regional Seminar is poised to address these challenges head-on. “Employment and employability are among the key mitigation measures,” says Kidanu, underscoring the need for collective action.

The Regional Seminar for Labour-based practitioners will be held from 19 to 23 of May 2025 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This year, Addis Ababa was selected as the host city following a popular vote at the 19th conference in Kigali. Ethiopia’s impressive track record in employment-intensive infrastructure and environmental projects made it a compelling choice. The mega infrastructure investment, government-sponsored employment programmes, and environmental conservation works were key factors, Kidanu explains. The city also offers robust conference infrastructure and rich cultural heritage, enhancing its appeal as a host.

Looking ahead, the Regional Seminar is expected to continue evolving. In the short term, the focus will remain on sustaining momentum and incorporating new sectors. In the medium and long term, Kidanu envisions leveraging digital technologies and expanding the Seminar’s reach while maintaining its unique value as a dedicated platform for exploring state of the art polices, strategies and programmatic intervention on employment and employability to ensure lasting change and inclusive employment opportunities.

© Rwandan Ministry of Public Service and Labour / ILO

© Rwandan Ministry of Public Service and Labour / ILO

Now a sustainable, nationally-owned, self-financed event, the Regional Seminars have become a beacon of South-South cooperation and a cornerstone of the ILO’s efforts in Africa, as well as, in Asia and Arab States. “The successive regional seminars have served as an avenue, most of all, to promote ILO’s values, principles and strategic objectives,” Kidanu concludes. “It is a demonstration of the convening power of the ILO and the EIIP—and a major conduit for disseminating knowledge and global and regional good practices.”

Asfaw Kidanu is a Head of Job Creation through Public Investments (JCPI) Unit, under the ILO Employment Policy, Job Creation and Livelhoods Department, based in Geneva, Switzerland. He is responsible for coordinating and supports global Employment Intensive Investment Programme activities. Before joining the EMPLOYMENT department, he has served as EIIP DWT Specialist and coordinated regional activities including the organisation and conduct of ILO Regional Seminar for labour-based practitioners. He also managed a number of public works projects in many countries in Africa. He has worked with national Governments, bilateral and multi-lateral organizations as well as the private sector over that last two decades and involved in the promotion of employment and employability often in fragile context. Asfaw is a transport engineer with extensive experience in the use of right-based approach in infrastructure sector, which is a key ingredient for creation of sustainable and inclusive growth.