Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of People With Disabilities: Report of a European Conference

[From Overview] The European Conference on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 23-25 October 2003. The Conference was organized jointly by the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Poland and the International Labour Organization’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Geneva and Subregional Office in Budapest, in cooperation with the Central European Initiative. The overall purpose of the European Conference was to review the progress of legislation and practice over the past ten years in the field of vocational rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and the improvement of their labour market situation, particularly in countries in the process of transition; to discuss issues connected with the adjustment to European Union standards of legislation on the vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities; and to develop recommendations that would provide guidelines for activities and instruments aimed at promoting the vocational activity of persons with disabilities and supporting their employment

Maternity waiting homes in Southern Lao PDR : the unique \u27silk home\u27

The concept of maternity waiting homes (MWH) has a long history spanning over 100 years. The research reported here was conducted in the Thateng District of Sekong Province in southern Lao People&rsquo;s Democratic Republic (PDR) to establish whether the MWH concept would be affordable, accessible, and most importantly acceptable, as a strategy to improve maternal outcomes in the remote communities of Thateng with a high proportion of the population from ethnic minority groups. The research suggested that there were major barriers to minority ethnic groups using existing maternal health services (reflected in very low usage of trained birth attendants and hospitals and clinics) in Thateng. Unless MWH are adapted to overcome these potential barriers, such initiatives will suffer the same fate as existing maternal facilities. Consequently, the Lao iteration of the concept, as operationalized in the Silk Homes project in southern Lao PDR is unique in combining maternal and infant health services with opportunities for micro credit and income generating activities and allowing non-harmful traditional practices to co-exist alongside modern medical protocols. These innovative approaches to the MWH concept address the major economic, social and cultural barriers to usage of safe birthing options in remote communities of southern Lao PDR.<br /

Girls in Mining: Research Findings from Ghana, Niger, Peru, and United Republic of Tanzania

[Excerpt] Research carried out by the International Labour Organization’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO–IPEC) between April and December 2006 has produced evidence that girls as well as boys are involved in hazardous work in the small-scale mining industry. Due to the fact that boys are statistically more likely to be involved in hazardous child labour than girls, 1 the appalling work of girls is often overlooked. In the small-scale mining industry especially, little is understood about the roles and activities of girls and the effect that this has on their lives and livelihoods. Not much is known of the dynamics that brought them into this type of employment and consequently what could lead them out of it. The issue of girl child labour in mining is largely unknown, it is often not fully recognized by the law, and missed by the intervention services and the media. New evidence presented in this paper challenges the general understanding of gender roles in small-scale mining communities. It forces us to acknowledge a more intricate reality for boys and girls as the evidence shows that the involvement of girl child labour in mining is much more frequent and far-reaching than was previously recognized. The assumption that girls are only involved in prostitution and domestic work is incorrect; girls are involved in tasks related to the extraction, transportation and processing stages of mining as well as in other mining-related jobs such as selling food and supplies to the miners. The gender balance appears to be shifting. Girls are involved in more and more hazardous occupations deeper into the interiors of the mine, but at the same time they are also upheld to their traditional female responsibilities in the home. The result is that girls in mining communities are forced to juggle their domestic tasks with other paid or non-paid work. Often, girls are performing just as hazardous tasks as boys, working longer hours, with a greater workload and often have a lesser chance of schooling, withdrawal or rehabilitation

A European union and Canadian review of public health nursing preparation and practice.

This study explores the preparation and role of the public health nurse (PHN) across European Union (EU) countries (Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and Canadian provinces (Alberta, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island)

The Institutionalization of a Gender Approach in the Ministries of Labor of the Americas

[Excerpt] The report presented here complies with one of the XV IACML’s strategic guidelines, which explicitly provided for an analysis of the state of progress of gender perspective institutionalization in Ministries of Labor, by taking a snapshot of those ministries’ internal structures, the various schemes governing their units or commissions in charge of gender affairs, and the existing capacities of the latter for making gender equality a shared objective. The institutionalization of the gender perspective in Ministries of Labor is emerging as a highly effective tool for designing gender equality policies, plans and programs. This reflection about different experiences in the region––and the strengths and weaknesses they evince––provides an orientation framework for future actions. Since its very inception in 2005, work for this study has been supported by the collaboration and technical expertise of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) and the ILO. ILO’s contribution is the fruit of a relationship of close cooperation dating back to 1950 and recently strengthened by the Memoranda of Understanding signed in 2005 and 2007. This study provides new elements for analyzing the work and strengthening the management of Ministries of Labor in the region. It has provided additional input for ILO’s Gender Equality at the heart of Decent Work campaign, as well as for the debate that took place on this issue during the 2009 International Labour Conference

Small-scale capture fisheries: a global overview with emphasis on developing countries: a preliminary report of the Big Numbers Project

The report gives a summary of the results to-date of case studies carried out in a selected number of countries which provides a first analysis of the differences between marine and inland small and large scale fisheries in developing countries. It has been prepared for the conference ôSecuring Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries: Bringing together responsible fisheries and social developmentö in Bangkok, Thailand, on 13-17 October 2008 and is intended for policy and decision makers and others with an interest in sustainable fisheries and poverty alleviation.Artisanal fishing, Small scale fisheries

The report on the activities of the Administrative Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity

Council of Ministers, Fifth Ordinary Session Accra, October 1965The report of the Administrative Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity on the execution of the instructions of Heads of State and Government on resolutions and political matters

Agenda item ii: apartheid and racial discrimination

Summit Conference of Independent African States meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 22 to 25 May 1963The imperious and urgent necessity of co-ordinating and intensifying efforts to put an end to the South African Government’s criminal policy of apartheid and wipe out racial discrimination in all its forms

Comparison of Medicine Availability Measurements at Health Facilities: Evidence from Service Provision Assessment Surveys in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries.

With growing emphasis on health systems strengthening in global health, various health facility assessment methods have been used increasingly to measure medicine and commodity availability. However, few studies have systematically compared estimates of availability based on different definitions. The objective of this study was to compare estimates of medicine availability based on different definitions. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the Service Provision Assessment (SPA) - a nationally representative sample survey of health facilities - conducted in five countries: Kenya SPA 2010, Namibia SPA 2009, Rwanda SPA 2007, Tanzania SPA 2006, and Uganda SPA 2007. For 32 medicines, percent of facilities having the medicine were estimated using five definitions: four for current availability and one for six-month period availability. 'Observed availability of at least one valid unit' was used as a reference definition, and ratios between the reference and each of the other four estimates were calculated. Summary statistics of the ratios among the 32 medicines were calculated by country. The ratios were compared further between public and non-public facilities within each country. Across five countries, compared to current observed availability of at least one valid unit, 'reported availability without observation' was on average 6% higher (ranging from 3% in Rwanda to 8% in Namibia), 'observed availability where all units were valid' was 11% lower (ranging from 2% in Tanzania to 19% in Uganda), and 'six-month period availability' was 14% lower (ranging from 5% in Namibia to 25% in Uganda). Medicine availability estimates vary substantially across definitions, and need to be interpreted with careful consideration of the methods used

Proceeding and report of the Economic and Social Commission

Economic and Social Commission, First Session, Niamey, December 1963The Economic and Social Commission of the Organization of African first session held in Niamey, Niger, from 9th to 13th December 1963 elected the chairman