International Labour Organization, Rwanda holds capacity building workshop on Unemployment Protection
The workshop equipped participants with a better understanding of what unemployment protection is and how it brings together unemployment benefits, ensuring income security and active labour market policies, as well as supporting laid off workers to get back into employment.
25 October 2023
Rwanda (ILO News) The International Labour Organization Country Office for the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda held a capacity building workshop on unemployment protection in Kigali, Rwanda. The workshop brought together tripartite constituents, including different public institutions such as the Ministry of Public Service and Labour, Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Rwanda Development Board. The workshop aimed to improve knowledge and provide better understanding of the key concepts of unemployment protection as well as discuss the next steps for unemployment protection in Rwanda.
The workshop equipped participants with a better understanding of what unemployment protection is and how it brings together unemployment benefits, ensuring income security and active labour market policies, as well as supporting laid off workers to get back into employment. Currently, there is no provision for unemployment benefits under Rwandan labour legislation. However, employees are entitled to terminal benefits if they have served for at least 12 consecutive months prior to contract termination.
Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn how such schemes are implemented in other countries, including the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa, and how the country’s practices could be adapted to the Rwandan context.
On the last day of the workshop, the group discussed on the specific design and institutional aspects of an unemployment protection scheme in Rwanda, such as contributions, claims, benefits and eligibility criteria, and linkages with other employment services.
The ILO Country Director, Mr Jealous Chirove, advocated in favour of the ILO approach on unemployment protection, which is described in the ILO Employment Promotion and Protection Against Unemployment Convention (No. 168) and Recommendation (No. 176), and the ILO Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Recommendation. This approach pursues a twin objective: to ensure that individuals enjoy income security when they lose their earnings due to the inability to obtain suitable employment; and to promote full and productive employment. The objectives can be achieved through unemployment insurance or assistance and is strategically linked with active labour market policies.
Ms Jasmina Papa, ILO social protection specialist, emphasized that “the risk of people losing their jobs is one of the risks that should be covered by a social protection system according to the ILO Convention on social security minimum standards. The Covid [pandemic] times, when many people were affected by job loss, showed how important it is that there is a system in place which can support those workers”. The ILO conventions provide guidance to the countries on how those benefits should be designed. They provide for example guidance for how long a person should have contributed to the unemployment insurance to be eligible to receive the benefit, for how long a benefit should be paid or to what percentage of the salary the benefit should amount. The guidance also highlights the need to create linkages with other active labour market policies such as training and assistance in job search.
The next steps for developing an unemployment insurance scheme in Rwanda would be to do a feasibility study and to establish a tripartite technical committee which can develop a proposal to be submitted to the authorities.
This workshop was delivered under the Rwanda component of the Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for all, with funding from the Governments of Belgium and Luxembourg. The main aim of the project is to ensure that formal and informal workers, and their families, have access to better social protection schemes in line with the Social Protection Floors Recommendation 202. Unemployment protection is one of the nine contingencies covered by ILO Convention 102 on Social Security Minimum Standards, while ILO Recommendation 202 identifies “basic income security for persons in active age who are unable to earn sufficient income” as one of the four social protection floors.
The workshop equipped participants with a better understanding of what unemployment protection is and how it brings together unemployment benefits, ensuring income security and active labour market policies, as well as supporting laid off workers to get back into employment. Currently, there is no provision for unemployment benefits under Rwandan labour legislation. However, employees are entitled to terminal benefits if they have served for at least 12 consecutive months prior to contract termination.
Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn how such schemes are implemented in other countries, including the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa, and how the country’s practices could be adapted to the Rwandan context.
On the last day of the workshop, the group discussed on the specific design and institutional aspects of an unemployment protection scheme in Rwanda, such as contributions, claims, benefits and eligibility criteria, and linkages with other employment services.
The ILO Country Director, Mr Jealous Chirove, advocated in favour of the ILO approach on unemployment protection, which is described in the ILO Employment Promotion and Protection Against Unemployment Convention (No. 168) and Recommendation (No. 176), and the ILO Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Recommendation. This approach pursues a twin objective: to ensure that individuals enjoy income security when they lose their earnings due to the inability to obtain suitable employment; and to promote full and productive employment. The objectives can be achieved through unemployment insurance or assistance and is strategically linked with active labour market policies.
Ms Jasmina Papa, ILO social protection specialist, emphasized that “the risk of people losing their jobs is one of the risks that should be covered by a social protection system according to the ILO Convention on social security minimum standards. The Covid [pandemic] times, when many people were affected by job loss, showed how important it is that there is a system in place which can support those workers”. The ILO conventions provide guidance to the countries on how those benefits should be designed. They provide for example guidance for how long a person should have contributed to the unemployment insurance to be eligible to receive the benefit, for how long a benefit should be paid or to what percentage of the salary the benefit should amount. The guidance also highlights the need to create linkages with other active labour market policies such as training and assistance in job search.
The next steps for developing an unemployment insurance scheme in Rwanda would be to do a feasibility study and to establish a tripartite technical committee which can develop a proposal to be submitted to the authorities.
This workshop was delivered under the Rwanda component of the Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for all, with funding from the Governments of Belgium and Luxembourg. The main aim of the project is to ensure that formal and informal workers, and their families, have access to better social protection schemes in line with the Social Protection Floors Recommendation 202. Unemployment protection is one of the nine contingencies covered by ILO Convention 102 on Social Security Minimum Standards, while ILO Recommendation 202 identifies “basic income security for persons in active age who are unable to earn sufficient income” as one of the four social protection floors.