Economic crises often lead to rising unemployment, stagnant growth, loss of workers’ skills, global imbalances and economic instability; but a number of structural factors also play a role before, during and after long periods of recession. ITCILO – the International Training Centre of the ILO – launches an international course to address these issues and more.

The Global Jobs Pact provides a crisis response framework designed to guide national and international policies and stimulate economic recovery. It outlines a broad portfolio of policies from already successful ILO projects, such as: labour-intensive investments in infrastructure, support to small and medium enterprises, job retention measures, skills and employment services, targeted public employment schemes, comprehensive social security provisions, wage policies and stronger collective bargaining institutions.

Public employment programmes, such as Public Works Programmes and Employment Guarantee Schemes (PWP/EGS), are key Global Jobs Pact policies and part of the recovery plans in many countries.

The ITC course provides participants with insights and practical design tools to inform decision- and policy-makers of labour practices and public-employment programmes (PEP) available at both country and regional levels. The course, a combination of online e-learning and face-to-face learning in English, uses innovative, participatory methods aimed at facilitating a collaborative construction of knowledge and dedicating ample space for project- and experience sharing. Both the e-learning and residential phases of the course will be taught in English.

The residential phase of the course - to be held in Turin - will be facilitated by ILO experts and will cover the following topics:

- The economic crisis and the Global Jobs Pact

- Decent work, employment policy and social protection

- PEP - Case studies

- Labour market impacts across the spectrum

- Policy choices: trade-offs and complementarity in the design process

- Different forms of 'work' as part of PWP/EGS: a review of sectoral and multi-sectoral programmes

- Social mobilization and engagement in PWP/EGS

- Fiscal space, affordability and funding

- The diagnostic tools to design PWP/EGS to respond to country contexts

An IPEP report on the subject issued in 2010 by the ILO Employment Sector argues that public works programmes and employment guarantee schemes are a “key tool to protect the most vulnerable against shocks and to develop at the same time local infrastructure promoting social and economic development.”

Interested candidates should send their application forms to the SDTI Programme at sdti@itcilo.org or by fax (+39 011 693 6749). The total participation cost is €2,500. It includes tuition fees (€1,540) and subsistence (€960) and does not cover the cost of travel between the participant’s home and the course venue.

For more information, see the course full description on the IPEP – ITCILO programme website.

For more information about the Global Jobs Pact and its implementation at national level, please contact jobspact@ilo.org