The Century Project has two key objectives. The first is to share knowledge of the ILO's history and experience, highlighting the role of labour and labour-related issues at historic turning points. The other is to expand our focus to the field, which has been the testing ground of ILO ideas for nearly 100 years.
We encourage new perspectives on ILO history to complement institutional narratives, ask new and challenging questions, build an international engaged network linking labour experts and development specialists, and reach out to the wider public with innovative research.
Share your ideas, projects and feedback at [email protected].STED is a strategic tool developed by the ILO that provides guidance for the integration of skills development in sectoral policies. It is designed to support growth and decent employment creation in sectors that have the potential to increase exports and to contribute to economic diversification.
Contributes to higher exports, economic diversification and more and better jobs
Lack of adequately trained labour is a major supply side constraint, reducing the competitiveness of companies in developing countries and hindering development of new export sectors
Successful exporting requires specific skills such as foreign languages and knowledge of international practices and standards
Availability of well trained labour is a pull-factor for Foreign Direct Investment increases a country’s ability to absorb new technology
Globalization and technological change continue to increase the demand for skills and adaptation of workers to new challenges through life-long learning
Helps policymakers to ensure that firms find workers with the right skills and workers acquire the skills needed to find productive employment
Having the right skills makes workers more likely to benefit from the opportunities of international trade and less likely to be affected negatively by it
The importance of skills policies to cope with globalization is widely recognized, but implementing them well is very difficult, especially in sectors exposed to trade that undergo rapid structural change. Skills mismatch – a situation where the skills that workers acquire do not match what firms are looking for – is frequent.
Investing in skills requires commitment from governments, employers, and workers and social dialogue is indispensable in order to ‘get it right’. STED facilitates social dialogue on skills and competiveness, building on ILO’s tripartite structure.
