So, what is decent work?
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), decent work is work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families; better prospects for personal development and social integration; freedom for people to express their concerns, to organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.
Why is a platform like this needed?
Decent work remains a challenge for development practitioners who aim to strengthen the capacity of enterprises, worker organisations and governmental institutions to improve jobs and conditions for workers. Particularly, contexts which are characterised by low income, high informality, or workers who face difficult and dangerous working conditions, pose challenges. This platform is designed to provide insights and practical guidance with focus, namely, on challenges related to fragile context, NEETS and informal economy. Depending on your learning needs, you can discover this platform via one of the three routes below: get inspired, get into practice and get trained.
Decent Work Toolbox - an initiative by Enabel and HIVA
The Decent Work Toolbox is an initiative developed by Enabel and HIVA aimed at promoting decent work practices within development projects. This tool provides practical resources and guidelines for integrating decent work principles, such as fair wages, safe working conditions, and social protection, into development programs. By focusing on these key elements, the toolbox supports both public and private sectors in fostering sustainable economic growth and improving the quality of life for workers, particularly in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The collaboration between Enabel and HIVA leverages their expertise in development cooperation and social research to ensure that decent work standards are effectively applied in various projects.
HIVA - Research Institute for Work and Society is a multidisciplinary research institution at KU Leuven. HIVA carries out scientific policy-oriented research. HIVA’s research activities are organised in four research groups.
The Research Group Sustainable Development executes a diverse set of research and evaluation activities related to key global development challenges. Its research seeks to inform policy and practice about a range of interconnected topics, amongst human rights in global value chains, decent work and social protection, civil society and global development, global citizenship, and development cooperation policies and governance instruments. From a methodological perspective we study different governance instruments and strategies of development cooperation, including Agenda 2030 (SDGs), but also monitoring and evaluation, and capacity development. Commissioners are the Belgian and Flemish government, the International Labour Organisation, bilateral donors, trade unions, and international NGOs and their umbrella structures.
Contributing to the DW Toolbox from HIVA:
- prof. dr. Huib HUYSE, Head of Research
- dr. Evelien STORME, Senior researcher
Enabel is the Belgian agency for international cooperation. With our partners, we develop ideas and implement projects addressing urgent global challenges, such as climate change, social and economic inequalities, demographic trends, peace and security.
We have over 25 years' experience in areas ranging from education, health care and social protection, food systems, environmental protection and biodiversity, economic development and employment, financial and administrative governance... The Belgian government, the European Union, several financial partners, the governments of other countries and the private sector call on Enabel's expertise. We also work with public departments, research institutes and civil society organisations to enable meaningful social change.
With over 2,500 staff, Enabel manages more than 200 projects in more than twenty countries, in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Enabel has a long-lasting experience in promoting Decent work through various approaches: supporting demand-driven VET, fostering inclusive, fair and well-distributed socio-economic development in rural and in urban settings, developing sustainable partnerships with the private sector and supporting social protection mechanisms of all to reduce inequalities.
Contributing to the DW Toolbox from Enabel:
- Géraldine LADRIERE, Skills, Employment and Decent Work Expert
- Cyril LIANCE, Economic development, Private sector engagement and Decent work Expert
- Astrid LINDFELT, Junior Expert Decent Work
- members of the reference group
Our partners
Get to know the research institutes in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that collaborate in research on decent work.
Interested in knowing more about our decent work toolbox?
Find out more here