ILO-Japan partnership in technical cooperation

After rejoining in ILO in 1951, Japan had been a recipient of ILO technical cooperation by sending Japanese participants to training prgrammes and meetings that were organized by ILO. It has been more than 55 years since then, and at present Japan is one of the big donors of ILO technical cooperation.

After rejoining in ILO in 1951, Japan had been a recipient of ILO technical cooperation by sending Japanese participants to training programmes and meetings that were organized by ILO. It has been more than 55 years since then, and at present Japan is one of the big donors of ILO technical cooperation.

1. Government

In general, there are two kinds of direct financial contribution by the Government of Japan to ILO: 1) Assessed Contribution (based on GDP); and 2) Voluntary Contribution. For 2008, Japan shares 16.632 % (SFr 65,640,508, approx. US$58 million) of the total assessed contribution to ILO, which is the second largest amount following United States (22%), and for voluntary contribution for fiscal 2008, Japan disbursed approximately US$1.6 million. For technical cooperation activities, the voluntary contribution is the main financial resources, and the Government of Japan has funded a technical cooperation programme called “ILO/Japan Multi-bilateral Programme” and SKILLS-AP (Regional Skills and Employability Programme in Asia and the Pacific: previously called APSDEP, Asia and Pacific Skills Development Programme) since 1974 by utilizing the country’s voluntary contribution to ILO.

1.1 ILO/Japan Multi-bilateral Programme funded by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)

The ILO/Japan Multi-bilateral Programme started in 1974 when the ILO and MHLW (then Ministry of Labour) jointly organized a regional workshop on labour administration for women workers in Tokyo by inviting government officials from 16 other countries. Japan’s technical cooperation to ILO dramatically expanded in 1987 when the Ministry of Labour launched a project to facilitate cooperation between employers and workers in Asia and the Pacific. The ILO/Japan Multi-bilateral Programme combines ILO’s technical expertise and the financial support from the Government of Japan. This Programme geographically covers Asia and the Pacific and promotes Decent Work in the region through its technical cooperation projects at the community, national and regional levels. For a graphic illustration of the Trends of Japanese government Voluntary Contribution to ILO and APSDEP, see link at key resources below.

For more detailed information

1.2 Regional Skills and Employability Programme in Asia and the Pacific (SKILLS-AP) funded by MHLW

The objective of SKILLS-AP is to provide more effective services on skills training to ILO member states in Asia and the Pacific. SKILLS-AP has evolved from and built up on the lessons learnt of its predecessor project called the “Asia and Pacific Skills Development Programme (APSDEP)”, which had been financially and technically supported by the Government of Japan since its inception in 1978. More information

1.3 Through the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security

The United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security was established in the UN by Japan in 1999. Since then, Japan has solely contributed approx. US$25 million to the UN Fund every year to support the operations of the human security in the UN system.

The following four ILO projects have been funded so far:

1) Prevention of Trafficking in Children and Women at a Community Level in Cambodia and Viet Nam (US$ 1.2 million for 2003-2006)

The project is to contribute to the elimination of labour exploitation of children and women, in particular the trafficking of children and women in Cambodia and Viet Nam. The project aims at building community capacity to prevent trafficking in children and women in seven provinces in the two countries through activities such as (1) awareness-raising; (2) rural skills training for food security and income generation; and, (3) development and /or empowerment of Village Development Committees/People's Committees. See more information at OCHA.

2) Conflict Prevention and Poverty Reduction among Indigenous Peoples in Papua, Indonesia (US$ 1.5 million for 2005-2008)

This project aims to reduce poverty among indigenous peoples through eliminating discrimination in employment and promoting gender equality, and facilitating a more stable social, economic and political environment through the following activities:

(1) Providing training and workshops for local government officials and indigenous peoples for effective local governance concerning the relationship with the migrant communities; (2) Training for indigenous peoples in basic skills, including functional literacy, with particular focus on women and girls; (3) Establishing enterprises through empowering entrepreneurship in the community and creating job opportunities; (4) Improving health care facilities and establishing a community health insurance scheme; and, (5) Conducting gender awareness training, and mainstreaming gender equality concerns in local development planning. Read more information.

3) Economic and Social Empowerment of Returned Victims of Trafficking in Thailand and the Philippines (US$ 1.6 million for 2006-2009)

This project aims to facilitate social re-integration of victims who returned to their countries of origin and help them re-integrate through their economic and social empowerment by implementing the following activities:

(1) Providing immediate and continuous assistance such as legal assistance, psychological counselling and medical services to returned trafficked victims; (2) Conducting reintegration assistance programs for victims who returned to their country of origin; (3) Empowering victims in order to make them self-sustaining through education, job placement, and small-scale savings and credit schemes; and, (4) Giving opportunities to meet other victims and setting up self-help groups. See more information.

4) Community Development through Employment Creation and Improved Migration Management in Tajikistan (US$ 1.09 million jointly implemented by ILO and UNDP for 2007-2010)

This project aims to improve the overall situation in the Rasht district in Tajikistan by uplifting the livelihood of people through the promotion of income-generating and other activities. This project is also expected to protect the migrant workers in the Rasht district from different problems of migration and ensure the sustainable development in the district. The project implements the following activities:

(1) Empowering the people in the Rasht district through vocational training and income-generating measures; (2) Enhancing capacity of government and social partners to protect Tajik migrant workers from labor rights abuses abroad and to promote decent employment at home; and, (3) Providing the community with better access to information and legal redress mechanisms to migrant workers from the Rasht district, including victims of trafficking. See more information.

1.4 Emergency Grant Aid through UNDP

As a part of the Japanese Government’s pledged US$5 million emergency grant aid, US$500,000 was provided to ILO’s Employment Creation Project in Timor-Leste (STAGE) through United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in response to the UN flash appeal announced on 12 June 2006.

2. Employers and Workers

From 2004 to 2008, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO) funded the RENGO-ILO SCREAM project. SCREAM (Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media) is an education and social mobilization programme of IPEC (International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour) to help educators worldwide promote understanding and awareness of child labour among young people through various forms of visual, literal and performing arts. Read more information.

The RENGO-ILO SCREAM project has translated SCREAM training textbooks into Nepalese, Khmer and Bahasa languages and implemented advocacy activities to combat child labour in the areas where those languages are used with the translated materials. As a follow-up to the project, RENGO has decided to make an additional financial contribution from 2008 to 2010 to help support mobilise and build capacity of teacher trade unions in Indonesia.

The All NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) Workers Union of Japan has also supported ILO’s efforts in combating child labour, especially by sending study tours to ILO-IPEC project sites as well as providing financial support to the World Day against Child Labour events held in Japan.

3. Other Partners

3.1 Research Institute

The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT), which is an independent research institute on labour issues in Japan has provided extra-budgetary support to the ILO to facilitate networking of national institutions of labour studies in Asia and the Pacific for more than a decade.

3.2 Cooperative

In September 2006, the Health Cooperative Association of Japanese Consumers’ Cooperative Union (HCA-JCCU) made a donation to ILO Jakarta through Tokyo Office to help recover the livelihoods lost by the earthquakes in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The project titled “ Socio-Economic Recovery for Sidomulyo Village, Bantul, Yogyakarta: Rebuilding Health Clinic and Local Economic Development Unit” was formulated and implemented by the ILO Jakarta with the funds received. An additional fund was sent by HCA-JCCU in March 2007, and utilized for the Basic Business Skills Training at the rebuilt Local Economic Development building in Sidomulyo Village. The JCCU is a member of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) with which ILO has a partnership agreement.

3.3 Private Sector

In February 2007, AEON Co., Ltd. made a financial contribution to ILO to support its activities to eliminate child labour in Northern Thailand. The technical cooperation project titled “Strengthening Vocational Training Options to Prevent Child Labour in Rural Schools in Chiangrai Province of Thailand” provided vocational training to the grades 7-12 students of Janjawaj and Maejedi Schools in Chiagrai based upon due market needs assessments in the area.