Inside

Editorial Board

Editor: Frida Khan, National Project Coordinator, GE4DE, ILO Islamabad Members: Rabia Razzaque, Zaheer Arif, Imran Khan, Sadia Hameed, Razi M. Haider

2- Strengthening Entrepreneurship Training in Pakistan

3- The Story of Summaya

3- Entrepreneurship & Employers' Federation of Pakistan (EFP)

4- Towards a Better Future

5- Gender Unit, Departmentof Labour, Punjab, wins UN Public Service Award

7- From home based worker to community leader

9- ILO launches project, “Livelihood Restoration, Protection and Sustainable Empowerment of Vulnerable Peasant Communities in Sindh Province”

10- Policy Matters

4- World Day Against Child Labour 2013

6- Capitalizing the dividends- Trade Union Education and Outreach

12- Coming Up

8- Media: the new development partner

ILO PAKISTAN International Labour Organization Bi-Annual Newsletter

September 2013Issue No. IV

t is many decades since Albert Thomas became the first Director General of the ILO in 1919, but his message still resonates Istrongly: “...economic and social questions are indissolubly

linked and economic reconstruction can only be sound and enduring if it is based on social justice”. In an era where flying was still uncommon, he travelled extensively to the Americas, Russia, China, Japan, and many other countries. He visited factories, descended into mines, and talked to owners and workers.

His words and actions were prescient. More and more organisations are advocating approaches that centre around social development and human rights through consultation, participation and ownership. Results of recent UN consultations on poverty alleviation involving more than a million women and men, clearly show a demand that the future development agenda must be built on the principles of human rights and universal values of equality and justice. A high level, 27-country panel, chaired by the Prime Ministers of the UK, Liberia and Indonesia, discussing post-MDG goals, suggested twelve new development goals including job creation, equitable growth, good governance and high quality education and training. This is a resounding endorsement of the relevance of the ILO today and the continuing centrality of our mandate.

As Pakistan moves into a new democratic administration and reassesses its social and development goals, ILO is committed to continue supporting the people of Pakistan to ensure Decent Work for all. Economic growth is only sustainable and conscionable if it linked to social development, it is only meaningful if it is based on the growth of the human capital of a nation.

This fourth issue of our bi-annual newsletter provides a glimpse of some of the work that we are doing to promote decent work in Pakistan. I hope you enjoy reading it and learning about the ILO Office in Pakistan.

Message from the Country Director

Albert Thomas First Director General of the ILO,

1919-1932

Francesco d'OvidioCountry Director

Strengthening Entrepreneurship Training in Pakistan

02

here are many reasons why women and men become entrepreneurs; to make a business idea a reality, to Tbe their own boss, the freedom to make their own

decisions, or make more money. Unfortunately for many, the choice to start a business is not so discretionary, but driven by need; they are pushed to become 'necessity entrepreneurs' because there are no other options of work available. Though there are examples of these small entrepreneurs growing into giants - India's Dhirubhai Ambani who dropped out of school to sell bhajis to pilgrims and then went on to establish the world renowned textiles and petrochemical empire, Reliance or Nabila, one of Pakistan's most renowned beauty businesswoman, who

first came to Karachi as a war refugee in 1971 with nothing but the clothes on her back, and developed her interest in cutting her own hair into today's chain of salons offering a range of specialised, high quality services - most potential entrepreneurs find it difficult to establish strong businesses and then go on to improve or expand them.

The ILO has an established suite of entrepreneurship training tools for different types of trainees and training according to different requirements of businesses, with some of them focusing on particular sectors, such as tourism, or specific target groups such as illiterate women.

Know About Business (KAB) is part of the national curriculum for vocational training in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and is being pilot tested in more than 20 countries, including Pakistan. In Pakistan, projects including the ILO component of the One UN programme Empowering Vulnerable Groups through Education, Employment and Training (EET) and the Canadian funded Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE), have been working with the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTA) of Sindh and Punjab, Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) and local colleges to introduce KAB and strengthen entrepreneurship

training in their technical and vocational education and training (TVET) courses.

The ILO has an established pool of international experts from different regions that have been trained to provide technical support to implement different entrepreneurship programmes. In Pakistan, So far 83 trainers from more than 40 institutes, rural and urban, women's and men's, in Punjab and Sindh have been trained on KAB, over a series of primary and refresher workshops. 23 TVET institutes in Sindh have introduced KAB in their regular training delivery, reaching out to about 500 students. The idea of integrating KAB into TVET is that students taking courses such as electrical technology, learn

entrepreneurship skills too, equipping them with a wider range of options when they leave school. These institutes were given hands-on support in implementing the programme, as well as KAB training and learning materials. An assessment and certification framework has been developed, and at the end of the current implementation phase students will be assessed and given KAB certificates. Pakistan Vocational Training Council (PVTC) has started the process of course review to mainstream KAB in their TVET curricula and hope to introduce it as part of their regular training in the coming few months.

Two institutes, the College of Tourism and Hotel Management, Lahore and the Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute, Lahore tried implementing KAB as a special add-on course rather than an integrated one. They called their programme Khadija, in tribute to the Prophet's wife and her profession as a business woman and delivered a customised KAB programme to 42 hospitality and textiles trainees trained under ILO programmes. By the end of the programme, 25 business plans were shortlisted for the programme and 11 made it to the finals. The finalists were trained in presentation skills and then they presented their plans to a

International Labour Organization

ILO Business Training Packages

IYB

Enterprise

Growth

Know About Business (KAB)

Start Your Business (SYB) and Improve Your Business (IYB)

Expand your Business (EYB)

A business training programme for trainers and

teachers in vocational, education, secondary education and higher

education, teaching young students between 15 to 18 years.

A management training programme with a focus on

starting and implementing small businesses.

Business training and support package for small to

medium scale enterprises which have growth potential.Time

KAB

SYB

EYB

September 2013 03

panel of entrepreneurship and sector specialists. 5 plans won industry sponsored cash and kind prizes to help the winners put their plans into practice and start their own businesses.

The beauty of the KAB methodology is the interactive way in which it is delivered. Other than the technical content, many trainers felt they had learned effective teaching methods which they would try and bring into their work. As summed up by one of the teachers, “I have a college qualification in entrepreneurship that I studied many months for, but it is only now through KAB, and in such a fun way, that I have really understood what entrepreneurship is!”

“Entrepreneurship is serious business”, Training of Facilitators workshop, Punjab.

ILO Pakistan

The Story of Summaya

ummaya had dreamt of becoming a business woman for a long time. Her first step was to Sdesign and sell women's kholapuri sandals and

jewelry decorated with foil. She financed this with her pocket money and small savings. She took her samples to local shops and made her first sales. The orders were small but gave her the opportunity to perfect her jewelry designs. She went on to do a Diploma from the Vocational Training Institute for Women (VTIW) in Buffer Zone Karachi, which was one of the pilot institutes for ILO's entrepreneurship education course Know about Business (KAB).Taking the KAB course made her aware of self-employment as a career option and provided her with knowledge about the desirable attributes for starting and operating a successful enterprise.

The KAB training taught her how to market her products, link with sale exhibitions and manage her finances. Sumayya applied her new marketing skills interacting directly with shop keepers and now has a regular pool of sales outlets. Her earning has grown steadily and she now earns between PKR 7,000 and 8,000 every month. She uses her profit to finance her studies, and reinvest in her business. She is now expanding her product line and plans to add leather products such as men's wallets. Her younger sister is helping to make the items. Summaya pays her a small amount and is passing on her business skills to her. She plans to hire some employees when her business starts expanding. She thanks her KAB facilitators for guidance and the ILO for providing this opportunity to participate in KAB training and start decent earning.

Entrepreneurship & Employers' Federation of Pakistan (EFP)Entrepreneurship contributes to employment creation, sustainable growth of an economy and injects energy and economic activity into the economy which leads to a greater GDP growth of a country. It also provides for self sufficiency and resources for the individual as well as the nation.

'The Employers Federation of Pakistan supports entrepreneurship development in Pakistan because it is a sustainable solution for creating employment, leads to self sufficiency, enhances the GDP Growth and boosts the economic growth in Pakistan. It creates jobs, develops skills and provides a chance to disadvantaged and unemployed youth to actively participate in the economy of Pakistan and lead to poverty reduction'

Khawaja Muhammad Nauman, President EFP

KAB Module The KAB module is available in English and Urdu.

Module 1: What is enterprising? Module 2: Why entrepreneurship? Module 3: Who are entrepreneurs? Module 4: How do I become an entrepreneur? Module 5: How do I find a good business idea? Module 6: How do I organize an enterprise? Module 7: How do I operate an enterprise? Module 8: What are the next steps to becoming

an entrepreneur? Module 9: How to elaborate one's own business

plan?

September 2013

Kamran Sandhu, KAB Facilitator

Strengthening Entrepreneurship Training in Pakistan

02

here are many reasons why women and men become entrepreneurs; to make a business idea a reality, to Tbe their own boss, the freedom to make their own

decisions, or make more money. Unfortunately for many, the choice to start a business is not so discretionary, but driven by need; they are pushed to become 'necessity entrepreneurs' because there are no other options of work available. Though there are examples of these small entrepreneurs growing into giants - India's Dhirubhai Ambani who dropped out of school to sell bhajis to pilgrims and then went on to establish the world renowned textiles and petrochemical empire, Reliance or Nabila, one of Pakistan's most renowned beauty businesswoman, who

first came to Karachi as a war refugee in 1971 with nothing but the clothes on her back, and developed her interest in cutting her own hair into today's chain of salons offering a range of specialised, high quality services - most potential entrepreneurs find it difficult to establish strong businesses and then go on to improve or expand them.

The ILO has an established suite of entrepreneurship training tools for different types of trainees and training according to different requirements of businesses, with some of them focusing on particular sectors, such as tourism, or specific target groups such as illiterate women.

Know About Business (KAB) is part of the national curriculum for vocational training in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and is being pilot tested in more than 20 countries, including Pakistan. In Pakistan, projects including the ILO component of the One UN programme Empowering Vulnerable Groups through Education, Employment and Training (EET) and the Canadian funded Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE), have been working with the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTA) of Sindh and Punjab, Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) and local colleges to introduce KAB and strengthen entrepreneurship

training in their technical and vocational education and training (TVET) courses.

The ILO has an established pool of international experts from different regions that have been trained to provide technical support to implement different entrepreneurship programmes. In Pakistan, So far 83 trainers from more than 40 institutes, rural and urban, women's and men's, in Punjab and Sindh have been trained on KAB, over a series of primary and refresher workshops. 23 TVET institutes in Sindh have introduced KAB in their regular training delivery, reaching out to about 500 students. The idea of integrating KAB into TVET is that students taking courses such as electrical technology, learn

entrepreneurship skills too, equipping them with a wider range of options when they leave school. These institutes were given hands-on support in implementing the programme, as well as KAB training and learning materials. An assessment and certification framework has been developed, and at the end of the current implementation phase students will be assessed and given KAB certificates. Pakistan Vocational Training Council (PVTC) has started the process of course review to mainstream KAB in their TVET curricula and hope to introduce it as part of their regular training in the coming few months.

Two institutes, the College of Tourism and Hotel Management, Lahore and the Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute, Lahore tried implementing KAB as a special add-on course rather than an integrated one. They called their programme Khadija, in tribute to the Prophet's wife and her profession as a business woman and delivered a customised KAB programme to 42 hospitality and textiles trainees trained under ILO programmes. By the end of the programme, 25 business plans were shortlisted for the programme and 11 made it to the finals. The finalists were trained in presentation skills and then they presented their plans to a

International Labour Organization

ILO Business Training Packages

IYB

Enterprise

Growth

Know About Business (KAB)

Start Your Business (SYB) and Improve Your Business (IYB)

Expand your Business (EYB)

A business training programme for trainers and

teachers in vocational, education, secondary education and higher

education, teaching young students between 15 to 18 years.

A management training programme with a focus on

starting and implementing small businesses.

Business training and support package for small to

medium scale enterprises which have growth potential.Time

KAB

SYB

EYB

September 2013 03

panel of entrepreneurship and sector specialists. 5 plans won industry sponsored cash and kind prizes to help the winners put their plans into practice and start their own businesses.

The beauty of the KAB methodology is the interactive way in which it is delivered. Other than the technical content, many trainers felt they had learned effective teaching methods which they would try and bring into their work. As summed up by one of the teachers, “I have a college qualification in entrepreneurship that I studied many months for, but it is only now through KAB, and in such a fun way, that I have really understood what entrepreneurship is!”

“Entrepreneurship is serious business”, Training of Facilitators workshop, Punjab.

ILO Pakistan

The Story of Summaya

ummaya had dreamt of becoming a business woman for a long time. Her first step was to Sdesign and sell women's kholapuri sandals and

jewelry decorated with foil. She financed this with her pocket money and small savings. She took her samples to local shops and made her first sales. The orders were small but gave her the opportunity to perfect her jewelry designs. She went on to do a Diploma from the Vocational Training Institute for Women (VTIW) in Buffer Zone Karachi, which was one of the pilot institutes for ILO's entrepreneurship education course Know about Business (KAB).Taking the KAB course made her aware of self-employment as a career option and provided her with knowledge about the desirable attributes for starting and operating a successful enterprise.

The KAB training taught her how to market her products, link with sale exhibitions and manage her finances. Sumayya applied her new marketing skills interacting directly with shop keepers and now has a regular pool of sales outlets. Her earning has grown steadily and she now earns between PKR 7,000 and 8,000 every month. She uses her profit to finance her studies, and reinvest in her business. She is now expanding her product line and plans to add leather products such as men's wallets. Her younger sister is helping to make the items. Summaya pays her a small amount and is passing on her business skills to her. She plans to hire some employees when her business starts expanding. She thanks her KAB facilitators for guidance and the ILO for providing this opportunity to participate in KAB training and start decent earning.

Entrepreneurship & Employers' Federation of Pakistan (EFP)Entrepreneurship contributes to employment creation, sustainable growth of an economy and injects energy and economic activity into the economy which leads to a greater GDP growth of a country. It also provides for self sufficiency and resources for the individual as well as the nation.

'The Employers Federation of Pakistan supports entrepreneurship development in Pakistan because it is a sustainable solution for creating employment, leads to self sufficiency, enhances the GDP Growth and boosts the economic growth in Pakistan. It creates jobs, develops skills and provides a chance to disadvantaged and unemployed youth to actively participate in the economy of Pakistan and lead to poverty reduction'

Khawaja Muhammad Nauman, President EFP

KAB Module The KAB module is available in English and Urdu.

Module 1: What is enterprising? Module 2: Why entrepreneurship? Module 3: Who are entrepreneurs? Module 4: How do I become an entrepreneur? Module 5: How do I find a good business idea? Module 6: How do I organize an enterprise? Module 7: How do I operate an enterprise? Module 8: What are the next steps to becoming

an entrepreneur? Module 9: How to elaborate one's own business

plan?

September 2013

Kamran Sandhu, KAB Facilitator

Towards a Better Future orn to a destitute family, young Humera was sent to work when she was only 8 years old. For four years Bshe was supposed to take care of the house, little

kids, perform house chores as a part of her duty. Her hands were made to hold the pencil but she was forced to wash dishes and clothes. Besides this endless effort, there was neither job security nor the social liberty. Living nearly a slaves' life, Humera aspired to be an airhostess. Waking up every morning with a hope to change her life!

The ILO's child labour project team identified around 24,000 children in Sahiwal who were involved in child labour, Humera was lucky enough to be identified. The project team sensitized Humera's family which was reluctant to send Humera to School because after the death of her father, as she along with her sisters were the only economic support for the impoverished family. Providing microcredit to the family helped to paved Humera's way to Non-Formal Education (NFE) Center. Her mother got the training by ILO's Business Management Skill Training Program on candle making and started to support the family. In this training, they were told about creating broader opportunities for income generation for women

smallholders, responding to the changing marketing demands and tapping the emerging market opportunities. Humera was among 5250 lucky children who were enrolled at NFEs. NFE centers established by ILO helped Humera to complete her pre-school training as step-one, step-two and step-three followed by Class one and two. While studying in the NFE Centre, Humera participated in skits in the event of “World Day against Child Labour” organized by PRSP-CACL-II to encourage many other children like her and changing their lives.

Today, she is experiencing many firsts from school to sports. She wants to become an Airhostess. She is now graduated to Govt. MC Girls High School, Ghalamandi, Sahiwal. She is pensive, but with an authentic laugh and has grown to be a mentor to the other young girls in her community.

04

International Labour Organization

From Child Labour to College

undreds of young girls, clad in blue shirts and white shalwas - baggy trousers - teem through HBahgwal Awan girls' college - an uncommon sight

in rural Pakistan. Fifteen years ago, this was a small centre set up by the International Labour Organization and a local NGO, Bunyad, providing non-formal education to children who had been working in Pakistan's lucrative soccer ball industry. In par tnership with the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industr y (SCCI) and UNICEF, a project was started to remove child labourers from the business and to provide them with educational and other opportunities.

Farzana was recruited as a teacher at one of the non-formal education (NFE) centres, which were set up in Sialkot under the scheme. She had 20 children in her class. But when the project ended, as scheduled, after 18 months, Farzana, decided to keep the centre going.“Today, with the support of the community, it is now a college with 650 students,” she explains. “It gives me great pleasure to see that girls from my community can now have their dreams fulfilled. Girls who have graduated from here have managed to carve out their own career and destiny, instead of stitching soccer balls. “We also offer school education which has helped rehabilitate many child labourers, particularly girls.”

The ILO, jointly with the Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) and Sialkot Chamber of Commerce (SCCI),

presented Farzana with an award in recognition of her services to the community, at a ceremony in Sialkot on June 11, to mark the World Day against Child Labour.

“She is not only a role model for her community but also for women in other places, demonstrating that individual commitments can bring positive changes to the community and address complex issues like child labour,” said Francesco d'Ovidio, Director of the ILO's country of fice. Shekih Abdul Majid, President of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries, also praised Farzana for her ef forts. He thanked the ILO for helping to establish institutions like the Independent Monitoring Association of Child Labor (IMAC) and the Child Social Development Organization (CSDO) in Sialkot, which were set up as a follow-on to the Soccer Ball project.

“Community participation has helped to promote education as a right for every girl and boy in the area,” Farzana says. “I will ensure that education will continue to be offered to children and youth, par ticularly the girls.”

September 2013 05

ILO Pakistan

he Gender Unit, Department of Labour, Punjab, established under the ILO, CIDA funded project, TPromoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment

(GE4DE), has, from amongst 2000 applicants, won a United Nations Public Service Award in recognition of its work on gender mainstreaming. The UN Public Service Award (UNPSA) is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service, worldwide. Currently in its eleventh year, UN Public Service Awards selects winners through an annual competition for awards in five categories:

< Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service

< Improving the Delivery of Public Services< Fostering participation in public policy decision making

through innovative mechanisms< Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the

Information Age< Promoting Gender-Responsive Delivery of Public

ServicesThe Gender Unit Punjab stood first in the category of

Gender Responsive Public Service Delivery, with India's Department of Cottage and Rural Industries and Korea's Seoul Metropolitan Government coming second and third, in the Asia Pacific region. More information on the awards can be found at http://unpan.org/DPADM/UNPSDayAwards/UNPublicServiceAwards/tabid/1522/language/en-US/Default.aspx The ILO has been working closely with the Department of Labour, Punjab on a number of initiatives that have helped the Gender Unit win the UN Public Service Award, including:< Gender Mainstreamed Labour Inspection for Decent

Work. A training module and labour inspection toolkit has been developed, tested through model labour inspections, and will now be rolled out for general implementation.

< Childcare Facilities for Kot Lakhpat Industrial Area. A technical and financial feasibility study has been conducted and a PC1 is being prepared for the next development budget.

< Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB). Building on work done by the UNDP and others, the ILO is working with DOLs to make their development budgets gender responsive by mainstreaming gender in the PC forms and the development projects portfolio.

Gender Unit, Department of Labour, Punjab, wins UN Public Service Award

September 2013

Gender Focal Persons Department of Labour with GE4DE team & UNPSA Award

Tahir Manzoor, Gender Focal Person, Dept of Labour, Punjab receives the award at the ceremony in Bahrain

Towards a Better Future orn to a destitute family, young Humera was sent to work when she was only 8 years old. For four years Bshe was supposed to take care of the house, little

kids, perform house chores as a part of her duty. Her hands were made to hold the pencil but she was forced to wash dishes and clothes. Besides this endless effort, there was neither job security nor the social liberty. Living nearly a slaves' life, Humera aspired to be an airhostess. Waking up every morning with a hope to change her life!

The ILO's child labour project team identified around 24,000 children in Sahiwal who were involved in child labour, Humera was lucky enough to be identified. The project team sensitized Humera's family which was reluctant to send Humera to School because after the death of her father, as she along with her sisters were the only economic support for the impoverished family. Providing microcredit to the family helped to paved Humera's way to Non-Formal Education (NFE) Center. Her mother got the training by ILO's Business Management Skill Training Program on candle making and started to support the family. In this training, they were told about creating broader opportunities for income generation for women

smallholders, responding to the changing marketing demands and tapping the emerging market opportunities. Humera was among 5250 lucky children who were enrolled at NFEs. NFE centers established by ILO helped Humera to complete her pre-school training as step-one, step-two and step-three followed by Class one and two. While studying in the NFE Centre, Humera participated in skits in the event of “World Day against Child Labour” organized by PRSP-CACL-II to encourage many other children like her and changing their lives.

Today, she is experiencing many firsts from school to sports. She wants to become an Airhostess. She is now graduated to Govt. MC Girls High School, Ghalamandi, Sahiwal. She is pensive, but with an authentic laugh and has grown to be a mentor to the other young girls in her community.

04

International Labour Organization

From Child Labour to College

undreds of young girls, clad in blue shirts and white shalwas - baggy trousers - teem through HBahgwal Awan girls' college - an uncommon sight

in rural Pakistan. Fifteen years ago, this was a small centre set up by the International Labour Organization and a local NGO, Bunyad, providing non-formal education to children who had been working in Pakistan's lucrative soccer ball industry. In par tnership with the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industr y (SCCI) and UNICEF, a project was started to remove child labourers from the business and to provide them with educational and other opportunities.

Farzana was recruited as a teacher at one of the non-formal education (NFE) centres, which were set up in Sialkot under the scheme. She had 20 children in her class. But when the project ended, as scheduled, after 18 months, Farzana, decided to keep the centre going.“Today, with the support of the community, it is now a college with 650 students,” she explains. “It gives me great pleasure to see that girls from my community can now have their dreams fulfilled. Girls who have graduated from here have managed to carve out their own career and destiny, instead of stitching soccer balls. “We also offer school education which has helped rehabilitate many child labourers, particularly girls.”

The ILO, jointly with the Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) and Sialkot Chamber of Commerce (SCCI),

presented Farzana with an award in recognition of her services to the community, at a ceremony in Sialkot on June 11, to mark the World Day against Child Labour.

“She is not only a role model for her community but also for women in other places, demonstrating that individual commitments can bring positive changes to the community and address complex issues like child labour,” said Francesco d'Ovidio, Director of the ILO's country of fice. Shekih Abdul Majid, President of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries, also praised Farzana for her ef forts. He thanked the ILO for helping to establish institutions like the Independent Monitoring Association of Child Labor (IMAC) and the Child Social Development Organization (CSDO) in Sialkot, which were set up as a follow-on to the Soccer Ball project.

“Community participation has helped to promote education as a right for every girl and boy in the area,” Farzana says. “I will ensure that education will continue to be offered to children and youth, par ticularly the girls.”

September 2013 05

ILO Pakistan

he Gender Unit, Department of Labour, Punjab, established under the ILO, CIDA funded project, TPromoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment

(GE4DE), has, from amongst 2000 applicants, won a United Nations Public Service Award in recognition of its work on gender mainstreaming. The UN Public Service Award (UNPSA) is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service, worldwide. Currently in its eleventh year, UN Public Service Awards selects winners through an annual competition for awards in five categories:

< Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service

< Improving the Delivery of Public Services< Fostering participation in public policy decision making

through innovative mechanisms< Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the

Information Age< Promoting Gender-Responsive Delivery of Public

ServicesThe Gender Unit Punjab stood first in the category of

Gender Responsive Public Service Delivery, with India's Department of Cottage and Rural Industries and Korea's Seoul Metropolitan Government coming second and third, in the Asia Pacific region. More information on the awards can be found at http://unpan.org/DPADM/UNPSDayAwards/UNPublicServiceAwards/tabid/1522/language/en-US/Default.aspx The ILO has been working closely with the Department of Labour, Punjab on a number of initiatives that have helped the Gender Unit win the UN Public Service Award, including:< Gender Mainstreamed Labour Inspection for Decent

Work. A training module and labour inspection toolkit has been developed, tested through model labour inspections, and will now be rolled out for general implementation.

< Childcare Facilities for Kot Lakhpat Industrial Area. A technical and financial feasibility study has been conducted and a PC1 is being prepared for the next development budget.

< Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB). Building on work done by the UNDP and others, the ILO is working with DOLs to make their development budgets gender responsive by mainstreaming gender in the PC forms and the development projects portfolio.

Gender Unit, Department of Labour, Punjab, wins UN Public Service Award

September 2013

Gender Focal Persons Department of Labour with GE4DE team & UNPSA Award

Tahir Manzoor, Gender Focal Person, Dept of Labour, Punjab receives the award at the ceremony in Bahrain

06

International Labour Organization

he network of trade unions in Pakistan is by any standards an impressive one. Unfortunately, trade Tunions are usually seen as weak, fragmented

organizations that need education, training and capacity building before they can effectively perform according to their mandate. The ILO has been working for many years with workers' organisations, recognising them as an equal and important partner in its tripartite structure, to improve the representation of workers and the application of decent work. And now the tables are turning. Trade unions are not only on the receiving end but are rather now in the driving seat, identifying their issues, planning their own programmes and offering their network to other organisations, including the government, to work through. A recent example of such cross fertilization is the collaboration between the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat (FOS) and the Working Women's Union (WWU), where the FOS was invited to conduct sessions on the Sexual Harassment Act and the Code of Conduct (2010), during the two week paralegal training organised by the WWU and supported by the CIDA funded ILO project, Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE). The paralegal training itself, was a good example of cross organisation collaboration. The module was originally developed by the Pakistan Workers' Federation (PWF) as part of earlier work. Later, when the GE4DE research showed that workers, especially women, are often reluctant to file or pursue complaints against violations of their rights because of lack of information, the cost of hiring lawyers and the lengthy procedures involved, the project further developed the module into a full fledged paralegal course based on the principles of decent work and the current legal framework in Pakistan. Women and men trained under this programme study in detail about workers' rights including the importance of gender equality and non-discrimination, the laws that protect them, international labour standards and complaint redressal mechanisms. Based on this knowledge and their experience in the trade union, they can advise fellow workers on how to proceed in cases of violation and are also completely capable of representing workers in the court, providing therefore, an alternative, less expensive (usually free) form of legal service.

The paralegal training was first offered to 50 men and women from the Pakistan Workers Federation and half of the recipient of these trainings were women, who are working both in the formal and informal sector and are active members of their unions and affiliates of the PWF.

Such was the interest generated by this training, that,

WWU Paralegal Training Workshop, Naran, July 2013

in what is quite a rare collaboration of organisations, PWF trainers were asked to offer the same training to 16 women and 9 men from the Working Women's Union, and now a third organisation Muttahida Labour Federation (MLF) has requested for similar support.

Building on such successes, The One UN programme's ILO intervention, Empowering Vulnerable Groups through Education, Employment and Training (EET) is also using the trade unions network to access workers and their families to help the UN spread awareness about polio immunization and other communicable diseases including HIV &AIDS.

Under this project, trade union members will be trained as master trainers who are equipped with knowledge on prevention, treatment and care of polio and HIV affected persons and will be responsible for mobilizing, dissemination information material and educating workers on health hazards and communicable diseases and how to safeguard themselves at workplace and their families in their personal environment. Importantly, the trade unions network will also be used to extend the outreach of health services and polio-immunization to high-risk areas in KPK province including Peshawar,Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera.Women have proved to be particularly effective at driving change through trade unions, within their organisations. GE4DE supported PWF in delivering leadership training

to 50 female trade union members from over 20 affiliated

unions of PWF in Pakistan from Swabi to Gwadar. During the

leadership training women prioritised issues that were affecting their equal

participation in the world of work, and developed action plans on how to address

them. Sadly, workplace harassment featured high on the list of issues, with lack of transport

and facilities, even as basic as toilets, quite common too.

Recently, PWF held a review workshop, several months after the end of the leadership training, to

assess what progress had been made on the action plans, understand the problems that the women had encountered and document successes that had been achieved. It was very encouraging to see the progress that some of the women had made, many of them reporting that their activities had helped increase women's membership generally. In an almost Maslow-vian hierarchy of needs, it was interesting to see that workers from smaller, local firms had very basic demands such as separate toilets or separate prayer space, and happily, most of them were

Capitalizing the dividends- Trade Union Education and Outreach

4394

Trade Union Members

240989

FBS,

201

1

September 2013

successful in securing them. Women from multinationals had demands such as a separate bus for women (the employer was providing mixed transport), the same food as management (workers' were getting different meals) and recreational facilities (the firm had provided outdoor facilities but the men were dominating them, and there was nothing for women).

The most problem women faced was around getting employers to take action against sexual harassment. There were some cases where employers had permitted women to display material or had agreed that a committee would be set up, but had not actually done so. Transport, probably because of the cost involved, was also a problematic issue, though there were two encouraging stories of success. The successes had come at a price for some though. One organisation had fired five male employees who were leading the campaign for the registration of a new trade union, since the old one discriminated against women. The woman behind the campaign, the leadership trainee, had used her paralegal training to prepare the replies to the show cause notices and such, and at the time of the training, the men were due to be reinstated by the court. But the woman that received the most applause was Ms. Huma Naz, from WAPDA Hyderabad, who ignored taunts she got of overstepping herself as a 'leader' and not only managed to get transport for women in her firm, but also a 20 percent 'HQ allowance' that all headquarters' workers were entitled to by law, and then had gone on to successfully arrange a regular supply of water tankers in her community, a gas connection and a small park. Watch out for her in the next elections!

“Trade unions in Pakistan have conducted a few surveys in certain industrial areas to know for itself the extent of the problem of child labour. The results of these surveys amply demonstrated that child labour was generally absent in the

organized industrial sector. Child labour was generally present in the unorganized sectors of the economy. Based on these surveys, education projects for children of brick kiln workers were started in Haripur and Rawalpindi/Islamabad areas with financial assistance from ICFTU-APRO and LO-Norway. In these projects, the children were provided all facilities including books, stationery, tuition fees, uniform, shoes, transport facilities and in addition the parents were allowed monthly stipend of Rs.250 per month for sparing their children from work. Attempt was made to keep the number of boys and girls equal and only one child from a family was selected”.

Zahoor Awan General Secretary, Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF)

07

ILO Pakistan

September 2013

Police Officers trained to address legal needs of bonded labourers

The ILO office for Pakistan is implementing the project on “Strengthening Law Enforcement Responses and Action against Internal Trafficking and Bonded Labour” funded under J/TIP of U.S. Department of State. One of the strategic objectives of the project is to build capacity of state functionaries and key stakeholders to address legal needs of bonded labourers.

To train police officers to prevent and prosecute incidents of bonded labour, the project supported Sindh

Police to conduct a 3-day master trainer course on Strengthening Actions and Responses against Bonded Labour from April 22-24, 2013 at Karachi. 35 instructors of police training schools and colleges from Sanghar, UmerKot, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Larkana, Khairpur and Karachi participated. The topics covered ranged from orientation on bonded labour issues and situation in Sindh, legal framework on tackling bonded labour, role of police in combating bonded labour and developing standing operating procedures of police for anti-bonded labour cells. The project is further supporting the Sindh Police to establish anti-bonded labour cells in districts Umerkot and Sanghar in Sindh.

With the ownership and commitment of the Government, ILO has successfully implemented several initiatives that support to targets set in the National Policy and Plan of Action against Bonded Labour, including institutional strengthening and capacity building.

06

International Labour Organization

he network of trade unions in Pakistan is by any standards an impressive one. Unfortunately, trade Tunions are usually seen as weak, fragmented

organizations that need education, training and capacity building before they can effectively perform according to their mandate. The ILO has been working for many years with workers' organisations, recognising them as an equal and important partner in its tripartite structure, to improve the representation of workers and the application of decent work. And now the tables are turning. Trade unions are not only on the receiving end but are rather now in the driving seat, identifying their issues, planning their own programmes and offering their network to other organisations, including the government, to work through. A recent example of such cross fertilization is the collaboration between the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat (FOS) and the Working Women's Union (WWU), where the FOS was invited to conduct sessions on the Sexual Harassment Act and the Code of Conduct (2010), during the two week paralegal training organised by the WWU and supported by the CIDA funded ILO project, Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE). The paralegal training itself, was a good example of cross organisation collaboration. The module was originally developed by the Pakistan Workers' Federation (PWF) as part of earlier work. Later, when the GE4DE research showed that workers, especially women, are often reluctant to file or pursue complaints against violations of their rights because of lack of information, the cost of hiring lawyers and the lengthy procedures involved, the project further developed the module into a full fledged paralegal course based on the principles of decent work and the current legal framework in Pakistan. Women and men trained under this programme study in detail about workers' rights including the importance of gender equality and non-discrimination, the laws that protect them, international labour standards and complaint redressal mechanisms. Based on this knowledge and their experience in the trade union, they can advise fellow workers on how to proceed in cases of violation and are also completely capable of representing workers in the court, providing therefore, an alternative, less expensive (usually free) form of legal service.

The paralegal training was first offered to 50 men and women from the Pakistan Workers Federation and half of the recipient of these trainings were women, who are working both in the formal and informal sector and are active members of their unions and affiliates of the PWF.

Such was the interest generated by this training, that,

WWU Paralegal Training Workshop, Naran, July 2013

in what is quite a rare collaboration of organisations, PWF trainers were asked to offer the same training to 16 women and 9 men from the Working Women's Union, and now a third organisation Muttahida Labour Federation (MLF) has requested for similar support.

Building on such successes, The One UN programme's ILO intervention, Empowering Vulnerable Groups through Education, Employment and Training (EET) is also using the trade unions network to access workers and their families to help the UN spread awareness about polio immunization and other communicable diseases including HIV &AIDS.

Under this project, trade union members will be trained as master trainers who are equipped with knowledge on prevention, treatment and care of polio and HIV affected persons and will be responsible for mobilizing, dissemination information material and educating workers on health hazards and communicable diseases and how to safeguard themselves at workplace and their families in their personal environment. Importantly, the trade unions network will also be used to extend the outreach of health services and polio-immunization to high-risk areas in KPK province including Peshawar,Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera.Women have proved to be particularly effective at driving change through trade unions, within their organisations. GE4DE supported PWF in delivering leadership training

to 50 female trade union members from over 20 affiliated

unions of PWF in Pakistan from Swabi to Gwadar. During the

leadership training women prioritised issues that were affecting their equal

participation in the world of work, and developed action plans on how to address

them. Sadly, workplace harassment featured high on the list of issues, with lack of transport

and facilities, even as basic as toilets, quite common too.

Recently, PWF held a review workshop, several months after the end of the leadership training, to

assess what progress had been made on the action plans, understand the problems that the women had encountered and document successes that had been achieved. It was very encouraging to see the progress that some of the women had made, many of them reporting that their activities had helped increase women's membership generally. In an almost Maslow-vian hierarchy of needs, it was interesting to see that workers from smaller, local firms had very basic demands such as separate toilets or separate prayer space, and happily, most of them were

Capitalizing the dividends- Trade Union Education and Outreach

4394

Trade Union Members

240989

FBS,

201

1

September 2013

successful in securing them. Women from multinationals had demands such as a separate bus for women (the employer was providing mixed transport), the same food as management (workers' were getting different meals) and recreational facilities (the firm had provided outdoor facilities but the men were dominating them, and there was nothing for women).

The most problem women faced was around getting employers to take action against sexual harassment. There were some cases where employers had permitted women to display material or had agreed that a committee would be set up, but had not actually done so. Transport, probably because of the cost involved, was also a problematic issue, though there were two encouraging stories of success. The successes had come at a price for some though. One organisation had fired five male employees who were leading the campaign for the registration of a new trade union, since the old one discriminated against women. The woman behind the campaign, the leadership trainee, had used her paralegal training to prepare the replies to the show cause notices and such, and at the time of the training, the men were due to be reinstated by the court. But the woman that received the most applause was Ms. Huma Naz, from WAPDA Hyderabad, who ignored taunts she got of overstepping herself as a 'leader' and not only managed to get transport for women in her firm, but also a 20 percent 'HQ allowance' that all headquarters' workers were entitled to by law, and then had gone on to successfully arrange a regular supply of water tankers in her community, a gas connection and a small park. Watch out for her in the next elections!

“Trade unions in Pakistan have conducted a few surveys in certain industrial areas to know for itself the extent of the problem of child labour. The results of these surveys amply demonstrated that child labour was generally absent in the

organized industrial sector. Child labour was generally present in the unorganized sectors of the economy. Based on these surveys, education projects for children of brick kiln workers were started in Haripur and Rawalpindi/Islamabad areas with financial assistance from ICFTU-APRO and LO-Norway. In these projects, the children were provided all facilities including books, stationery, tuition fees, uniform, shoes, transport facilities and in addition the parents were allowed monthly stipend of Rs.250 per month for sparing their children from work. Attempt was made to keep the number of boys and girls equal and only one child from a family was selected”.

Zahoor Awan General Secretary, Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF)

07

ILO Pakistan

September 2013

Police Officers trained to address legal needs of bonded labourers

The ILO office for Pakistan is implementing the project on “Strengthening Law Enforcement Responses and Action against Internal Trafficking and Bonded Labour” funded under J/TIP of U.S. Department of State. One of the strategic objectives of the project is to build capacity of state functionaries and key stakeholders to address legal needs of bonded labourers.

To train police officers to prevent and prosecute incidents of bonded labour, the project supported Sindh

Police to conduct a 3-day master trainer course on Strengthening Actions and Responses against Bonded Labour from April 22-24, 2013 at Karachi. 35 instructors of police training schools and colleges from Sanghar, UmerKot, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Larkana, Khairpur and Karachi participated. The topics covered ranged from orientation on bonded labour issues and situation in Sindh, legal framework on tackling bonded labour, role of police in combating bonded labour and developing standing operating procedures of police for anti-bonded labour cells. The project is further supporting the Sindh Police to establish anti-bonded labour cells in districts Umerkot and Sanghar in Sindh.

With the ownership and commitment of the Government, ILO has successfully implemented several initiatives that support to targets set in the National Policy and Plan of Action against Bonded Labour, including institutional strengthening and capacity building.

08

International Labour Organization

Media: the new development partner

ne would imagine that the development sector and media would be natural partners. Development Oactors work to advance the interests of ordinary

people, in particular the poor, vulnerable and marginalized, to enhance their well-being. Similarly, journalists, who in the pursuit of truth, also have the public interest at heart and ideally, give a voice to the voiceless and a face to the invisible. Both development actors and journalists work therefore, in their own ways, to advance what the Secretary-General of the United Nations refers to as the “collective global good”.

But why then, despite this apparent consonance, is the relationship between media and development not stronger? While recognising the growing influence and outreach of media, the most many development organisations have done is use the media to disseminate news about organisations' activities through press releases or event reports, or set up facebook pages and twitter accounts, without really understanding if such things are really raising the profile of the organisations, the issues they care about and the work they do.

The ILO has increasingly taken on a more proactive approach; seeing media not just as a reporting and dissemination tool, but as an active development partner who can inform, influence and shape public opinion on social development issues. The width and diversity of the outreach of media: newspapers, magazines, television, cable, terrestrial, radio, internet, English, Urdu, Sindhi, Dari… is unmatched by any other type of network, and is expanding day by day.

Unfortunately, this exponential rise in media has not been supported by training of media personnel.

In 2002 there were 2000 journalists in Pakistan. Now there are about 20,000. Only a small fraction of these have any formal training or qualification in journalism or communication. And this is often reflected in the type of stories that we see and the way they are presented. The way the media portrays an issue has a strong impact on the way the issue is regarded. That is why it is so important that media persons have the skills and knowledge to be able to

understand and report on issues that have a development importance in a meaningful and effective way.

Child labour and bonded labour are amongst the most violative issues in the world of work. And despite being also the oldest issues, there is still a lot to be done to raise awareness and catalyse social change. The EU funded project on child labour, Combating Abusive Child Labour (CACL-II) has been working with future media personnel, university students of media and mass communication programmes, to sensitise them on child labour issues. Seven universities across Pakistan were part of this programme. They were supported in their research work

across Pakistan on the issue and then turning their research into short films and video

documentaries. Seven films have been produced on various aspects of child

labour including its causes, consequences, and impacts on

development issues such as poverty, education, law enforcement, socio-economic development, cultural barriers and social norms. The films were shown at a special launching ceremony in July 2013, attended by representatives of government, workers, employers, the UN and

development agencies, students and children.

Similarly The US State Department funded project,

Strengthening Law Enforcement Responses and Actions against

Internal Trafficking and Bonded Labour (J-TIP), has also been working with media to

raise awareness and improve responsible, activist reporting on the issues. A customized module was developed and almost 200 print and electronic media journalists from six project districts were trained on it. The training covered what bonded labour is, international labour standards and national laws to prevent bonded labour, government reporting on the application of labour standards, the issues in Pakistan, ILO interventions, and, what was most appreciated by participants, interaction with labourers who had been freed from bondage under ILO projects, to understand first-hand what are the issues and possible solutions.

Gender equality in reporting is often taken to mean simply more reporting on 'women's issues'. The CIDA funded project, Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE) has been working with more than 700 journalists on gender responsive reporting, using a module that was developed with the inputs of media, training and labour experts. The trained journalists will be invited to take part in a national development journalism competition later this year.

Promoting Gender Equality in the World of Work

Roundtable Declaration

“We the Pakistani media, comprising national and local newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, news agencies and online media from both the private and

public sector, and all working journalists, recognize that we collectively and individually have a key role to play in

empowering women by improving their public profile through a fair and representative coverage of working women. In this spirit, we hereby establish the National Media Partnership on Supporting Pakistani Women's Empowerment to support and promote their rights and efforts for greater access to equal

employment opportunities and decent working conditions. We commit ourselves to the highest journalistic standards on portrayal of working women in media so that various stakeholders

have increased understanding and favorable attitudes towards working

women's issues.”

September 2013

ILO launches project, “Livelihood Restoration, Protection and Sustainable Empowerment of Vulnerable Peasant Communities in Sindh Province”

Abdul Q

adir M

em

on

09

ILO Pakistan

he International Labour Organization (ILO) is going to implement a new project titled; “Livelihood TRestoration, Protection and Sustainable

Empowerment of Vulnerable Peasant Communities in Sindh Province”in districts Mirpurkhas and Dadu, of the Sindh province. This is a three year project funded by United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) and will be implemented jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWOMEN).

The overall goal of the Project is “to restore and protect the livelihoods and empower the poor and vulnerable peasants (men, women, boys and girls) dependent on feudal and tribal landholding and farming systems and affected by droughts, floods and insecurity”. This goal is at the core of human security provision and development beyond emergency and humanitarian assistance as it aims to improve the quality of life, disaster resilience and dignity of male and female peasants of Dadu and Mirpurkhas Districts in Sindh Province.The project beneficiaries will be excluded men and women hari farmers, landless and

unemployed men, women and youth. The project will include components on skills development for on and off farm income generation, microfinance and disaster risk reduction strategies.

As part of the inception planning, a consultative workshop with the involvement of key stakeholders was held on 28 August, 2013 in Hyderabad. Officials of the Government of Sindh and United Nations (UN) and members of civil society participated in the inception workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to gain insights and experiences from on-going programmes, discuss the project design and consolidate among other technical aspects, the beneficiary/right holders and geographic targeting and the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders. The consultative workshop has assisted in the finalization of a detailed implementation plan of the project.

The joint implementation of the project by three specialized agencies (ILO, FAO and UN Women) will allow the delivery of services in an efficient and cost effective manner and will built on the technical expertise, experience and comparative advantage of specialized agencies.

The European Union supports the ratification of the ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers and has called on all Member States to ratify this Convention," emphasized Ambassador of European Union, Mr. Lars-Gunnar Wigemark. Appreciating the Government of Pakistan and ILO's efforts to combat abusive child labour through the CACL-II project, Ambassador Wigemark added, “The EU will continue to promote improved protection of children and the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in its initiatives--in particular in the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and the International Labour Organization”.

September 2013

08

International Labour Organization

Media: the new development partner

ne would imagine that the development sector and media would be natural partners. Development Oactors work to advance the interests of ordinary

people, in particular the poor, vulnerable and marginalized, to enhance their well-being. Similarly, journalists, who in the pursuit of truth, also have the public interest at heart and ideally, give a voice to the voiceless and a face to the invisible. Both development actors and journalists work therefore, in their own ways, to advance what the Secretary-General of the United Nations refers to as the “collective global good”.

But why then, despite this apparent consonance, is the relationship between media and development not stronger? While recognising the growing influence and outreach of media, the most many development organisations have done is use the media to disseminate news about organisations' activities through press releases or event reports, or set up facebook pages and twitter accounts, without really understanding if such things are really raising the profile of the organisations, the issues they care about and the work they do.

The ILO has increasingly taken on a more proactive approach; seeing media not just as a reporting and dissemination tool, but as an active development partner who can inform, influence and shape public opinion on social development issues. The width and diversity of the outreach of media: newspapers, magazines, television, cable, terrestrial, radio, internet, English, Urdu, Sindhi, Dari… is unmatched by any other type of network, and is expanding day by day.

Unfortunately, this exponential rise in media has not been supported by training of media personnel.

In 2002 there were 2000 journalists in Pakistan. Now there are about 20,000. Only a small fraction of these have any formal training or qualification in journalism or communication. And this is often reflected in the type of stories that we see and the way they are presented. The way the media portrays an issue has a strong impact on the way the issue is regarded. That is why it is so important that media persons have the skills and knowledge to be able to

understand and report on issues that have a development importance in a meaningful and effective way.

Child labour and bonded labour are amongst the most violative issues in the world of work. And despite being also the oldest issues, there is still a lot to be done to raise awareness and catalyse social change. The EU funded project on child labour, Combating Abusive Child Labour (CACL-II) has been working with future media personnel, university students of media and mass communication programmes, to sensitise them on child labour issues. Seven universities across Pakistan were part of this programme. They were supported in their research work

across Pakistan on the issue and then turning their research into short films and video

documentaries. Seven films have been produced on various aspects of child

labour including its causes, consequences, and impacts on

development issues such as poverty, education, law enforcement, socio-economic development, cultural barriers and social norms. The films were shown at a special launching ceremony in July 2013, attended by representatives of government, workers, employers, the UN and

development agencies, students and children.

Similarly The US State Department funded project,

Strengthening Law Enforcement Responses and Actions against

Internal Trafficking and Bonded Labour (J-TIP), has also been working with media to

raise awareness and improve responsible, activist reporting on the issues. A customized module was developed and almost 200 print and electronic media journalists from six project districts were trained on it. The training covered what bonded labour is, international labour standards and national laws to prevent bonded labour, government reporting on the application of labour standards, the issues in Pakistan, ILO interventions, and, what was most appreciated by participants, interaction with labourers who had been freed from bondage under ILO projects, to understand first-hand what are the issues and possible solutions.

Gender equality in reporting is often taken to mean simply more reporting on 'women's issues'. The CIDA funded project, Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE) has been working with more than 700 journalists on gender responsive reporting, using a module that was developed with the inputs of media, training and labour experts. The trained journalists will be invited to take part in a national development journalism competition later this year.

Promoting Gender Equality in the World of Work

Roundtable Declaration

“We the Pakistani media, comprising national and local newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, news agencies and online media from both the private and

public sector, and all working journalists, recognize that we collectively and individually have a key role to play in

empowering women by improving their public profile through a fair and representative coverage of working women. In this spirit, we hereby establish the National Media Partnership on Supporting Pakistani Women's Empowerment to support and promote their rights and efforts for greater access to equal

employment opportunities and decent working conditions. We commit ourselves to the highest journalistic standards on portrayal of working women in media so that various stakeholders

have increased understanding and favorable attitudes towards working

women's issues.”

September 2013

ILO launches project, “Livelihood Restoration, Protection and Sustainable Empowerment of Vulnerable Peasant Communities in Sindh Province”

Abdul Q

adir M

em

on

09

ILO Pakistan

he International Labour Organization (ILO) is going to implement a new project titled; “Livelihood TRestoration, Protection and Sustainable

Empowerment of Vulnerable Peasant Communities in Sindh Province”in districts Mirpurkhas and Dadu, of the Sindh province. This is a three year project funded by United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) and will be implemented jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWOMEN).

The overall goal of the Project is “to restore and protect the livelihoods and empower the poor and vulnerable peasants (men, women, boys and girls) dependent on feudal and tribal landholding and farming systems and affected by droughts, floods and insecurity”. This goal is at the core of human security provision and development beyond emergency and humanitarian assistance as it aims to improve the quality of life, disaster resilience and dignity of male and female peasants of Dadu and Mirpurkhas Districts in Sindh Province.The project beneficiaries will be excluded men and women hari farmers, landless and

unemployed men, women and youth. The project will include components on skills development for on and off farm income generation, microfinance and disaster risk reduction strategies.

As part of the inception planning, a consultative workshop with the involvement of key stakeholders was held on 28 August, 2013 in Hyderabad. Officials of the Government of Sindh and United Nations (UN) and members of civil society participated in the inception workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to gain insights and experiences from on-going programmes, discuss the project design and consolidate among other technical aspects, the beneficiary/right holders and geographic targeting and the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders. The consultative workshop has assisted in the finalization of a detailed implementation plan of the project.

The joint implementation of the project by three specialized agencies (ILO, FAO and UN Women) will allow the delivery of services in an efficient and cost effective manner and will built on the technical expertise, experience and comparative advantage of specialized agencies.

The European Union supports the ratification of the ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers and has called on all Member States to ratify this Convention," emphasized Ambassador of European Union, Mr. Lars-Gunnar Wigemark. Appreciating the Government of Pakistan and ILO's efforts to combat abusive child labour through the CACL-II project, Ambassador Wigemark added, “The EU will continue to promote improved protection of children and the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in its initiatives--in particular in the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and the International Labour Organization”.

September 2013

10

International Labour Organization

Policy Mattersn important feature of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness is the emphasis on ownership. Aid Arecipients must forge their own policies and national

development strategies with their parliaments and electorates. This is not only a shift in the relationship between donors and recipients, in that donors cannot impose their agendas, but it also marks a shift between the relations of governments and their own citizens. In developing policies the government must engage with its own citizens.The government cannot assume to know what

the country's women, men, girls and boys want, and they cannot assume that they know how best to provide it. This can only be done through an evidence-based, consultative, consensus building, gender mainstreamed process of policy development. These principles of consultation and consensus are fundamental to ILO's work, and are reflected in its unique, tripartite structure, where employers, workers and government participate as equals in all our work. The ILO has for many years been assisting its government partners in policy development on the principles of good policy development practice.

National Policy for Overseas Pakistanis. Pakistan has about 4 million overseas workers and their families of which an estimated 94% is concentrated in six countries of the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. One of the most significant

effects of migration of Pakistani workers has been in the form of remittances sent home by these workers. Recently, the State Bank of Pakistan noted that foreign remittances have become second largest growing source of revenue for the country after industrial exports.

However, many Pakistani migrant workers face considerable challenges such as the high cost of placement, visa and travelling, not to mention unsafe and illegal migration practices that they sometimes fall prey to. Pakistani workers often lack recognized skills and education and cannot compete for skilled jobs and obtain higher wages. Employment contracts can be exploitative preventing particularly, the freedom of association and decent working conditions. Many of these problems arise

because of the lack of information and the absence of an effective regulatory framework.

ILO-Islamabad supported the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis in the development of the first National Policy for Overseas Workers, involving stakeholders including, the Ministry of HRD, Overseas Employment Promoters and recruiting agencies, trade unions and representatives of overseas employed workers and the International Office for Migration (IOM). The policy for was approved in July 2013 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Homebased Workers' Policy, Punjab The Department of Labour Punjab, has with the assistance of the ILO, UNWomen and HomeNet Pakistan, and with the participation of a broad group of stakeholders, developed their Homebased Workers' Policy and had it approved by Cabinet. They have now started working on the legal

Government-Citizen relations in policy makingGovernment citizen relations cover a broad spectrum of interactions at each stage of the policymaking cycle: from policy design through implementation to evaluation.< Information: a one-way relation in which government produces and delivers information for use by citizens. It covers

both passive access to information upon demand by citizens and active measures by government to disseminate to

Government Employers, Workers and other Citizens

< Consultation: A two way relation in which citizens provide feedback to government. It is based on the prior definition by government of the issue on which citizens' views are being south and requires the provision of information.

< Active Participation: A relation based on partnership with the government in which citizens actively engage in the policy making processes. It acknowledges a role for citizens in proposing policy options and shaping the policy dialogue, although the responsibility for final decision and policy formulation rests with the government.

Adapted from, Engaging Citizens in Policymaking: Information, Consultation and Public Participation, OECD Public Management Policy Brief http://www.oecd.org/governance/public-innovation/2384040.pdf

Government

Government

Employers, Workers and other Citizens

Employers, Workers and other Citizens

September 2013 11

ILO Pakistan

Second consultation on labour laws and decent work, Islamabad, May 2013

September 2013

framework. Sindh has also finalised its HBW policy and has submitted it to Cabinet for approval. KPK has started the situation analysis upon which the policy will draw information from. Balochistan has begun consultations too.

Social Protection Policy, KPK. The ILO is supporting the Department of Labour KPK in developing its first Social Protection Policy. Social protection floors are nationally defined sets of basic social security guarantees which secure protection aimed at preventing or alleviating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. KPK is developing an overarching social protection policy to act as an ambit not only to streamline and harmonize various fragmented and ad hoc programs being implemented in the province but also to enhance the outreach of these programs in a sustainable and durable way. The private sector is expected to play a much greater role in the provision of social protection, both through private philanthropy; and by using the non-profit sector as a delivery mechanism for social services as well as income-generating schemes.

A multi-stakeholder Steering Committee, chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary (Development) has been notified, to oversee the policy development and implementation. Planning & Development Department (P&DD) has completed a mapping study and policy-gaps identification exercise and established a Development Partners Forum which meets regularly with updates on Social Protection Floor initiatives. The forum currently consists of ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, GIZ, UN-Women and Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan. The first draft of the policy is expected to be ready for discussion in the coming months.Government of Pakistan. The first draft of the policy is expected to be ready for discussion in the coming months.

Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013 The Department of Labour Sindh has been reviewing and amending their labour laws in light of devolution and in terms of decent work and gender equality. In a recent landmark achievement, the Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013 was passed by the Provincial Assembly. Amongst many notable amendments are the inclusion of agricultural workers, giving them the right of association to form trade unions of their own choice. Furthermore, the SIRA, 2013, also provide the mandatory participation of women workers in the trade union bodies according to the proportion of employment in the establishment. Now that the law has been passed, the

Gender Unit Sindh intends to draft/amend the prevailing Rules relating to SIRA 2013, with the support of the ILO. These amendments shall be submitted to the provincial government for adoption.

Labour Laws, KPK The Provincial Assembly KP has completed a review and consolidation exercise of federal labour laws and passed seven provincial labour laws including the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minimum Wages Act 2013, (a merger of two old laws), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Factories Act 2013, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial and Commercial Employment (standing order) Act, 2013 and Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Relations Act, 2010. New establishments like private schools, private hospitals, which have a particular impact on women, and security companies were also brought into the ambit of labour laws. Besides, certain other provisions like payment to workers through scheduled banks also introduced.

Sindh Employment Trends Report and Punjab Employment trends Report The first ever Sindh Employment Trends Report and Punjab Employment Trends have been launched by the Departments of Labour Sindh and Punjab. These reports analyse labour force data to plot trends and patterns in the economy with reference to training and employment. The report also looks at the various categories of employment, occupational groupings and provides insight to the overall demand of vocational training in the TEVT system and highlights trends in youth employment, gender gaps in employment and adult training.

The reports were produced as a result of the technical assistance the ILO has provided to Sindh Technical Education Vocational Training Authority (STEVTA) Punjab Technical education and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTA) under the One UN funded project EET in establishing and building capacity of the Research and Development Units and developing the capacity of its officials to collect and analyse data on employment and skills It is expected that the information in these reports will be useful to provinces as they develop their employment and skills development policies, for which the ILO is already providing assistance.

10

International Labour Organization

Policy Mattersn important feature of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness is the emphasis on ownership. Aid Arecipients must forge their own policies and national

development strategies with their parliaments and electorates. This is not only a shift in the relationship between donors and recipients, in that donors cannot impose their agendas, but it also marks a shift between the relations of governments and their own citizens. In developing policies the government must engage with its own citizens.The government cannot assume to know what

the country's women, men, girls and boys want, and they cannot assume that they know how best to provide it. This can only be done through an evidence-based, consultative, consensus building, gender mainstreamed process of policy development. These principles of consultation and consensus are fundamental to ILO's work, and are reflected in its unique, tripartite structure, where employers, workers and government participate as equals in all our work. The ILO has for many years been assisting its government partners in policy development on the principles of good policy development practice.

National Policy for Overseas Pakistanis. Pakistan has about 4 million overseas workers and their families of which an estimated 94% is concentrated in six countries of the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. One of the most significant

effects of migration of Pakistani workers has been in the form of remittances sent home by these workers. Recently, the State Bank of Pakistan noted that foreign remittances have become second largest growing source of revenue for the country after industrial exports.

However, many Pakistani migrant workers face considerable challenges such as the high cost of placement, visa and travelling, not to mention unsafe and illegal migration practices that they sometimes fall prey to. Pakistani workers often lack recognized skills and education and cannot compete for skilled jobs and obtain higher wages. Employment contracts can be exploitative preventing particularly, the freedom of association and decent working conditions. Many of these problems arise

because of the lack of information and the absence of an effective regulatory framework.

ILO-Islamabad supported the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis in the development of the first National Policy for Overseas Workers, involving stakeholders including, the Ministry of HRD, Overseas Employment Promoters and recruiting agencies, trade unions and representatives of overseas employed workers and the International Office for Migration (IOM). The policy for was approved in July 2013 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Homebased Workers' Policy, Punjab The Department of Labour Punjab, has with the assistance of the ILO, UNWomen and HomeNet Pakistan, and with the participation of a broad group of stakeholders, developed their Homebased Workers' Policy and had it approved by Cabinet. They have now started working on the legal

Government-Citizen relations in policy makingGovernment citizen relations cover a broad spectrum of interactions at each stage of the policymaking cycle: from policy design through implementation to evaluation.< Information: a one-way relation in which government produces and delivers information for use by citizens. It covers

both passive access to information upon demand by citizens and active measures by government to disseminate to

Government Employers, Workers and other Citizens

< Consultation: A two way relation in which citizens provide feedback to government. It is based on the prior definition by government of the issue on which citizens' views are being south and requires the provision of information.

< Active Participation: A relation based on partnership with the government in which citizens actively engage in the policy making processes. It acknowledges a role for citizens in proposing policy options and shaping the policy dialogue, although the responsibility for final decision and policy formulation rests with the government.

Adapted from, Engaging Citizens in Policymaking: Information, Consultation and Public Participation, OECD Public Management Policy Brief http://www.oecd.org/governance/public-innovation/2384040.pdf

Government

Government

Employers, Workers and other Citizens

Employers, Workers and other Citizens

September 2013 11

ILO Pakistan

Second consultation on labour laws and decent work, Islamabad, May 2013

September 2013

framework. Sindh has also finalised its HBW policy and has submitted it to Cabinet for approval. KPK has started the situation analysis upon which the policy will draw information from. Balochistan has begun consultations too.

Social Protection Policy, KPK. The ILO is supporting the Department of Labour KPK in developing its first Social Protection Policy. Social protection floors are nationally defined sets of basic social security guarantees which secure protection aimed at preventing or alleviating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. KPK is developing an overarching social protection policy to act as an ambit not only to streamline and harmonize various fragmented and ad hoc programs being implemented in the province but also to enhance the outreach of these programs in a sustainable and durable way. The private sector is expected to play a much greater role in the provision of social protection, both through private philanthropy; and by using the non-profit sector as a delivery mechanism for social services as well as income-generating schemes.

A multi-stakeholder Steering Committee, chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary (Development) has been notified, to oversee the policy development and implementation. Planning & Development Department (P&DD) has completed a mapping study and policy-gaps identification exercise and established a Development Partners Forum which meets regularly with updates on Social Protection Floor initiatives. The forum currently consists of ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, GIZ, UN-Women and Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan. The first draft of the policy is expected to be ready for discussion in the coming months.Government of Pakistan. The first draft of the policy is expected to be ready for discussion in the coming months.

Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013 The Department of Labour Sindh has been reviewing and amending their labour laws in light of devolution and in terms of decent work and gender equality. In a recent landmark achievement, the Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013 was passed by the Provincial Assembly. Amongst many notable amendments are the inclusion of agricultural workers, giving them the right of association to form trade unions of their own choice. Furthermore, the SIRA, 2013, also provide the mandatory participation of women workers in the trade union bodies according to the proportion of employment in the establishment. Now that the law has been passed, the

Gender Unit Sindh intends to draft/amend the prevailing Rules relating to SIRA 2013, with the support of the ILO. These amendments shall be submitted to the provincial government for adoption.

Labour Laws, KPK The Provincial Assembly KP has completed a review and consolidation exercise of federal labour laws and passed seven provincial labour laws including the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minimum Wages Act 2013, (a merger of two old laws), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Factories Act 2013, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial and Commercial Employment (standing order) Act, 2013 and Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Relations Act, 2010. New establishments like private schools, private hospitals, which have a particular impact on women, and security companies were also brought into the ambit of labour laws. Besides, certain other provisions like payment to workers through scheduled banks also introduced.

Sindh Employment Trends Report and Punjab Employment trends Report The first ever Sindh Employment Trends Report and Punjab Employment Trends have been launched by the Departments of Labour Sindh and Punjab. These reports analyse labour force data to plot trends and patterns in the economy with reference to training and employment. The report also looks at the various categories of employment, occupational groupings and provides insight to the overall demand of vocational training in the TEVT system and highlights trends in youth employment, gender gaps in employment and adult training.

The reports were produced as a result of the technical assistance the ILO has provided to Sindh Technical Education Vocational Training Authority (STEVTA) Punjab Technical education and Vocational Training Authorities (TEVTA) under the One UN funded project EET in establishing and building capacity of the Research and Development Units and developing the capacity of its officials to collect and analyse data on employment and skills It is expected that the information in these reports will be useful to provinces as they develop their employment and skills development policies, for which the ILO is already providing assistance.

ILO Office for Pakistan ILO Building, G-5/2Islamabad - Pakistan P.O. Box 1047Tel: +92 51 2276456-8Fax: +92 51 2279181-2islamabad@ilo.orgwww.ilo.org/islamabad

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12

International Labour Organization

Coming UpShowcasing best practices of empowering vulnerable groups through education and training

Workshop to develop a strategic framework for Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (PTEVTA)

Experience sharing seminars of the provincial Departments of Labour Child Labour Units

October 2013, November 2013Gujranwala, Islamabad The event will high light the achievements of the EET project vis-a-vis socio-legal and economic empowerment of workers and other vulnerable groups

October 2013LahoreA two day workshop to finalize an institutional strategic framework for PTEVTA to guide organization policies and programmes and enable routing investment, decision making, and performance monitoring in line with envisaged outcomes of the Provincial Annual Development Plans and National Skills Strategy

October and November, 2013Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar

Visit by ILO Regional Director to Pakistan

National consultation on gender responsive public service delivery

Launch of skills development programmes in KP, GB and Balochistan

Launch of Decent Work Country Profile

November 2013Islamabad and PakistanThe new Director of ILO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (ROAP), Mr Yoshiteru Uramoto, will pay his maiden visit to Pakistan in November 2013 to meet social partners and other stakeholders

November 2013LahoreA national consultation to launch a new programme on decent work for domestic workers (DW4DW) with Department of Women's Development, Punjab.

November 2013Skills development programmes to train over 3000 women and men, using ILO's TREE (Training for Rural Economic Empowerment) methodology, in selected districts around Pakistan.

December 2013IslamabadA study to measure the Decent Work situation in Pakistan will be completed November 2013 and draft findings would be shared with key stakeholders

Not so funny....

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September 2013