The training was organized from 31 May to 3 June 2022 by the ILO project “From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour” (ILO Bridge Project). The project supports global and national efforts in Nepal, Peru, Mauritania, Malaysia, Niger and Uzbekistan (since 29 April 2021)) to combat forced labour by promoting the ratification and implementation of the 2014 ILO Protocol and Recommendation on Forced Labour, which was ratified by Uzbekistan in 2019. One of the project`s activities is training of labour inspectors.

There are almost 400 labour inspectors in the State Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations of Uzbekistan. The effectiveness of the State Labour Inspectorate’s regulatory activities depends on the quality of its workforce.

Therefore, in 2021 it was agreed to coordinate training of labour inspectors on forced labour and other unacceptable forms of work jointly between the ILO Bridge and the ILO Third Party Monitoring (TPM) projects. The TPM project focused on investigation techniques (June-July 2021), while the Bridge project was responsible for interviewing techniques (soft skills). Further to a request from the State Labour Inspectorate, the ILO Bridge Project delivered a training on soft skills for labour inspectors in two stages:

• First stage: training of all 14 Directors of Regional Labour Inspectorates (24 and 26 August 2021);
• Second stage: training of 56 labour inspectors (31 May – 3 June 2022).

Due to the situation with the COVID-19, the first stage of the training was conducted in hybrid mode, while for the second stage the project was able to bring 56 labour inspectors in one place – Samarkand city that was chosen because of its geographic location in the centre of the country, which is convenient for labour inspectors coming from all 14 regions of Uzbekistan. Moreover, as the cultural crossroads of Central Asia, Samarkand has adequate infrastructure to hold such an event. In addition, participants will not be disturbed, as if this could happen in Tashkent city.

Ms. Helena Perez, Life Skills & Professional Life Trainer and the Founder of www.improvingworklife.com, who has an extensive experience in delivering trainings, including for the ILO, was engaged to provide labour inspectors with strong social skills to be able to interact with workers, with employers, with union representatives, with employers’ organisations, with judges, prosecutors and many other stakeholders.

The training to introduce labour inspectors to the concept of soft skills and convey the importance of the development of soft skills for their work was held in person as a four-full-day training divided into two sessions:

• The first session is for 28 labour inspectors from the eastern regions of Uzbekistan on 31 May - 1 June 2022;
• The second session is for 28 labour inspectors from the western regions of Uzbekistan on 2-3 June 2022.

The training was facilitated in English with consecutive interpretation into Uzbek. Participants in both groups were very engaged in the training showing full interest in the subject area and wanting to improve their skills.