Mobile phones for labour rights

, Chief Technical Advisor, Better Factories Cambodia project

All over the world, mobile phones are being used to transform lives.  From health surveillance in Peru, to disaster relief in Haiti, to election monitoring in Nigeria and assistance to farmers in several countries. Mobile phones are being used to overcome barriers of participation by connecting people, sharing information and disseminating knowledge.

So when I arrived in Cambodia in 2011 to work with the ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) project, I asked myself: Continue reading

Coming together to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan

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Director of the ILO Philippines Office

As you approach Tacloban from the air, you get a clear idea of the mammoth scale of the destruction wrought by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

On the ground, you are confronted with apocalyptic scenes – houses destroyed, businesses reduced to rubble, fields turned to mud, and boats smashed to smithereens.

It’s just heart wrenching to think of the thousands of lives that were lost and the millions of livelihoods that were devastated. Many of these people were trying to build a life for themselves and their families, trying to get out of poverty. Then the storm came along and took everything away from them. Without social security nets, without decent work, many of these families run the risk of being thrust back into poverty and it could take generations to get out of it.

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‘I want to be President’ – Malawi’s little voices against child labour

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Programme and Operations Officer for eastern and southern Africa at the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)

When you talk of Malawi, many people think: “Oh, yes the country where Madonna adopted two children.”

The south-eastern African country also made the news in April 2012 when Joyce Banda took office as president, becoming the second woman to lead a country in Africa.

To me, Malawi is a place of hope and the home of a frail 10-year-old girl with big black eyes with the stern look of a child who has grown up too quickly. I don’t even know her name but she made a huge impression on me.

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