Innovation to promote fundamental principles and rights at work

The teamwork, innovation and leadership of ILO staff took centre stage at the ILO Recognition Awards at headquarters on 6 May 2019, as colleagues from the around the world were recognized by the Director-General and their peers for their outstanding service.
“Today’s award ceremony is a celebration to honour the remarkable contributions that ILO colleagues have made in realizing the mandate of our Organization to advance social justice and promote decent work,” said Director-General Guy Ryder.

“The accomplishments and the exceptional qualities and engagement of these colleagues join the achievements of the many women and men who, over the decades, have made this Organization.”

Within this framework, the following two initiatives received the 2018 ILO Innovation Award:

50 for Freedom campaign

50 For Freedom is a campaign launched in 2015 to promote the ratification of the ILO's Forced Labour Protocol, which leverages a range of innovative and creative campaign tools to strengthen global action. The campaign is a collaboration between several departments, and between the ILO, the ITUC and the IOE.

"The innovative aspects of the 50 for Freedom campaign lies in its multi-level approach where it combined use of online mobilizations, events, technical advisory services and partnerships supported by new creative campaign tools," said Deborah Greenfield, Deputy Director-General for Policy, in her presentation of the winners of the Innovation Award.

"It had a huge impact. Thirty one countries have ratified the Protocol and many more are in the process of doing so."

• Learn more about the innovative work of the 50 for Freedom Campaign [+]

Following the adoption of the ILO Protocol on Forced labour in 2014, the 50 for Freedom campaign was launched in 2015 to encourage the first 50 countries to ratify the Protocol. Beyond this goal, the campaign aims at raising awareness about forced labour and reaching out to a broader audience thanks to several artists and partners.

Ratification and implementation of international labour standards, in particular on politically sensitive issues like forced labour, are among the most challenging policy objectives of the organization. The “50 for Freedom” campaign was launched in 2015 by FUNDAMENTALS, DCOMM and NORMES as an inventive way to promote ratification of the 2014 Forced Labour Protocol.

Initially launched by the ILO, together with IOE and ITUC, the campaign attracted 34 international, regional and national partners, including 19 organizations; 5 creative partners instrumental in leveraging impact; and 10 influential leaders, activists and artists, who helped reaching out to a broader audience.

The campaign includes a unique collaboration across the Office to deliver a combination of online mobilization, events, technical advisory services and partnerships, including a range of innovative and creative campaigns tools. From the outset, very innovative products and events were conceived such as:

• A signatures’ board, unveiled during the 2015 ILC in the presence of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Kailash Sathyarti, which was later replicated in Thailand, London, Addis Ababa, Buenos Aires and Brussels.
• The sub-campaign #AsinaBrasil launching 50forFreedom in Brazil and achieving more than 5,400 sign-ups in May 2017.
• A spectacular performance by De la Guarda company during the IV Global Conference on Child Labour.
• TedX on Forced Labour with Leonardo Sakamoto.
• A series of special screenings of the movie “El Patron” in the presence of lead actor, Joaquin Furriel and director Sebastian Schindel.
• The appointment of a Goodwill Ambassador, for the first time in ILO history, the actor Wagner Moura. A total of 6.5 million people were reached by his video broadcast on MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount.
• Voice of the Voiceless series.
• Series of GIFS shared with partners to mark International Days, such as the Abolition of Slavery day.

Customized events were organized, in close coordination with field offices, engaging constituents in various countries (UK, Argentina, Brazil, France, Ethiopia, Thailand, etc.). Furthermore, 50forFreedom paved the way for further ratification campaign such the Centenary ratification campaign “one for all”.

Some content had an impact beyond the ILO. The Copenhagen Workers’ Museum staged an exhibition on slavery, including a full room designed with 50 for Freedom content. The Consumer Good Forum used the 50 for Freedom campaign to raise awareness among its CEOs and C-level Executives at its 2018 Annual Summit in Singapore.

So far 31 countries have ratified the Protocol, many more are in the process of doing so and above 43,000 people worldwide signed up to the campaign on 50forFreedom.org. Many videos are above 10k views.

Initially, pioneering products such as the signatures’ board raised some initial doubts or concerns. However, the board immediately received strong support from ILO constituents, creating a buzz amongst ILC participants queuing to sign it. The board was later replicated in other countries with similar success.

The campaign has been praised by constituents and partners alike. For example, the employers’ group said during the 2017 Governing Body “We congratulate the Office for its efforts on promoting the Protocol and giving it global visibility with the 50forFreedom campaign”. It is the first time that the IOE has officially partnered with the Office to support a ratification campaign.

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Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour

The Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour (RI) was established in 2014, after the III Global Conference on Child Labour (Brasilia, 2013) and before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, as an intergovernmental cooperation instrument that builds on more than 20 years of regional experience on the prevention and eradication of child labour. Its objective is to foster innovative strategies against child labour and contribute to achieving Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda.

Presenting the winner, Deborah Greenfield said: "The innovation of this initiative lies in its comprehensive strategy that incorporates a threefold approach to prevention, withdrawal and restitution of rights to child labourers. It also developed an innovative tripartite partnership model creating good synergies through a set of new institutional approaches."

• Learn more about the innovative work of the Regional Initiative [+]

Since its inception, the RI has established itself as a focused, tripartite effort that includes national governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations. It has promoted the design of different instruments, tools and generated practices that, implemented in a coordinated way, have resulted in an innovative strategy to fight child labour. The RI works hand in hand with Alliance 8.7 to coordinate efforts and maximize their impact.

The RI focuses on five keys for innovation:

• Associate
• Unite
• Accelerate
• Cooperate
• Go beyond

The RI operates through a Network of Focal Points, made up of representatives of its 30 Member States, five representatives of employers’ organizations and five representatives of workers’ organizations, that makes decisions and sets priorities. The RI also has a Technical Secretariat that provides assistance to the Network of Focal Points in the planning, implementation and follow-up of its strategies. In order to leverage the ILO’s experience and knowledge on the fight against child labour, the RI’s Technical Secretariat is hosted by the ILO Regional Office for the Americas in Lima (Peru).

This association with the ILO has given the RI credibility among existing government platforms and employers’ and workers’ organizations, such as the International Employer´s Organization, the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas and the Global Compact. The RI also carries out joint actions with other United Nations agencies, including the FAO, IOM and ECLAC, among others.

The RI set out to unite the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, focus their efforts and set common goals and strategies to accelerate the fight against child labour in the region and improve protection of young workers of legal working age so that they could benefit from decent work alternatives. The work of the RI has given the region a stronger voice on the international stage and has placed the issue of child labour high in the national public agendas of its Member States.

The RI has developed innovative methods to accelerate the reduction of child labour rates, which have stagnated in recent years, including new intervention models such as the “Policy Acceleration Framework” and the “Child Labour Risk Identification Model”.

The RI is also working to strengthen intergovernmental cooperation based on the region’s existing capacity and experience with South-South cooperation. As a result, the RI is leveraging its know-how and existing good practices, bringing together a network of actors committed to the prevention and eradication of child labour, encouraging public-private partnerships and opening new channels for joint action.

The RI has already achieved a great deal since its creation in 2014. Beyond the “Policy Acceleration Framework” and the “Child Labour Risk Identification Model”, it has created a web-based platform and a Smartphone app that analyses the relationships between Target 8.7 and other 35 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals related to child labour. The aim is to promote policy discussions. It is also working to increase stakeholders’ knowledge and understanding of key issues like migration, indigenous peoples and agriculture through toolkits and virtual training programmes.

Through systematic reviews of policies and program assessments, the RI is identifying and analysing what works to reduce the prevalence of child labour in the region. By leveraging the experience and knowledge accrued by public and private partners in the region, the RI is promoting South-South cooperation through interactive tools such as the capacity map that allows users to visualize factors that can accelerate the eradication of child labour.

The RI is making progress towards its goal of having the first generation of children and adolescents free from child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2025.

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