Decent work results of ILO employment promotion interventions: lessons learned from evaluations, 2003-2013

2.1.3 Supportive legal frameworks development, adoption and implementation

Recommendation: 4. Facilitate capacity strengthening of institutions to develop and revise relevant laws and regulations.

REFERENCE: ILO, 2014, Decent work results of ILO employment promotion interventions: lessons learned from evaluations, 2003-2013 , Meta-analysis of evaluations, ILO, Geneva.

Evidence sample: The analysis determined that the design of the programme focused on implementation of decent work practices at downstream level forgetting that such practices cannot become sustainable if not being supported by the required enabling environment procedures, institutional framework and human resources for implementation. The lack of institutional building and measures to make the social partners become implementers resulted in low commitment, which added to the low involvement. The lesson learned is that for sustainability reasons project designs should emphasize more on capacity building of future implementers than on the very implementation. The analysis indicated that creating a conducive environment often takes the form of developing legislation and providing capacity building to governmental institutions. As a strategy for creating employment, it works indirectly, leading to results in the longer term. However, in combination with other approaches, such as Local Economy Development (LED), more immediate visible effects may be produced. A combination of indirect and direct approaches works particularly well for specific target groups. The analysis included review of interventions aimed at women’s employability. This indicated that a target group approach preferably combines different strategies, ranging from indirect approaches (such as creating a conducive environment) to concrete measures (such as leadership training and cash programmes). In many development projects, there is a tendency to focus on target groups in a direct way, rather than on structural issues related to the enabling environment. The review observed similar tendencies with regard to the way ILO projects on employment promotion are tackling gender, with an overall bias towards direct interventions for women (training, awareness raising), which are often not sufficient to bring about change. It is essential to complement these types of strategies with those oriented towards creating an enabling environment for women at work