Guidance on how to address rural employment and decent work concerns in FAO country activities
The Guidance on how to address rural employment and decent work concerns in FAO country activities has been just produced by FAO with technical assistance from the ILO. The document is the outcome of a longstanding and fruitful collaboration between the two organizations for the promotion of decent and productive employment in rural areas.
Recognising the centrality of Rural Employment and Decent Work (RE&DW) for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the guidance introduces basic concepts and identifies the challenges of addressing decent work in rural areas. FAO’s comparative advantages in dealing with RE&DW are identified, specifically with respect to agricultural and informal employment. Based on the results of the Organization’s “Self-Assessment on Employment and Decent Work”, the Guidance provides suggestions for concrete actions and tools that can be adopted and integrated in projects and programme design.
The creation of links with International Labour Organization (ILO) field offices and the promotion of synergies at country level is encouraged and a list of ILO Rural Employment focal points is provided in annex.
The Guidance is complemented by the Quick reference for addressing rural employment and decent work, a two-page practical tool providing four brief checklists - one for each pillar of the Decent Work Agenda- for FAO country offices to promote productive and decent employment in rural areas.
The current version of the Guidance document will be field tested for the next months, before printing it officially, to allow for its improvement and fine-tuning. In general, this is envisioned to be a living document, which should be periodically updated to reflect feedback, lessons learned and practical experience gained at country level.