Fourth Newsletter of ILO Pakistan, ‎pdf 3.3 MB - International Labour ...

ILO PAKISTAN
International
Bi-Annual Newsletter
September 2013
Issue No. IV
Labour
Organization
Message from the
Country Director
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.
Albert Thomas
First Director General of the ILO,
1919-1932
Francesco d'Ovidio
Country Director
Inside
2- Strengthening
Entrepreneurship
Training in Pakistan
3- The Story of
Summaya
3- Entrepreneurship &
Employers' Federation
of Pakistan (EFP)
4- World Day Against
Child Labour 2013
5- Gender Unit, Department
of Labour, Punjab, wins UN
Public Service Award
6- Capitalizing the
dividends- Trade Union
Education and Outreach
7- From home based
worker to community leader
8- Media: the new
development partner
9- ILO launches project,
“Livelihood Restoration,
Protection and Sustainable
Empowerment of Vulnerable
Peasant Communities in
Sindh Province”
10- Policy Matters
4- Towards a Better Future
12- Coming Up
Editorial
Board
Editor: Frida Khan, National Project Coordinator, GE4DE, ILO Islamabad
Members: Rabia Razzaque, Zaheer Arif, Imran Khan, Sadia Hameed, Razi M. Haider

International
Labour
Organization
Strengthening Entrepreneurship
Training in Pakistan
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
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
Enterprise
Growth
ILO Business Training Packages
EYB
Know About Business (KAB) A business
training programme for trainers and
teachers in vocational, education,
secondary education and higher
education, teaching young students
between 15 to 18 years.
KAB
SYB
IYB
Time
Start Your Business (SYB) and Improve
Your Business (IYB) A management
training programme with a focus on
starting and implementing small
businesses.
Expand your Business (EYB) Business
training and support package for small to
medium scale enterprises which have
growth potential.
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
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
02
September 2013

ILO Pakistan
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!”
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?
“Entrepreneurship is serious business”, Training of
Facilitators workshop, Punjab.
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.
Kamran Sandhu, KAB Facilitator
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
September 2013
03

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 partnership with the Sialkot
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (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 nonformal
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.”
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
September 2013

ILO Pakistan
Gender Unit, Department of Labour, Punjab,
wins UN Public Service Award
Gender Focal Persons Department of Labour with GE4DE team & UNPSA Award
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
Services
The 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/UNPublicServi
ceAwards/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.
Tahir Manzoor, Gender Focal Person, Dept of Labour,
Punjab receives the award at the ceremony in Bahrain
September 2013
05

International
Labour
Organization
Capitalizing the
dividends- Trade Union
Education and Outreach
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,
06
September 2013
240989
4394
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
Trade Union Members
FBS, 2011
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

ILO Pakistan
“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)
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!
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.
September 2013
07

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
08
September 2013
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.”
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.

ILO Pakistan
ILO launches project, “Livelihood Restoration,
Protection and Sustainable Empowerment of
Vulnerable Peasant Communities
in Sindh Province”
Abdul Qadir Memon
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
09

International
Labour
Organization
Policy Matters
n 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
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
Government-Citizen relations in policy making
Government 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.
Government
Employers, Workers and other Citizens
< 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.
Government
Employers, Workers and other Citizens
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
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
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
10
September 2013

ILO Pakistan
Second consultation on labour laws and decent work, Islamabad, May 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.
September 2013
11

International
Labour
Organization
Coming Up
Showcasing best practices of empowering vulnerable groups
through education and training
October 2013, November 2013
Gujranwala, Islamabad
The event will high light the achievements of the EET project vis-avis
socio-legal and economic empowerment of workers and other
vulnerable groups
Workshop to develop a strategic framework for Punjab
Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (PTEVTA)
October 2013
Lahore
A 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
Experience sharing seminars of the provincial Departments of
Labour Child Labour Units
October and November, 2013
Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar
Visit by ILO Regional Director to Pakistan
November 2013
Islamabad and Pakistan
The 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
National consultation on gender responsive public service
delivery
November 2013
Lahore
A national consultation to launch a new programme on decent
work for domestic workers (DW4DW) with Department of Women's
Development, Punjab.
Launch of skills development programmes in KP, GB and
Balochistan
November 2013
Skills development programmes to train over 3000 women and
men, using ILO's TREE (Training for Rural Economic
Empowerment) methodology, in selected districts around
Pakistan.
Launch of Decent Work Country Profile
December 2013
Islamabad
A 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....
Developed by Innovocom for GE4DE
Readers are encouraged to
share their suggestions and feedback
about the newsletter
at this address:
ILO Office for Pakistan
ILO Building, G-5/2
Islamabad - Pakistan
P.O. Box 1047
Tel: +92 51 2276456-8
Fax: +92 51 2279181-2
islamabad@ilo.org
www.ilo.org/islamabad
The content is available for use elsewhere with written
permission from the Editor of this newsletter
12
September 2013