Global Programme on Skills and Lifelong Learning_Regional Africa

The regional component will focus on two key issues. One on addressing victims of forced labour / modern slavery and the other on skills partnerships on migration and more specifically on migrant workers. Forced labour / modern slavery is more prevalent in Africa than any other region of the world, with an estimated 7.6 victims for every thousand people. ILO defines forced labour as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”7. In a context of deprivation, disenfranchised individuals lack choices and opportunities, and may have no other opportunities than to engage in slavery like practices. Governance issues, lack of basic needs and disenfranchised groups are among the main contributing factors to the region’s high vulnerability to slavery-like practices. Today, there is a considerable gap between the total number of victims and those benefitting from long-term reintegration support. Moreover, important categories of groups in vulnerable situations have received too little attention until now, suggesting that root causes of modern slavery, such as the lack of access to information, education and skills training, are also yet to be addressed in a systematic way. Low- and medium-skilled migrant workers make up the majority of migrant workers in Africa. They are the focus of the Global Skills Partnership on Migration forged between the ILO, IOM, UNESCO, IOE and ITUC in 2018. The lack of access to relevant labour market information, skills development and recognition can be a major obstacle to labour mobility, obtaining decent work, and lead to important skills losses. Skills partnerships can be a vehicle to support governments, workers and employers in countries of origin and of destination in making labour migration mutually beneficial. Through SKILL-UP, the ILO supported the creation of a knowledge base, the development of proposals for skills partnerships, and the kick-starting of some of these partnerships. The current project proposes to continue this support for selected skills partnerships in Central Africa.

Project symbol

RAF/20/53/NOR

Admin unit

SKILLS

Start date

01/01/2021

End date

31/10/2023

Total allocation

470000

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

469843

Development Partners

Norway, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

Country/Countries

Comoros
Africa - regional
Central African Republic
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Congo
Mauritania
Niger

Outcomes

Outcome 1: Strong, modernized normative action for social justice
Outcome 6: Protection at work for all
Outcome 3: Full and productive employment for just transitions