Skills and Employability Network Updates

Asian Decent Work Decade Knowledge Network

July 2011, Issue 3

ILO SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

Skills for improved productivity, employment growth and development The International Training Centre of the ILO and the ILO Skills and Employability Department, in co-operation with the French Development Agency (AFD), German International Development Cooperation (GIZ), and the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation are offering a two weeks international Skills Development Academy in Turin, Italy (24 October4 November 2011). Its purpose is to stimulate learning and knowledge exchange on major policy challenges and options for building effective, responsive and inclusive skills development systems and to discuss some of the latest trends in the area of skills development and TVET. The Academy is aimed primarily at participants from developing and middle-income countries. The main language will be English with interpretation into French and Portuguese. Interested candidates should have a good command of at least one of these languages. COSTS The total cost of this Academy is 3,250 per participant (not including travel costs). This comprises: Training fees, covering training materials, Academy preparation, implementation and evaluation; Subsistence costs, including full board and lodging at the training venue and minor medical care. ITC-ILO has a limited number of partial fellowships ( 1,500) available. To receive a fellowship, please enquire early! APPLICATION Applicants are kindly asked to send : 1. A completed online nomination form 2. An official "sponsorship letter" issued by their organization (or a donor organization) stating that it will cover the cost of the Academy of 3,250.- (or the remaining cost of the Academy of 1.750 if applying for a fellowship) and travel costs between the country of origin and the Turin Centre. The deadline for application is September 9th, 2011. Contact details: Alessandra Molz a.molz@itcilo.org Arianna Piutti a.piutti@itcilo.org Tel: +39011693 6757 Fax: +39011-693 6451 FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE TRAINING - GO TO THE SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY PORTAL

IN THE PIPELINE
Promoting the Employability and Employment of Youth and Persons with Disabilities in Indonesia: Opening Opportunities Towards Decent Work 25-26 July | Indonesia National Follow-up Workshop on Skills Recognition 4-5 August 2011 | Sri Lanka Workshop on Public Private Partnership in TVET 24 August 2011 | Cambodia Capacity Building on Employers Services: Employers Relations Workshop 5-9 September 2011 | Cambodia Skills and Employability discussion forum #2

RESOURCES
Report on the Regional Technical Meeting Implementing the Training for Rural Econo mic Empowerment (TREE) is now available. If you would like to revisit the event, this report will give you a high level summary of all the major points. A review of current policies and practices related to the right to equal employment opportunities and no n discrimination of persons with disabilities in Thailand by Dr. Churai Tapvong, supervised by Professor Wiriya Namsiripongpun. Contributions were made by a group of law students who collected background materials and captured the attitudes of a sample of 200 business enterprises towards persons with disabilities. ILO provided technical inputs and drafting support.

For more information about these events go to the Skills and Employability Network

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AWARD OF DISABILITY CHAMPIONS PROGRAMME

With representatives of SERC, TTUC, LCT, NCPE, Ministry of Labour and the ILO "Believe in what they can do, and they will do more!". Youth, women and men with disabilities are a productive workforce if provided with access to education, training, and decent jobs on an equal basis with others. This is well embedded in the work of the ILOs social partners in Thailand, including the Ministry of Labour, Trade Unions, Employers' Organizations and Disabled People's Organizations. On 5 July 2011, the disability project PEPDEL (Promoting Employability and Employment of Persons with Disabilities through Effective Legislation) launched an action oriented research paper "A review of current policies and practices related to the right to equal employment opportunities and non-discrimination of persons with disabilities in Thailand". It provides a review of the national legal framework on disability and sets out practical recommendations aimed at improving the implementation of disability and non-discrimination national laws towards the achievement of Art. 27 (Right to work and employment for persons with disabilities) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On the same occasion, the award ceremony of the "Disability Champions' Programme" took place. The Thai trade unions SERC, TTUC, LCT and NCPE were awarded for their work on including disability concerns in their agenda and policies. The Disability Champions' Programme was launched by PEPDEL in September 2010 in Thailand. It provided 4 Thai trade unions with the opportunity to apply the motto MORE (Mobilize, Organize, Represent and Educate) to issues related to disability.

LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS FOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Many countries experience skills mismatch at different stages of development. Several global studies and selected national examples (e.g. the Philippines, the United States and the United Kingdom) indicate that the problem of skills mismatch may be exacerbated in the coming years. Skills projections show an increasing demand for highly skilled workers, particularly professionals, managers and technicians globally, and increased environmental awareness and the growth of green industries will create demand for new jobs, which will require new skills. Skills mismatch is likely to occur when there is inadequate or limited linking and dialogue between the demand and supply sides of skills development. Inadequate career guidance, labour market information and employment services also contribute to the mismatch. Different measures and responses towards the reduction of skills mismatch can take place at multiple levels (national, local or by sector). At the national level, the supply of skills may be coordinated with national economic and employment needs, such as in Singapore. At the local level, a skills development plan may be coordinated with the local economic development planning processes. And within a sector, skills development planning may be integrated with plans for the overall sector development, such as in Bangladesh, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Whilst skill policies can be important drivers of development, in order to minimise skills mismatch it is important that information is produced on future skills requirements. Labour market information and analysis (LMIA) is increasingly becoming important in identifying and quantifying current and future skills issues and to provide the information needed by employers, workers, providers of education and training and governments to make choices in education and training investment. The following key principles should be considered: Basic labour market information and analysis is a necessary precondition for the early identification of skill needs. The early identification of skill needs becomes more complex if economies develop and better integrate in the global economy, and will increasingly rely on various methods based on both quantitative and qualitative information. Apart from the production of information on the early identification of skill needs, it is important that institutional arrangements are in place to translate information into policy action, which should be aligned to broader economic policies, including trade, investment and technology policies.

Further information from the ILO on labour market information and analysis for skills development can be obtained here. By: Paul Comyn (Senior Vocational Skills and Development Specialist, DWT-Delhi), with contributions from a variety of resources and major contribution sourced from Sparreboom and Powell (ILO 2009).
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