ILO, Japan to help Filipinos return to work

MANILA, Philippines — The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Japanese government will assist over 30,000 Filipinos return to work amid the pandemic.

The ILO has inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to boost the productivity of more than 30,000 workers in COVID and typhoon-hit areas in the country.

Funded by the Japanese government, the ILO-DOLE collaboration aims to increase the productivity and employability in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and those belonging to the informal economy.

This will also support the government’s  National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) that targets to restore business confidence through safe and healthy workplaces and upgrade digital skills of workers.

ILO country director Khalid Hassan said COVID and Typhoon Odette have a dual impact on workers and businesses struggling to recover from the crisis, adding that responses and policies must be human-centered for them to be effective.

“The ILO will partner with DOLE, workers and employers to promote safe and healthy workplaces, as well as to provide digital business development and financial services,” Hassan said.

The agreement will be implemented through ILO’s project on Bringing Back Jobs Safely under the COVID-19 Crisis in the Philippines: Rebooting Small and Informal Businesses Safely and Digitally.

It will promote occupational safety and health, strengthen digital skills and entrepreneurship, and expand access to internet connectivity and co-working spaces for enterprises and vulnerable workers nationwide.

Nakata Masahiro, minister for Economic Affairs of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, said MSMEs must be equipped to adapt to the new normal for steady recovery that will benefit both enterprises and workers.

Under the MOA, the DOLE will support the operationalization of the training programs, lead the project’s governance mechanism, and sustain the interdisciplinary knowledge management system.

The ILO, on the other hand, will be responsible for developing training materials and providing capacity building for the national trainers endorsed by DOLE and other project partners, as well as the overall monitoring of succeeding training of entrepreneurs.

DOLE chief Silvestre Bello III said the synergy among stakeholders remains pivotal as the government pursues initiatives that create, sustain, and transform jobs beyond the pandemic.

The NERS and its action plan are based on ILO’s four policy areas to stimulate the economy and employment, support enterprises, jobs and incomes, protect workers in the workplace, and rely on social dialogue to find solutions.

The ILO Global Call to Action further lays out a roadmap to an inclusive, sustainable, resilient, human-centered recovery from COVID adopted by member states including the Philippines.