African Newsletter 2/2015, Age management, including young workers

African NewsletterVolume 25, number 2, September 2015

O N O C C U P A T I O N A L H E A L T H A N D S A F E T Y

Age management including young workers

African Newsletter ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETYVolume 25, number 2, September 2015 Age management including young workers

Published by Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A FI-00250 Helsinki, Finland

Editor in ChiefSuvi LehtinenE-mail: [email protected]

EditorMarianne JoronenE-mail: [email protected]

Linguistic EditorsAlice LehtinenDelingua

Layout Kirjapaino Uusimaa, Studio

The Editorial Board is listed (as of August 2015) on the back page. A list of contact persons in Africa is also on the back page.

This publication enjoys copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts of articles may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, International Affairs, Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A, FI-00250 Helsinki, Finland.

The African Newsletter on Occupational Health and Safety homepage address is:http://www.ttl.fi/AfricanNewsletter

The next issue of the African Newsletter will come out at the end of December 2015. The theme of the issue 3/2015 is Training in occupational health and safety.

African Newsletter is financially supported by the Finnish Insti-tute of Occupational Health and the International Labour Office.

Photograph of the cover page: M. Crozet, P. Deloche, J. Maillard /ILO Photo Gallery© The International Labour Organization

© Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 2015

Printed publication: ISSN 0788-4877On-line publication: ISSN 1239-4386

Contents31 Editorial Ageing Juhani Ilmarinen Finland

Articles

32 Age Management at workplaces Marjo Wallin Finland

36 The Youth to Youth Fund as a successful model to promote youth entrepreneurship: Key lessons learned from East Africa region

Anne-Marie Jamin, Ekanath Khatiwada ILO

40 Promotion of age management in developing countries Cheikh Al Kalifa Aboubacar Cisse Senegal

42 Plaidoyer pour la gestion de l’âge en milieu de travail Cheikh Al Kalifa Aboubacar Cisse Sénégal

44 Youth labour in Egypt Ahmed Osama Mohamed Egypt

46 Child labour in Egypt: An overview Adel M. Zakaria Egypt

48 WHO Collaborating Centres Meeting in Jeju, Republic of Korea

Suvi Lehtinen Finland

49 ICOH2015 in Seoul Suvi Lehtinen Finland

50 Seoul Statement on the Development of Occupational Health Services for All

The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office, World Health Organization or the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health of the opinions expressed in it.

Editorial

Afr Newslett on Occup Health and Safety 2015;25:31 • 31

D emographic change is a global phenomenon. Ac-cording to WHO,

the world´s population of peo-ple aged 60 and over has dou-bled since 1980 and is forecast to reach 2 billion by 2050. The number of older people in Af-rica will grow from 54 million

to 213 million. By 2050, 80% of older people will live in low- and middle-income countries.

The reasons for the ageing of the population are twofold: in-creased life expectancy due to better health and diminished birth rates. The former is the greatest achievement of mankind and should not be considered a problem, although many govern-ments see it as a difficult financial burden due to heavier depend-ency ratios. The real problem is not ageing but the fact that we are not sufficiently prepared for an older society. We should al-so note the positive side of ageing: older people make important contributions to society as family members, volunteers and ac-tive members of the workforce. The wisdom and experience they have gained throughout their life course make them a vital social resource.

As the population ages, the workforce ages. In many Europe-an countries, the 50+ workforce is already larger than the young-er generation (under 30 years). Although the situation is still far from this in Africa, its number of older workers is expected to al-so rise. A shortage will occur if older workers leave their jobs be-cause of poor health, work disability or early retirement options.

What should be done? The answer is age management. There are three levels of age management: society, workplaces and in-dividual. Age management at the society level calls for a variety of National Ageing Policy actions, and their implementation and monitoring. Age management at workplaces means considering age-related factors when organizing and conducting work pro-cesses. This is the responsibility of both employers and employ-ees. The designing of work should be more age adjusted and age friendly, because ageing means changes in several crucial human properties; in physical, mental and social resources. Rather than deteriorating due to the ageing process, we are becoming more diverse. In fact, while physical capacities tend to decline, the ma-jority of psychological capacities remain at an appropriate level, and many social functions even improve with age. However, indi-vidual differences increase considerably during ageing: therefore older workers are a highly heterogeneous population. As a con-sequence, standard solutions to the design of work are no longer applicable to everyone. This makes age management a new and necessary competence for managers and supervisors. Employ-ees should also rethink their lifestyles and attitudes towards their own ageing.

One of the strongest concepts and tools for running age man-

agement processes at workplaces is the promotion of older work-ers’ work ability. Work ability is an evidence-based concept, cre-ated by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) as early as in the 1980s. FIOH’s Work Ability House concept and method for evaluating individual work ability, called the Work Ability Index (WAI), is now translated into 28 different languag-es. In addition to Europe, many Asian-Pacific countries, such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Australia, have implemented the WAI in both research and prax-is. However, it has still not been implemented in African coun-tries.

The results of WAI research show a declining trend by age, indicating that the fit between work and human resources is be-coming problematic among about one third of the 45+ working population, regardless of type of work or gender. The reason for this declining trend is not the necessarily the decline of human resources, but shortcomings in the redesign of work and a lack of age management skills. Therefore, the most important action needed at workplaces is the improvement of the age management skills of managers, supervisors and foremen. It should be empha-sized, however, that older workers are also personally responsible for keeping their health and capacities at appropriate age-related levels, and for updating their skills and knowledge through life-long learning programmes. Promoting the work ability of older workers is thus a common, continuous process for both employ-ers and employees. It is also a win-win concept: productivity im-proves, and occupational well-being increases. Moreover, the ef-fects can be measured on a societal level: better, longer work-ing careers ease the pressure of heavy dependency ratios and the overloaded national economy.

Ageing in Africa is strongly dependent on the health and low income of the population, as in Ghana, where concrete recom-mendations are already available. The emphasis in Africa should be on all levels of age management. Governments, ministries, development partners, district authorities, civil society organiza-tions, charitable and faith-based organizations can together im-prove the awareness level of ageing issues in the country, and aim to change attitudes towards ageing. Workplaces can concentrate on age management by training supervisors and adjusting work processes together with employees. Africa should become an age-friendly continent, which widely uses the different, valuable skills and experiences of all generations. As WHO states in its 10 facts on ageing and the life course: “We need to reinvent our assump-tions for old age”.

Ageing

Professor Juhani Ilmarinen Juhani Ilmarinen Consulting Ltd Ruuvitie 2, FI-01650 Vantaa, Finlandwww.jic.fi Email: [email protected]

Photo by Juhani Ilmarinen Consulting Ltd

32 • Afr Newslett on Occup Health and Safety 2015;25:32–36

Marjo WallinFinnish Institute of Occupational Health

Age Management at workplaces

Figure 1. Population pyramids in Africa from 1950 to 2050.Source: United Nations, http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/005afric.pdf

The ageing workforce – a realityThe number of older workers is expanding rapidly in Africa. Although only 5% of the population was 60+ in 2000, in ten years’ time (in 2025) the number of 60–74-year will be more than double this. At the same time, lower fertility means that the amount of new work-ers entering the workforce will be smaller. This demo-graphic change is increasing the average age of the la-bour force in Africa. Figure 1 demonstrates this shift from a pyramid-shaped population pyramid to one that is dome shaped.

The ageing workforce is a global phenomenon, which challenges societies, public administrators and employers to create positive attitudes towards longer work lives and to secure sustainable communities. While the role of national governments, with legislative author-ity, is important in age management, it is not the only factor that can promote a longer work life. There should also be a balance between a person’s resources and the demands of their work. This highlights the crucial role of organizational actors and the significance of middle management. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to be able to disseminate age management practices to mun-dane management practices. To achieve this goal, organ-izational actors, such as HR personnel and middle man-agement, need practical tools for assessing and develop-ing their current practices.

Age management in daily leadershipBy age management practices, we mean the manage-ment of organizations’ productivity and human resourc-es in a way that acknowledges employees’ resources dur-ing their individual life course. Such measures combat

age barriers and/or promote age diversity (2). In practi-cal terms, this means managing the work ability of per-sonnel and the success of the enterprise. This is a crucial linkage, since enterprise profits are made possible by the work ability of its personnel. Thus, age management calls for co-ordinated efforts to enhance individual resources, while simultaneously adjusting work tasks to accommo-date and utilize workers’ abilities.

What is work ability?Work ability is a dynamic relationship between a work-er’s individual resources and demands, as well as the re-sources of work. This person-environment fit is the core concept of work ability, and the interaction these fac-tors has been illustrated by the Work Ability House con-cept (Figure 2). The Work Ability House has four floors, with a staircase, which indicates interaction between the different floors. On the first floor is the employee’s health and functional capacity, which acts as an impor-tant foundation for the house. The next two floors con-sist of employee’s competences and professional skills, and employee’s values, attitudes and motivation towards work. On the top floor is work, comprising work com-munity and leadership. In order to have a solid, sustain-able house, these four floors need to be in harmony with each other. Should the work floor become too heavy, the lower levels need more support, otherwise the house is at risk of tumbling down. On the other hand, if tiles are missing on the first floor, this can be compensated by adjusting the top floor accordingly.

Best practices in age managementThe Finnish Institute of Occupational Health launched

Afr Newslett on Occup Health and Safety 2015;25:32–36 • 33

Figure 2. Work Ability House

Work Ability House

EXTERNAL OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

IMMEDIATE SOCIALENVIRONMENT

FAMILY

WORK ABILITY

Work, work community and leadership

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Values, attitudes and motivation

Health and functional capacities

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a research and development initiative on organizational age management practices in 2009. This initiative qualitatively ana-lysed the data available on organizations’ best age management practices in the EU27 countries, and constructed a typol-ogy of age management.

The existing database was created by EuroFound and is available on the inter-net (4): http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/case-studies/age-ing-workforce

The database consists of 200 case de-scriptions of organizations’ age manage-ment practices collected from the EU27 Member States. The cases document the initiatives and measures in place from 2005 to 2007 at public and private organi-zations. Some of these case organizations had already adopted initial age manage-ment measures during the last decade, thus providing a longitudinal view of the factors that influence the success and sus-tainability of the initiatives.

Workplaces implement age management differentlyWorkplaces had a variety of approaches to age management practices, all of which were nonetheless based on two dimen-sions. The first dimension was the organ-izations’ stance towards ageing/ageing workers, and the second dimension was their means and preparedness for han-dling challenges. By plotting the organi-zations’ age management measures along these two dimensions, the typologies of age management practices were con-structed. These were ‘Tackling problems of scarce resources’, ‘Decreasing the de-mands of work, ‘Enhancing individual re-sources’, ‘Intergenerational learning’, and the ‘Life-course approach’. Figure 3 pre-sents the typologies graphically, to illus-trate their positions on the two trajecto-ries and in relation to each other.

The typology of age management practices is hierarchical in essence. How-ever, this hierarchical structure does not indicate order of superiority, but tempo-ral maturity. Organizations are at various stages as regards solving challenges such as the constant flux of the operational en-vironment. Each situation and context calls for different types of solutions. The typology of age management practices il-lustrates how each of the solutions builds upon the prior level of understanding and

measures, thus indicating the longitudinal maturity of age management practices in a particular organization.

To provide more detailed insights into each category of the age management ty-pology, I will present an anonymous case example using SWOT-analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weakness-es, Opportunities, and Threats. It is of-ten used as part of a strategic or busi-ness planning process, but can be use-ful for understanding an organization or situation, and for decision-making in all sorts of situations. In the project at hand, SWOT analysis was used to diagnose each level of AM typology, focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the present situation followed by possible threats as-sociated with this approach, and finally to view the opportunities this approach of-fers for future development. The SWOT analysis provides a practical means to provide positive feedback on issues which are already handled well. It also points out the weaknesses of the current approach, provides a glimpse of possible threats, and most importantly, delivers recommenda-tions for future developments.

Case 1: A large international supermar-ket chain tackled problems of scarce re-sourcesA supermarket had difficulties recruiting staff. The employer decided to solve this acute problem by recruiting readily avail-able workers, i.e. employees aged 45+. This created new career opportunities for older workers, and the employer received

positive media attention. The average rate of sales per wage and sickness absence were monitored in the 45+ supermarkets. In addition, there were no customer com-plaints.

The Strength of Tackling problems of scarce resources was that the organi-zation had developed a novel solution to an acute problem. Organizational actors were able to turn their situation, which was a potential threat to the business, in-to an asset by utilizing scarce resources that were available. Instead of the most obvious, traditional solutions, they relied on more risky, unconventional resourc-es due to duress. The Weaknesses of this approach were related to quick response time. There was very little time to react due to no prior age awareness or lack of long-term planning. This reactive prob-lem-solving required corrective actions to the most imminent problem. Thus, there was no time or resources left to plan com-prehensive measures. This made the scope of measures narrow. The Threats of this type of approach were related to unsus-tainability. With no long-term planning for acquiring resources, the measures may end as quickly as they were started. More-over, scarce resources present a threat to carrying out any type of age management measures. In a situation of delayed out-comes or unsuccessful initial attempts, business operations may fail. However, the Opportunities this approach provided for the organization with were related to the realisation that older workers could be an asset. Older workers provided the so-


Figure 3. Typology of age management practices in the analysed cases of the EuroFound data-base

lution to their problem, although this was not acknowledged by the organizational actors at the beginning of the challeng-ing situation. In the future, further threats may be prevented by adopting more pro-active measures and planning ahead.

Case 2: A large automotive manufactur-er decreased the demands of older work-ers’ work Constant changes in the operational en-vironment and work organizations cre-ated challenges for older employees to cope with work. The employer assessed that older workers lacked necessary com-petence. Thus, the employer planned and implemented, together with the trade un-ion, a senior workplace unit for almost 400 employees. The tasks of this unit con-sisted of, for example, packing, cleaning, internal transportation and making ad-justments to production material. The re-sults indicated increased job security for all employees, and decreased the sickness absence rate for older workers in the unit.

The Strength of Decreasing work de-mands was that the organization was aware of age structures within the work-place. The ageing workforce needed spe-cial attention and workloads needed to be controlled in order for these workers to continue at work. The Weaknesses of this approach were related to this very issue of awareness of the ageing workforce. Older workers were perceived as a threat to pro-ductivity. The focus was on the weakness-es of ageing workers. The solution to this problem was to decrease the demands of work in order to ease their burden to old-er workers. The Threats of this type of ap-proach are related to age discrimination. While this type of positive discrimination, such as providing benefits due to older age, is meant to encourage older work-ers, it may, in fact, stigmatize these work-ers. Older workers, if treated as a homo-geneous group, may be made redundant more easily due to their need for special accommodations. In addition, this fo-cus on challenges accompanied with age may blur the fact that with age comes ex-perience and invaluable knowhow. The Opportunities this approach provided were related to developing a more com-prehensive understanding of age-related changes. Increasing age does not have to mean negative progress; our own choic-es and actions have an important part in the outcome. A great deal can be done

to enhance ageing workers’ work ability, such as increasing functional capacity and health, updating skills and knowledge, and strengthening positive attitudes to-wards work and participation.

Case 3: A large manufacturer of steel products enhanced older workers’ indi-vidual resources Constantly increasing demands for ef-ficiency with concomitant changes at work resulted in high pension costs and sickness absence rates. The employer launched an initiative to promote work-ers’ health and well-being and to keep em-ployees at work until normal retirement. The work environment was enhanced by ergonomic improvements and a new er-gonomic shift schedule was introduced. Opportunities for physical rehabilita-tion and redeployment were provided in co-operation with occupational health services. In addition, workshops on age-ing were held. As a result, the average re-tirement age increased substantially and pension costs stabilized. The improved physical and psychosocial environment increased workers’ motivation and en-hanced productivity.

The Strength of Enhancing individ-ual resources was its proactive approach. There was awareness of age structures at the workplace. There was also an un-derstanding that ageing processes were highly individual and alterable. The active stance towards the ageing workforce con-sisted of both adjusting the level of work demands to an appropriate level, and en-hancing individual resources. This meant

that workplaces had adopted practical measures of health promotion. There were also practical measures of lifelong learn-ing, such as opportunities to participate in on-the-job training or special courses, regardless of age. This proactive approach acknowledged older workers as having the potential to maintain and increase their functional abilities. The Weakness-es of this approach continued to hinge on the awareness of the ageing workforce. There was a heightened awareness of old-er workers as a potential threat to pro-ductivity – which was the driving force of the age management measures. Although ageing processes were viewed as individu-alized, the focus remained on the deficit aspects of ageing. Without on-going ef-forts to enhance older worker’s resourc-es, there would be an inevitable decline in their work ability. Older workers’ work experience and skills were not recognized, nor utilized in this approach. The Threats of this approach pertain to age discrimi-nation. Even these proactive and positive measures may stigmatize older workers. Furthermore, the individual focus may blur the need for organizational develop-ment. Each workplace has a community of practices pertaining to shared under-standing of technical skills and know-how, human relations and interaction pat-terns, etc. Focusing solely on individual resources, such as physical capacity, may neglect this work community aspect of work ability, and the importance of shared knowledge. Older workers have invalu-able knowhow, and if this is not shared with younger colleagues, it is lost when


the older worker retires. Moreover, with-out outcome measures, there are no in-dications of the sustainability of this ap-proach. This calls for systematic collec-tion of data; for example, sickness absence rates, amounts of disability fees, and the number of production delays or mistakes. The Opportunities of this approach were related to developing a more comprehen-sive understanding of human ageing. In a healthy, working-age population, increas-ing age does not bring along decline, but rather maturity and experience: for exam-ple, the ability to handle unexpected situ-ations with confidence and fewer mistakes than younger colleagues. There are plenty of opportunities to utilize this asset of ex-perienced workers at workplaces.

Case 4: A medium-sized bus company invested in intergenerational learningThe high average age of employees was of particular concern for this organization. In order to enable every employee to con-tinue at work until retirement age, com-prehensive health promotion measures were adopted. In addition, older work-ers were given opportunities for individ-ual working times and flexible timetables. Furthermore, lifelong learning opportuni-ties were secured, and a godparent driv-er system was adopted to support young drivers. Experienced godparents explain all important company practices to new drivers and observe new drivers during some of their first trips. New drivers can always call on their godparent driver for help. As a result, the work ability of both older and younger drivers was promoted and maintained.

The Strength of Intergenerational learning was the understanding of ageing as an opportunity. Getting older does not only mean increased variability in both individual resources and needs, but also increased experience and knowhow. Thus, the organization’s age awareness was relat-ed to the current situation and projected future developments. This made proac-tive measures of ensuring that invaluable knowledge remains within the organiza-tion more manageable. Future retirement of experienced workers needed to be ac-knowledged and practical measures of recruitment adopted early on in the pro-cess. Passing along experienced workers’ tacit knowledge requires time and close interaction, which enables younger work-ers to see how to solve problems and cor-

rect mistakes in practical terms. However, this exchange of knowledge is not a one way flow, but mutual sharing. Not only does the younger worker learn from the more experienced colleague, but also old-er workers learn new things while work-ing with inexperienced colleagues. This learning pertains to new technology, but also to taken-for-granted knowhow which is verbalized when procedures and pat-terns of thought/reasoning are explained to a newcomer. In this approach, individ-ualized accommodations were utilized, such as decreasing workloads. But these adjustments were performed in a manner that focused on the assets of older work-ers. While the burden of work was re-duced, the experience and knowhow was utilised to a greater extent than was pre-viously possible. The Weaknesses of this approach are related to age-dependent benefit distribution. Having to be cer-tain age in order to have more flexibility in work arrangements may cause feelings of inequality among workers. The Threats of this approach were also related to this perceived unfairness, which may increase the generational gap and limit intergen-erational collaboration at the workplace. In addition, lacking outcome measures do not have indications for sustainable age management measures. It is important to develop practices of competence reviews and skills development. The Opportuni-ties of this approach were related to ex-tending flexibility options to everyone, re-gardless of their age. There is increasing-ly more diversity during the life course, and flexibility in work arrangements will ensure maximum inclusion in the work-force.

Case 5: A large public sector organiza-tion adopted the life-course approachThis organization faced the ongoing chal-lenge of maintaining a balance between all age groups and levels of experience. Thus, the employer introduced an equal oppor-tunities policy, securing recruitment prac-tices without reference to age and training opportunities for everyone. Flexible work-ing arrangements were provided for em-ployees who needed them. In addition, to prevent age discrimination, an age aware-ness programme for the entire staff was launched.

The Strengths of the Life-course ap-proach were related to the awareness of diversity issues at the workplace. Employ-

ees have strengths and face challenges at every age. In addition, age is by no means the only source of diversity at the work-place; the workforce has a variety of cul-tural backgrounds and several minority groups. Thus, there is a need for extend-ing equal opportunities for flexibility in job arrangements, on-going education, health promotion and benefits to eve-ryone. The proactive stance of the life-course approach included all measures mentioned in the previous approaches that aimed to promote work-related well-being and work ability. The measures were inclusive to all employees. When adjust-ments at work were needed, the feasible means were based on individuals’ needs. Thus, age or other sources of diversity did not determine the available scope of modifications. The Weaknesses of this ap-proach were related to the large scope of measures. Management skills are highly demanding. HR professionals and man-agers should have a comprehensive un-derstanding of variety of issues, such as health and functional ability, skills and competence, motivation, work organiza-tion, and available adjustments. Further-more, it is crucial to comprehend how the constant dynamic changes affect these is-sues, in relation to growing older, having a diverse cultural background etc., and in relation to the constant changes in the operational environment and in society. In addition, the large scope of measures demand financial investments, which, although they yield a return in the long run, often fail to show immediate results. The Threats are related to the sustainabil-ity of the measures. Providing opportu-nities for flexibility and enhancing work ability requires financial investments, but often provides no instant gratification. The outcome measures need to be col-lected systematically over a long period of time, that is, several years after initiating measures. Without a comprehensive un-derstanding of the importance of work-related well-being for the use value of the organization, management may consider these efforts too taxing. This may lead to short-sighted decisions to cut costs in-stead of investing in the future. The Op-portunities that this approach provides for organizations are essential to success. Investments in work-related well-being, and providing equal opportunities for everyone creates a positive employer im-age. Good reputation in turn secures fu-

Anne-Marie Jamin, Ekanath KhatiwadaILO

IntroductionAs a continent, Africa is home to the highest concentration of youth in the world, with almost 200 million people recorded between the ages of 15 and 24 (AEO, 2012). A report by Africa Econom-ic Outlook (2012) projects this popula-tion to double by 2045. In the midst of a growing youth bulge, countries across Sub-Saharan Africa struggle with youth unemployment rates, which have hov-ered at approximately 11.7% since 2008, and are expected to rise along with global trends (ILO, 2013). It is also important to recognize that in countries which experi-ence high levels of poverty and high rates of vulnerable employment, challenges around youth unemployment revolve as much around the poor employment qual-ity as they do around youth unemploy-ment itself. In 2012 the working poverty rate in this region was recorded at 40.1%, in which individuals earned less than US$1.25 per day (ILO, 2013). It is crucial then that age management be a founda-tional consideration in tackling unem-ployment rates, where the inclusion of young workers is prioritized.

In the midst of limited opportunities within the formal or wage employment sector, labour markets across Sub-Saha-ran Africa have recognized the promotion of entrepreneurship as a viable means to simultaneously improve livelihoods and stimulate economic growth. Becoming an entrepreneur in East Africa is no easy task however. An economic profile com-piled by the World Bank (2015) compares the regulatory environment of 189 econ-

The Youth to Youth Fund as a successful model to promote youth entrepreneurship: Key lessons learned from East Africa region

omies, using indicators which measure the ease for a local entrepreneur to start a small to medium-sized business. The study ranks Uganda-166th, Kenya-143rd and Tanzania-124th out of 189 economies (World Bank Group, 2015). Youth who are successful in conquering the contextu-al hurdles highlighted above and go on to establish a start-up unfortunately face fur-ther challenges in maintaining and grow-ing the life of their business. Failure rates of small businesses across East Africa re-main high, with evidence to support up to 80% national failure rates within the first year (Dutt et al. 2015).

Background: Youth to Youth Fund (Y2YF) Entrepreneurship Development ModelIt is within this context that The Youth to Youth Fund (Y2YF) was designed and re-viewed as a successful model to promote youth entrepreneurship in East Africa. The Y2YF is a component of the Interna-tional Labour Organization’s Youth Entre-preneurship Facility (ILO-YEF), funded by the Danish government. The Y2YF of-fers local youth-led organizations an op-portunity to actively participate in the development of youth entrepreneurship in their communities. Through a competi-tive grant scheme managed by national implementing partner organizations, the Y2YF supports youth-led organizations with funding, capacity strengthening and direct technical assistance. The support offered in turn by the grantee organiza-tions to their beneficiaries, the potential youth entrepreneurs, is a comprehensive


ture recruitment potential and successful organization.

Good workplaces for employees of every ageWork organizations with a good un-derstanding of age-related issues and with fair attitudes towards ageing are able to create an optimal situation at the workplace, and to utilize each worker’s strengths and opportunities. Combining the competences and assets of age diverse staff provides opportunities for mutual learning and meaningful work. Extend-ing flexible working arrangements to eve-ry worker in need of them provides op-portunities to balance life outside of work with a successful working career. These age-friendly measures ensure employees’ well-being at work and fulfil the prereq-uisites for longer careers and a productive work life.

Take home messages of these different age management practices from Europe:1) Age management is about the optimal fit between work and employee during different stages of the work life course2) Regardless of an organization’s current age culture or preparedness level, something can always be done to promote longer working careers and productive ageing3) Small steps of age friendliness are the starting point, and may lead to comprehensive measures in the future.

Marjo WallinFinnish Institute of Occupational HealthPO Box 4000251 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: [email protected]

References

1. World Population Ageing 1950–2050. Popula-tion Division, DESA, United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/005afric.pdf

2. Naegele G, Walker A. A guide to good prac-tice in age management. EuroFound, 2006. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/de-fault/files/ef_files/pubdocs/2005/137/en/1/ef05137en.pdf

3. Work Ability House. © The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. http://www.ttl.fi/en/health/wai/multidimensional_work_abil-ity_model/pages/default.aspx

4. Ageing Workforce. Eurofound. European Observatory of Working Life EurWork. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/case-studies/ageing-workforce

package of services and support that helps them to start or improve their business-es. Each package of services is unique to address local constraints and leverage on available resources and markets.

For each round and window of fund-ing of the Y2YF, national implementing partners, with support of ILO-YEF staff, conduct a rigorous selection process vet-ting organizations through desk review, panel interviews, and field visits. Each proposal is reviewed on the basis of stand-ardized criteria, which includes innova-tion on business solutions, relevance of the proposal to solve the problem present-ed, organizational capacity, market poten-tial, scalability and interest of beneficiar-ies, etc. During the selection process, pro-ject managers are provided with trainings in project management and grant writing, and are assisted to articulate their pro-posed ideas in a feasible, detailed work-plan designed to obtain desired outcomes. During project implementation youth led organizations (grantees) are provided with technical support and capacity build-ing opportunities via digital mediums and field visits. More consistent on the ground support is also provided through a variety of Business Development Service (BDS) providers. Social partners have been in-volved in the design of the Y2YF model itself, and have also been involved in the jury selection of grantees, and promotion of the model.

Background: Y2YF implementation in East AfricaThe YEF has been successfully running

the Y2YF in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) since 2010, in collabora-tion with its partners. Since 2010, a Re-gional Coordinator has been responsible for managing administration of the Y2YF across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It is important to note; however, that nation-al implementation of the fund has tran-sitioned from direct ILO management to implementing partners (HuysLinci in Uganda, Foundation for Civil Society in Tanzania and Ustadi Foundation in Ken-ya) at various points in the 3 countries. ILO Y2YF National Coordinators have al-so supported management of the Fund in varying capacities.

Regionally, the Y2Y model has made a significant impact on youth employment and job creation. To obtain a regional pic-ture within the project implementation cycle, the Y2YF in East Africa has pro-vided 125 organizations with funding and support, 24 of which were selected to re-ceive additional support to scale-up their initiatives. These 149 Y2YF projects have

gone on to reach a total of 9,667 direct beneficiaries.

Behind these numbers are stories of business innovation, persistence and hope. In Uganda for example, SOVHEN (a Y2YF grantee organization) imple-mented an entrepreneurship project, which aimed to produce and distribute affordable sanitary pads made from lo-cal banana fibres. After successfully im-plementing this Y2YF project, they have gone on to create 300 jobs in the process-ing of raw materials, 80 jobs in the pro-duction of eco-friendly sanitary pads, and 80 jobs in sales and distribution. Link the Hidden Treasure (a Y2YF grantee based in Korogocho slums of Nairobi, Kenya) supported young women to produce and distribute jewellery and accessories made from recycled waste materials. This Y2YF project has since created 56 new business-es and 86 new jobs, for women previously engaged in illicit income generating activ-ities. FASO (a Y2YF grantee in Kilimanja-ro region, Tanzania) has supported youth

The Y2YF supports grantee organizations through three distinct application windows


Zanzibar Youth Initia-tives (ZIFYA) – prawn fish-ing farming in Zanzibar, Tansania.

Photo by E. Khatiwada

in their community to generate sustain-able businesses in the production, mar-keting and selling of vegetables. Through their Y2YF project FASO has successfully established a Co-operative of successful young farmers and has also secured inter-national markets for their produce. Y2YF grantees are supported to implement a broad range of innovative entrepreneur-ship solutions to employment challenges, including the production of fireless cook-ers and energy efficient stoves, pumpkin value addition, crab-fattening initiatives and many more. Grantees are also sup-ported to employ innovative strategies to engage youth, particularly young wom-en, as beneficiaries and to support them to become leaders in their communi-ties. Moving the Goalposts Kilifi (a Y2YF grantee in Kenya) for example, uses fut-bol as a tool to dispel gender norms and serves as an entry point to build capacity of vulnerable young women.

Impact review of the Y2YF projects A regional review of the Y2YF was con-

ducted in February-March 2015. The re-view was designed to evaluate three key desired outcomes of the Y2YF: 1) new businesses created by beneficiaries; 2) new jobs created by beneficiaries; and 3) the quality of jobs created in new or improved businesses. To assess these outcomes quantitative data were collected from 600 beneficiaries with a standardized ques-tionnaire, and qualitative data was collect-ed from 9 Focus Group Discussions (FG-Ds) and 30 Key Informant Interviews. The following findings highlight the strength of the Y2YF model, and its ability to suc-cessfully include young workers in the la-bour sphere.

Number of business and jobs createdDuring quantitative data collection re-spondents were asked whether they start-ed their businesses before or after receiv-ing Y2YF supports and services. This question acted as a proxy for analysis re-garding the number of new businesses created. The number of people employed

by identified businesses acted as a proxy for the number of jobs created. Results demonstrate that 3,070 new businesses were created regionally by beneficiaries after they received Y2YF support.

As a proxy for establishing rate of job creation, the review team also calculated the average number of employees per re-spondent businesses’ both before and af-ter support from the Y2YF was received. It was found that respondents in business employed on average 1.57 persons per business before receiving support from the Y2YF. After receiving support from the Y2YF however, these businesses now employ on average 3.18 persons in the East Africa Region. The number of jobs created was calculated by taking the av-erage number of employees reported per respondent business (after receiving Y2YF support) and extrapolating the results to the total number of beneficiaries. Based on these calculations, results show that after Y2YF support was provided to ben-eficiaries 4, 922 new jobs were created re-gionally.

Quality of jobs createdEqually important to the number of jobs created is assessing the quality of those jobs. To assess the quality of jobs and businesses created after support from the Y2YF was provided, key outcomes were explored. These outcomes included ac-quisition of primary business registration documents, sales and revenue, salaries, and access to finance.

The review identified a significant gap in the formal registration processes of re-spondent businesses. Findings support that many respondent businesses are op-erating without any of the required cer-tification. Over 80% of respondent busi-nesses across the region do not have the required documents and very little effort has been made to obtain them. Many ar-gued that the processes involved were te-dious and that some of the requirements are beyond their means mostly in terms of the fees.

In terms of access to finance, youth continue to face challenges in sourcing capital for business start-up and surviv-al related costs. Only 54% of respond-ents reported seeking access to finance for their businesses. Furthermore, only 20% of respondents sought access to finance through a commercial institution, and only 9% reported being successful in their

Implementing Partner Level

• Expandednetworks,linkagesandpartners• Gainedcredibilityandnationalrecognition• Strengthenedadministrativeandfinancialcapacities

Grantee Organisation Level

• 125youth-ledorganizationsreceivedgrantsandtechnicalsupport, 24 of which received scale-up support• Strengthenedorganizationalcapacityandexpandednetworks• Developmentofinnovativesavingsmechanisms

Beneficiary Level

• Y2YFhassupported9,667 beneficiaries in rural and urban areas• Youthhavebeenabletostartbusinesseswhichhasledtoadditional job creation• Shiftinpositiveactiveattitude,particularlyinincomegeneratingactivities• Healthy,positiveengagementincommunity• Youthhavebeengivenavoice,andhaveexpandedtheirnetworks

Policy Level

• PositiveinfluenceofYEFandY2YFinthesphereofpolicydevelopment. It has helped to promote youth entrepreneurship as a viable approach to decreasing youth unemployment


loan application. The most significant rea-son provided for loan rejection was lack of collateral, a reason cited by 44% of re-jected loan applicants. Most respondents reported therefore seeking funding from other sources. Family and personal sav-ings were the two most significant sources of funding accessed by respondents.

Direct and indirect benefits of the Y2YFThe Y2YF model is designed to have a broader impact than solely the creation of jobs and businesses among youth. It is designed to build capacity at each level of the funding model. Key Y2YF achieve-ments and preliminary impact were iden-tified through qualitative methods, and are discussed at each level of the model below:

Expansion or replication of the Y2YF model The ILO-YEF has identified the Y2YF as a successful model to engage young peo-ple in their own development, growth and success in generating income. It is a tool to effectively address youth unemploy-ment challenges and promote sustainable development. It is our hope that in shar-ing this model and the noted successes, that it may be expanded or replicated in relevant contexts. Taking into account the local context, constraints and resources is crucial in the replication of the Y2YF model. With these considerations taken into account, we have identified several key strategies that led to successful imple-mentation of the Y2YF:• Competitive grantee selection process ensured selection of appropriate grantee organizations which were more likely to succeed.• Training/capacity building of project managers in project and financial management, grant writing, proposal design and regular information exchange through knowledge sharing events.• Regular monitoring and support visits to grantee organizations were identified as being very effective. A system in which BDS providers could provide more on the ground, consistent support to grantees was reported to be very ben- eficial.• Engagement of social partners gave the programme national appeal and facili- tated some government support for

grantee projects.As part of the ILO-YEF’s commit-

ment to continually improve upon exist-ing initiatives, recommendations for im-provement of the Y2YF model have been identified. These recommendations ad-dress 2 key challenges, which exist not only among Y2YF beneficiaries and part-ners, but within the East Africa entrepre-neurship eco-system itself: access to capi-tal and support beyond start-up. One ap-proach to facilitate access to start up capi-tal is to provide capacity building train-ings to project managers regarding in-novative approaches to revolving funds, village saving and lending structures and leveraging of existing resources. One ap-proach to support growth beyond start up is to employ digital mediums to provide cost-effective, youth friendly and accessi-ble support (i.e. an interactive online plat-form for Y2YF grantees to share informa-tion).

ConclusionYouth unemployment is a critical issue, transcendent of borders across the globe. It is imperative to include young people not only as a priority, but as partners in addressing employment challenges. Tar-

Literature

African Economic Outlook. Promoting Youth Employment in Africa. 2012. Retrieved on March 3, 2015 at http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/fileadmin/uploads/PAGES-%20Pocket%20Edition%20AEO2012-EN.pdf.

Dutt N, Bauer S, Ganesh U, Singh M, Loharchalwala A, Pulupudi RM. Catalyst for Change: Creating an Eco-System for Young Entrepreneurs in East Africa. Intellecap. Hyderabad - 500 034, India. 2015.

International Labour Office. Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A generation at risk / International Labour Office – Geneva: ILO, 2013.

World Bank Group. Doing Business: Measuring Business Regulations. 2015. Retrieved on March 3, 2015 at http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/.

geted strategies to support this process will not only stimulate business and job crea-tion, but will also create leaders for the economy of tomorrow. The Y2YF model has demonstrated successful outcomes and best practices in the creation of jobs and businesses. It provides youth with a voice, and builds their capacity to support devel-opment and economic growth in their own communities. The model promotes innova-tion and meaningfully engages and builds capacity of youth at several different levels.

Anne-Marie JaminInternational Labour OrganizationYouth Entrepreneurship Facility [email protected]

Ekanath KhatiwadaRegional Coordinator,Youth to Youth Fund [email protected]

ILO Dar es Salaam Office for Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and RwandaP. O. Box 9212 Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaTel: +255 22 2196700Mobile: +255 786 110060Fax: +255 22 2126627Email: [email protected]

Pumpkin products processing enterprise in Uganda.


Photo by E. Khatiwada

IntroductionLife expectancy has significantly increased in almost all countries, especially in industrialized ones. This is the result of progress made in fighting against infectious dis-eases and improvements in the quality of the living con-ditions of people everywhere in the world. This in turn has had a great positive impact on the health of ageing people, on their work ability in particular.

Paradoxically, this favourable situation has been as-sociated with an employment crisis, the consequences of which are characterized by unemployment, and precari-ous jobs, downsizing, outsourcing, and financing crises in retirement institutions.

However until quite recently, many countries have only considered age management through recruitment and retirement age aspects. Thus, many provisions have been made in labour code to precisely define recruit-

Promotion of age management in developing countries

ment and retirement ages. The first article of the 2015 enactment says that retirement age can be increased in order to ensure the good balance of pension schemes. This last compulsory regulation clearly shows that there is a great interest in the financial survival of the retire-ment institution in the country.

For this reason, age management, as it is currently conceived and implemented in European countries, is not yet on the agenda of developing countries such as Senegal.

However, Senegal, like many other developing coun-tries, has a labour code and several decrees which have important legal provisions regarding the protection of the health and safety of all workers.

We already know that age affects us all, namely our physical, functional and intellectual capabilities. Age is a non-modifiable factor that will influence the lives of people who live longer.

Every employ-er must ensure that workplac-es, equipment, tools, raw ma-terials, sub-stances, and processes are not harmful to the health and safety of work-ers.

Photo by © International Labour Organization / J. Maillard


Cheikh Al Khalifa Aboubacar CisseSenegal

The heath management of young workers is not specifically targeted by na-tional authorities. As all workers, they take advantage of the legal framework is-sued by competent authorities for pro-moting the safety and health of workers. However, we have observed that young workers are more vulnerable and exposed to unemployment, precarious jobs and occupational hazards.

Legal framework for the protection of the health and the safety of workers of all agesArticle L.171 – Every employer must en-sure that workplaces, equipment, tools, raw materials, substances, and processes are not harmful to the health and safety of workers. Thus, the preventive measures should be: 1. Designing new installations and processes or redesigning existing ones 2. Establishing occupational health service (OHS) 3. Designing the work organization.

Article L.176 – If maintaining a work-er in his position is risky, all means should be taken to move him to another post which suits his health status.

Article L.177 – All workers must be well aware of the occupational hazards existing in their workplaces, and must receive appropriate training in order to know how to effectively protect them-selves against various hazards.

The occupational health physician (OHP), who is an expert in this field, represents a key factor in the process of implementing occupational safety and health (OSH).

Legal provisions defining the role and mission of the occupational health physicianArticle 30: The OHP is an adviser to the employer, workers and the national au-thorities or their representatives in all OSH aspects, in particular:- The improvement of living and working conditions in the enterprise - Matching workplaces, occupational tasks and rhythms to human physiol- ogy - The protection of workers against all occupational hazards, namely against occupational injuries or harmful products

- Promoting good hygiene in the enterprise- Organizing relevant sanitary prevention and education sessions in the enterprise.

For this purpose, the OHP should car-ry out several actions, such as risk assess-ments and medical examinations of work-ers.

Article 34: The OHP is authorized to suggest individual measures such as alter-native tasks or redesigning the workplace, and to justify this by ageing and physical fitness or the health status of the worker.

The employer must take into account these suggestions. If they are rejected, the employer must give sound reasons.

In cases of disagreement, the decision is taken by the Occupational Inspector, af-ter consulting the Occupational Medical Inspectorate.

RecommendationsAlthough we do not yet have the same experience as European countries in this domain (5), our legal framework offers us relevant OSH provisions which can be considered a base for the promotion of age management in enterprises. 1) National authorities should: Take, after consultation with stake- holders, legislative and compulsory measures, and adopt a national policy for improving the working conditions of ageing workers according to Chap- ter 3 of ILO Recommendation 162. Take inspiration from special programmes for children, vaccination and health reproduction

Literature1. Loi N°52-1322 du 15/12/1952 instituant le code du Travail d’Outre-mer (CTOM).2. Loi N° 97–17 du 1er décembre 1997 portant Code du travail de la République du Sénégal.3. Loi 2002–08 du 22 février 2002 abrogeant et remplaçant certaines dispositions de la loi n 81–52

du 10 juillet 1981 portant Code des Pensions civiles et militaires de Retraite.4. Arrêté N° 01418MTDSOPRI/DGTSS de 02/02/2015, portant approbation de la modification de

l’article 6 des statuts de l’Institution de Prévoyance Retraite du Sénégal (IPRES).5. Décret N°75–455 sur l’Institution de Prévoyance à la Retraite (IPRES) 1975.6. Ilmarinen J. Towards a longer worklife, The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 2005.7. Loi N° 73–37 du 31/07/1973 portant code de la sécurité sociale.8. Loi N° 75–50, sur les Institutions de Prévoyance Sociale.9. Décret N°94–244 sur les modalités d’organisation et de fonctionnement des CHST.10. Décret n 2006–1258 du 15 novembre 2006, fixant les missions et les règles d’organisation et de

fonctionnement des services de Médecine du Travail.11. Décret N°84-855 portant création d’un CES de Médecine du Travail de 1984.12. Recommandation (n 162) sur les travailleurs âgés, OIT, 1980.

2) Regional and sub-regional institutions such as the African Union, l’UEMOA, CDEAO, etc. should make directives for age management 3) International institutions such as the UN, UNDP, WHO, ILO should lend their technical and financial support to developing countries in age management issues4) Enterprises should integrate age management into their OSH policy and prepare an action plan for this5) Occupational health practitioners should build capacity as regards age management, and initiate advocacy and awareness campaigns on this issue for competent authorities, employers and employees. They should also emphasize young workers and provide awareness sessions on OSH 6) Workers should increase their knowledge and understanding of the effects of ageing on health, productivity and their own well-being. They should be taught how to improve their perfor- mance and maintain their work ability, and reduce diseases related to ageing.

Dr. Cheikh Al Khalifa A. CisseCabinet Intégral de Santé, de Sécurité et Environnement BARGNYBP 7901 DakarSénégalE-mail: [email protected]



Plaidoyer pour la gestion de l’âge en milieu de travail

Cheikh Al Khalifa Aboubacar CisseSénégal

IntroductionDans tous les pays du monde, la longévité a augmenté de façon très significative, mais avec une ampleur beaucoup plus marquée dans les pays dits «développés». Cela est le résultat des avancées réalisées à la fois dans l’améliora-tion des conditions de vie et dans la maîtrise des grandes épidémies et endémies. Cette tendance lourde a eu un impact bénéfique sur l’amélioration de l’état de santé des personnes âgées et sur celle de leur capacité fonction-nelle de travail en particulier.

Paradoxalement, cette situation favorable s’est ac-compagnée d’une crise de l’emploi (chômage, précarité et flexibilité des emplois, restructuration économique, ex-ternalisation) dont l’une de ses conséquences est la crise du financement des institutions de prévoyance retraite.

Pourtant, dans beaucoup de pays, la question de l’âge en milieu professionnel a été toujours abordée, jusqu’à une époque très récente, sous l’angle de l’âge de recrute-ment et de l’âge d’admission à faire valoir ses droits à la retraite. C’est ainsi qu’avec l’introduction de la législa-tion du travail notamment (1) par l’héritage colonial et sa réactualisation par les différents cadres législatifs pris après les indépendances, la longévité professionnelle a été définie légalement dans les relations de travail (2–4). «Article L.69 – Tous les travailleurs, y compris les jour-naliers, ont droit à la retraite. L’âge de la retraite est ce-lui fixé par le régime national d’affiliation en vigueur au Sénégal. Les relations de travail pourront néanmoins se poursuivre, d’accord parties, pendant une période qui ne pourra excéder l’âge de soixante ans du travailleur. Le départ à la retraite à partir de l’âge prévu au 2e alinéa de cet article, à l’initiative de l’une ou l’autre des parties, ne constitue ni une démission ni un licenciement.» L’Arrê-té de 2015 (4) permet, dans certaines conditions, d’aller au-delà.

La gestion de l’âge en milieu de travail telle qu’elle est conçue et préconisée aujourd’hui dans les pays euro-péens (5), n’est pas à l’ordre du jour dans l’agenda ins-titutionnel des pays en voie de développement (PVD) comme le Sénégal. Toutefois, notre pays, à l’instar des autres PVD, dispose d’un code du travail et de décrets d’application qui comportent d’importantes dispositions sur la protection de la SST (2,6–10). Aussi, nous savons que l’âge affecte chacun et chacune d’entre nous, notam-

ment au niveau de nos capacités physiques, fonction-nelles et même intellectuelles. Il s’agit d’un facteur non modifiable qui s’impose à tous ceux et celles qui ont la chance de vivre longtemps.

La question de la gestion de la santé des jeunes tra-vailleurs ne fait pas l’objet d’un traitement spécifique. Mais, nous observons qu’ils sont plus exposés au chô-mage, à la précarité de l’emploi et aux risques profession-nels.

Bases légales de la prise en charge de la santé et de la sécurité des travailleurs (SST) de tous âges (2,6,9,10)Article L.171 – L’employeur doit faire en sorte que les lieux de travail, les machines, les matériels, les subs-tances et les procédés de travail placés sous son contrôle ne présentent pas de risque pour la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs. En la matière, la prévention est assurée:a) par les mesures techniques appliquées aux nouvelles installations ou aux nouveaux procédés lors de leur conception ou de leur mise en place, ou par des adjonctions techniques apportées aux installations ou procédés existantsb) par des mesures d’organisation de la médecine du travail c) par des mesures d’organisation du travail.

Article L.176 – Lorsque le maintien d’un travailleur à un poste est déconseillé pour des raisons médicales, tous les moyens doivent être mis en œuvre pour l’affecter à un autre emploi compatible avec son état de santé.

Article L.177 – Tous les travailleurs:a) doivent être informés de manière complète des risques professionnels existant sur les lieux de travailb) doivent recevoir des instructions adéquates, quant aux moyens disponibles et aux conduites à tenir pour prévenir ces risques et se protéger contre eux.

Le Médecin du Travail, expert dans le domaine (11) constitue un acteur clé dans le dispositif de mise en œuvre de la SST.

Bases légales du rôle et de la mission du Médecin du Travail en matière de SST (10)Article 30 – Le Médecin du Travail est le conseiller du chef d’entreprise ou de son représentant, des salariés, des

Photo by © International Labour Organization / J. Maillard


représentants, du personnel, des services sociaux en ce qui concerne, notamment:- l’amélioration des conditions de vie et de travail dans l’établissement- l’adaptation des postes, des techniques et des rythmes de travail à la physiolo- gie humaine- la protection des salariés contre l’ensemble des nuisances et, notamment, contre les risques d’accidents du travail ou d’utilisation des produits dangereux- l’hygiène générale de l’établissement- la prévention et l’éducation sanitaires dans le cadre de l’établissement, en rapport avec l’activité professionnelle.

Afin d’exercer ces missions, le méde-cin du travail conduit des actions en mi-lieu de travail et procède à des examens médicaux.

Article 34 – Le Médecin du Travail est habilité à proposer des mesures indivi-duelles telles que mutations ou transfor-mations de postes, justifiées par des consi-dérations relatives notamment à l’âge, à la résistance physique ou à l’état de santé des travailleurs.

Le Chef d’établissement est tenu de prendre en considération ces propositions et, en cas de refus, de faire connaître les motifs qui s’opposent à ce qu’il y soit don-né suite.

En cas de difficulté ou de désaccord, la décision est prise par l’Inspecteur du Travail et de la Sécurité sociale du res-sort, après avis de l’Inspection Médicale du Travail.

Recommandations (5,12)1) Pour les Autorités nationales: Prendre, en concertation avec les parties prenantes, des mesures législatives et réglementaires, et adopter une poli- tique nationale pour améliorer les conditions de travail des personnes âgées à tous les stades de la vie active, conformément au chapitre III de la R 162 de l’OIT (12). Les autorités pourront s’inspirer des programmes spéciaux pour les enfants et les femmes, sur la vaccination et la santé de la reproduction.2) Pour les institutions communautaires telles que l’Union Africaine, l’UEMOA, la CDEAO, etc., prendre et mettre en œuvre des directives sur le management de l’âge.3) Pour les institutions internationales

(UN, UNDP, WHO, ILO), apporter leur soutien technique et financier aux PVD dans le domaine du management de l’âge.4) Pour les entreprises, intégrer le management de l’âge dans la gestion de la SST.5) Pour les professionnels de Santé au Travail, renforcer leur capacité dans le domaine de la gestion de l’âge en Milieu de Travail (5), et mener des actions de plaidoyer et de sensibilisation sur le management de l’âge res- pectivement pour les autorités compé- tentes, les employeurs et les travailleurs. Porter une attention particulière aux jeunes travailleurs pour leur assu- rer une bonne sensibilisation aux

Références

1. Loi N°52-1322 du 15/12/1952 instituant le code du Travail d’Outre-mer (CTOM).2. Loi N° 97–17 du 1er décembre 1997 portant Code du travail de la République du Sénégal.3. Loi 2002–08 du 22 février 2002 abrogeant et remplaçant certaines dispositions de la loi n 81–52

du 10 juillet 1981 portant Code des Pensions civiles et militaires de Retraite.4. Arrêté N° 01418MTDSOPRI/DGTSS de 02/02/2015, portant approbation de la modification de l’article 6 des statuts de l’Institution de Prévoyance Retraite du Sénégal (IPRES).5. Ilmarinen J. Towards a longer worklife, The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 2005.6. Loi N° 73–37 du 31/07/1973 portant code de la sécurité sociale.7. Loi N° 75–50, sur les Institutions de Prévoyance Sociale.8. Décret N°75–455 sur l’Institution de Prévoyance à la Retraite (IPRES) 1975.9. Décret N°94–244 sur les modalités d’organisation et de fonctionnement des CHST.10. Décret n 2006–1258 du 15 novembre 2006, fixant les missions et les règles d’organisation et de

fonctionnement des services de Médecine du Travail.11. Décret N°84-855 portant création d’un CES de Médecine du Travail de 1984.12. Recommandation (n 162) sur les travailleurs âgés, OIT, 1980.

risques professionnels et leur accorder une protection satisfaisante de leur santé.6) Pour les travailleurs, accroître leurs connaissances et leur compréhension des effets de l’âge sur leur santé, leur productivité et leur bien-être, pour avoir des comportements qui amé- liorent leur qualité de vie, leur capacité de travail et préviennent les malades liées à l’âge.

Dr. Cheikh Al Khalifa. A. CisseCabinet Intégral de Santé, de Sécurité et Environnement BARGNYBP 7901 DakarSénégalE-mail: [email protected]


A working child is defined as a child in the age range of 5 to 18, who works, either paid or unpaid, within or out-side the family. The young labour phenomenon is not only present in Egypt, but in the whole world, with vary-ing percentages. The last demographic survey in Egypt in 2005, and the national survey of adolescents in 1999, stated that 9% of boys and 6% of girls aged between 6 and 14 work, which is approximately 2.7 million chil-dren. During 2001 the highest age category of young workers was 12 to 14 years, which is 58.5% of total youth labour. Many factors control working youth labour:

• Poverty• Education• Region• Age• Controloflawandlegislation.Poverty is considered the most controlled factor of

youth labour, as it is directly proportional to the preva-lence of young workers. Most young people work to help their family earn money. A total of 23% of Egyptians live in poverty; thus the number of young workers is high. Many families make their children leave education in order to work and pay money to their family. A total of 14% of children, all male, reported preferring to work because they enjoyed it more than going to school, and a high number of girls tend to work in order to gain extra money for personal needs or pocket money.

Education is inversely associated with young work-ers: when education increases, the young worker phe-nomenon decreases. The more highly educated fami-lies avoid sending their young family members to work, and focus on education, as this will lead to better wel-fare in their future lives. In addition, some young people have more ambition than their parents as regards educa-tion. Egypt implemented a new policy, combining pri-mary education with secondary education, and called it compulsory education, which was supposed to increase the education rate. However, this resulted in the oppo-site, as it increased students’ drop out rate from educa-tion. There are three main reasons why young workers leave education. The first is the poor quality of educa-tion. Other reasons are teacher abuse, poor motivation to continue education and do homework, and finally be-ing unable to combine work with education.

Region: The metropolitan area has the lowest num-ber of young workers, as have other urban areas. In rural areas, 80% of Egyptian young people work, as poverty is higher in the rural than the urban or metropolitan areas.

Ahmed Osama MohamedEgypt

Youth labour in EgyptAge: When youths’ age increases, their work ability

also increases, as most youths have strong bodies for lift-ing and holding equipment in agricultural and construc-tion activities.

Control of law and legislation: The 2012 Constitu-tion of Egypt, Clause 70, prohibits children from work-ing until they complete their compulsory education. This is confirmed by Egyptian Labour Law No.12 of 2003, and Egyptian Child Law No.12 of 1996, which was re-placed by the Child Law in 2008. The government pro-vides judges, lawyers, and student counsellors with man-datory training in the law in order to increase the ef-ficiency of its implementation. Control of the law is stronger in the metropolis and weaker in urban or rural areas, as the number of labour inspectors is higher in the metropolis. The first Egyptian Center for the Rights of the Child was established in 1987 in Cairo. Since 2003, Egyptian law prohibits children under the age of 14 from working. Young people aged between 14 and 18 may work for limited hours in special conditions. The Child law of 2008 prohibits children under 15 years of age from working, but allows children to participate in sea-sonal work if they are aged between 12 and 14.

The absence of occupational safety and health stand-ards at work is considered one of the major problems for youth labour. Children work in a number of hazardous sectors, including leather tanning, pottery making, glass-works, blacksmithing, metal and copper work, battery repair, carpentry, mining and quarrying, carpet weav-ing, auto repair, and textile and plastics manufacturing. In Egypt, a total of 50‒75% of these workers are exposed to occupational hazards that include lifting heavy loads, bending for long periods, exposure to direct sun light (especially in the agricultural sector), pesticides, noise, and lack of sanitation and drinking water. They are also exposed to physical and verbal abuse, and psychologi-cal overload. Young workers also suffer from hard work-ing conditions. As many as one million young people performed seasonal agricultural work in 2003. Employ-ers prefer to hire young workers as they require less sal-ary, obey orders and most of them are not essentially workers but helpers. Young women work as servants in homes, but this phenomenon has decreased in recent years. The risk of occupational injuries is higher among child workers than among adults. The national council for maternal care and children launched a charity called Children exposed to danger in 2006.

Egypt’s Structural Adjustment policy increases youth


labour among children living in the poor-est conditions. Recommendations:1. The number of labour inspectors and student counsellors should be increased so that violations of the law are reported more often.2. Social security should be increased among the poorest families, to provide an adequate environment for children to continue education and decrease young labour rates.3. Awareness of young labour hazard mitigation and of the rights of the public to use multimedia to decrease young labour phenomena should ur- gently be increased.

Ch. Ahmed Osama MohamedHSE Senior ProfessionalRed Sea Area Projects HSE SupervisorQHSE DepartmentEMC Petroleum Service CompanyEgypt

Healthy ageing - Africa RegionWith people living longer and fewer chil-dren being born, then absolute number of older people is increasing. Today, there are 600 million persons aged 60 years and above. This total will double by 2025 and will reach virtually two billion by 2050 when there will be more people aged 60 and over than children under the age of 15. Generally, women live longer than men and women represent the majority of caregivers on the other hand, there is also growing evidence that the health needs of ageing men are often neglected and spe-cial outreach programmes for older men are needed.

The African region continues to face the burden of persistent infectious diseas-es, while the prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases is also on the increase. Limited number of countries in the Af-rican region, including Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon and Zambia have requested WHO to assist in setting up of a programme for the people aged 60 and above. The regional office is consider-ing developing a regional strategy on age-ing before assisting countries to develop national programmes on ageing. http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/frh/gender-womens-health-a-ageing/programme-components/healthy-ageing.html

WHO Ageing and Life Course

References

1. Committee of Child Rights Cycle 57 from 30 May to 17 June 2011. The Convention of Rights of the Child. (Arabic script).

2. Egyptian Constitute issued in 2014. (Arabic script).

3. Works of Rights of Child North Africa re-gional feature about Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. International Bureau for Chil-dren’s Rights (IBCR) - (Arabic script).

4. Occupational injuries among young workers in car repair workshops in Port-Said, Egypt. Abdellah RF, Morsy KM. Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine.

5. Poverty and general policy in Egypt docu-mented analytical study. Dr. Howida Adly, Political Science Assistant Professor, National Center of Social and Criminological Research.

6. The end of child labour: Within reach Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Decla-ration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 2006, Report B. (Arabic script).

7. Quick assessment Campaign against the worst forms of child labour in Beniswuif, As-suit and Red Sea. Campaign against the worst forms of child labour through education in Egypt, WFP May 2007 (Arabic Script).

8. The Department of Labour’s 2006 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, U.S. De-partment of Labour Bureau of International Labour Affairs (ILAB).

9. Hazards and Gender in Children’s Work: An Egyptian Perspective. Nadia Zibani, The Population Council, 2009.

Population aging is a powerful and trans-forming demographic force. We are on-ly just beginning to comprehend its im-pacts at the national and global levels. As we prepare for a new demographic reality, we hope this report raises awareness not only about the critical link between global health and aging, but also about the im-portance of rigorous and coordinated re-search to close gaps in our knowledge and the need for action based on evidence-based policies.

Download the publication: http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/global_health/en/

Global health and ageing

Read about WHO 10 facts on ageing and the life course:http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/ageing/ageing_facts/en/See Ghana country assessment report on ageing and health:http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/ghana/en/

Contact usAgeing and Life-CourseWHOAvenue Appia 201211 Geneva 27SwitzerlandE-mail: [email protected]://www.who.int/ageing/en/


The child labour phenomenon is a major threat in Egypt. It has been more complicated the last few years, due to the ongoing changes in the political situation in the country, heightened by the economic crisis and recurring periods of violence and ter-rorism. This has increased children’s vulnerability to child la-bour, including hazardous child labour. The situation has also hindered the development of policies by the government to ad-dress the worst forms of child labour.

A child labourer is a child who does hazardous work, or is under the age of 12 to 14 and works for more than 14 hours per week. Hazardous work means working in a hazardous in-dustry, occupation or working conditions, as well as working for over 43 hours per week (1).

Hazardous working conditions include working in an en-vironment containing dust or fumes, fire, gas or flames, loud noises or vibrations, extreme cold or heat, insufficient light-ing or ventilation or in confined spaces; work with danger-ous tools, chemicals or explosives; work underground, in high places, or under water; and work that causes exhaustion, bend-ing for a long time, or workplaces with no bathrooms (1).

Characteristics of child labour in EgyptThe pattern of child labour in Egypt is not uniform, it var-ies from urban to rural settings and by gender. The majority of child labour seems to be allocated in the rural governorates, where it is more than two-fold compared to that in urban gov-ernorates, and male child labour is almost three-fold among male children compared to females (2). The predominant form of child labour in Egypt is that in which children are mainly working as unpaid family workers on their own family’s farm or non-farm household enterprise (3). The official statistics vary, but in general, the number of working children in Egypt is estimated to be between 1.3 and 3 million. They have the lowest wages and hard, inhuman working conditions, and their work may be optional or obligatory. As regards different sec-tors in Egypt, the agricultural sector has the highest percentage of child labourers at 77.7%, the industrial sector has 14.9%, the commercial sector 6%, and the service sector 1.4% (3). How-ever, the most recent comprehensive official report states that 9.3%, i.e. about 1.6 million children, are engaged in child la-bour according to international definitions.

The rate of child labour increases significantly with age, reaching 19% among children aged 15–17. The child labour rate among boys is over three times that of girls, who are more engaged in domestic chores rather than economic activity. Em-ployed children (43%) work continuously throughout the year. The second and third largest categories (13% and 10.5%) are

employed for three and four months a year, respectively. In fact, the highest levels of child employment are in June, July, August, and September, the months of summer vacation from school; the two middle months in particular.

“Working in dust or fumes” is the most prevalent haz-ardous working condition in Egypt, threatening 45.7% of child labourers. It is followed by “work that leads to exhaus-tion (34.7%) and “work that involves bending for a long time” (29.8%). These all characterize agricultural work. The majority of child labour in Egypt is unpaid family work in agriculture (52%) (4).

Another major form of child labour in Egypt is working in households. This depends on supply and demand: girls are en-couraged to work in their poor households in both urban and rural areas, in order to cover household expenses. These girls are vulnerable to sexual, verbal, physical and physiological abuse. This vulnerability is increased by a lack of communica-tion between the girls and their families, as well as the absence of monitoring by the government, NGOs, and their families (5).

Child labour in agricultureAs the majority of child labour in rural areas is in agricultural activities, it is crucial to highlight the different aspects of this work.

Poverty conditions in the countryside lead families to force their children to work, despite the wages being low. They most-ly work in agriculture and eventually drop out of school. Most of these families are poor and uneducated; they have large households, low income and occupational levels, and low levels of education.

The children work more hours than the limited amount for adults, and younger children mostly working the process of collecting and harvesting, while older children are engaged in all agricultural activities (6).

The government has ignored the minimum age and daily working hours. These children work eleven hours a day, seven days a week, with one- to two-hour breaks daily. They suffer beatings from their foremen and are exposed to excessive heat and pesticides. The children inspect cotton plants, are in bent positions for long periods, search for leaf worm eggs, and man-ually remove infected portions of leaves. These conditions vio-late Egypt’s obligation under the ILO Convention on the rights of the child to protect children from ill-treatment and hazard-ous employment.

Children are basically used because they are cheaper, obe-dient and have the appropriate height for inspecting cotton plants (7).

Child labour in Egypt: An overview

Adel Mahmoud ZakariaEgypt


Factors contributing to child labour in EgyptThe main causes of child labour are pov-erty, dropping out of school, and potential illiteracy. The main cause is poverty. The most significant factors affecting the prob-ability of child labour are parental educa-tion, parental absence, household wealth, and household ownership of agricultural land, farm animals, non-farm enterprises, and the household experiencing a specific shock, such as an illness or job loss (4).

The most significant reasons for work-ing, as stated by a sample of working chil-dren under the age of 15, were educational failure and the desire to learn a profession among boys, and contribution to family in-come among girls.

Female-headed households are often among the most vulnerable groups and rely to a great extent on child labour as a source of income. The main reasons that children in female-headed households go to work are to help the family and earn their own money, whereas among children in two-parent households the reasons are educational failure and the learning of a profession (8). There is a strong negative relationship between adult market wag-es and child labour, implying that the in-crease in adult wage in a certain household decreases its liability of child labour sup-ply. Parents who used to be child labour-ers themselves are 10% more prone to send their children to work (9).

Adverse effects of child labourChild labourers are vulnerable to injuries and exposure to physical, chemical and bi-ological agents that might adversely affect their health. In a study covering 120 child labourers, about 37% of them had been injured due to their work. The most com-mon types of injury were superficial inju-ries and open wounds (43%), and extreme fatigue (33%).

The main exposure was to dust and fumes (47%) and bending for long periods (29%), whereas the most significant effect was exhaustion (34%) (10).

In another study of 200 child labour-ers in the Shobra El Khaima industrial ar-ea, 88% reported suffering from accidents during work, 47% complained of a noisy work environment, 81.4% experienced ex-cessive heat, 70% were exposed to chemi-cals, 67% were suffering from work stress, and 72.4% complained of a lack of ergo-

nomics at their workplaces (11).The differences between the two stud-

ies is logical, since the majority of child labourers in the first study were work-ing in agricultural activities, and those in the second in an industrial area, which explains the high exposure to chemicals, noise and heat stress as well as the high in-cidence rate of accidents. Clearly, there is a great need to protect the health of child labourers through enacting regulations, and monitoring and controlling hazardous work environments, and most importantly, taking children out of paid work.

Control measures of child labour in EgyptChild labour cannot be eliminated as quickly as is wished, mainly due to its complexity and its structural causes. The child labour phenomenon should be han-dled as a symptom of a complex mixture of interacting casual factors within a particu-lar societal context.

In order to eliminate child labour, the government should deal with the issues that are directly affecting it, such as pover-ty, education and social care (12). Protec-tion, monitoring and surveillance systems at the family, government, NGO and com-munity levels need to be established for girls working as domestic workers (5). The

Literature

1. Ministerial Decree No. 118 of the Ministry of Man Power. 2003.2. Abu Gazaleh, Kawther; Bulbul, Lamia; Hewala, Soheir,Najim, Suadad. Gender, Education and Child Labor

in Egypt, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (Geneva, ILO) 2004. Retrieved from: http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=343

3. Itani Nadia. Child Labor in Egypt, Master Thesis, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southern Denmark 2009. Retrieved from http://www.ddrn.dk/filer/forum/File/Child_Labor_in_Egypt.pdf

4. Working Children in Egypt: Results of the 2010 National Child Labour Survey. CAPMAS-ILO, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do?type=document&id.

5. Ahmed, Yasmine, Jureidini. 2010. An Exploratory Study on Child Domestic Workers in Egypt, The Center For Migration and Refugees Studies, The American University in Cairo (Cairo) 2010. Retrieved from http://www.childtrafficking.com/Docs/english_report_29-6.pdf

6. Egyptian National Center for Social and Criminological Research. Child Labor in the Agricultural Activ-ity in the Egyptian Countryside (Cairo, NCSCR) 2009. Retrieved from: Egyptian National Center for Social and Criminological Research, Cairo.

7. Human Rights Watch. Underage and Unprotected: Child Labor in Egypt’s Cotton Fields 2001. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6a87c8.html

8. Factors contributing to Child Labor in Egypt. Retrieved from http://www1.aucegypt.edu/src/childlabor/factors.htm.

9. Wahba, Jackline. The influence of market wages and parental history on child labor and schooling in Egypt, Discussion Paper Series, University of Southampton and IZA Bonn (Germany) 2005. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=825706

10. Tarek, A. Child Labor in Egypt: Research Project. Retrieved from http://www.feps.edu.eg/en/depart-ments/statistics/graduation/2011/13.pdf

11. Ihab,SH, Sally,AH. Socio-demographic characteristic and occupational health exposures among a group of child laborers in Egypt. The Egyptian Journal of Community Medicine 2011;29(4):47–56.

12. Mohsen, Samah. Child Labor in the frame of International Labor Organization, Research Paper, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Statistics Department. Retrieved from: Faculty of Economics and Political Science Library, Cairo University 2008.

informal type of child labour cannot effec-tively be addressed by regulations banning child labour, and must be addressed by policies that support families to stop send-ing their children to work. Such policies include awareness-raising among families, about hazardous exposures and conditions on farms, in order to decrease adverse health effects on children. Only 30% of child labourers work for wages in hazard-ous industries or occupations or for very long hours.

They can be monitored and protected by laws and regulations that already ex-ist. The important point is the capacity and ability to apply them effectively. Otherwise, we will only treat the symptoms and not the root causes of child labour, which are poverty, negative shocks affecting house-holds, poor parental education, and drop-ping out of school. Effective national so-cial programs to support families in crises, to fight poverty and assist poor families, as well as an improved education system could considerably contribute to reducing child labour in Egypt (4).

Dr. Adel M. ZakariaProf. of Occupational Health & SafetyKing Abdulaziz UniversityJeddah, [email protected]

48 • Afr Newslett on Occup Health and Safety 2015;25:48

Suvi LehtinenFinland

This year, the WHO Global Network of Collaborating Centres for Occupational Health celebrated its 25th An-niversary. The Network was established in 1990 to sup-port the WHO Occupational Health Programme. Over the years, it has grown from a small meeting of occupa-tional health and safety experts to an extensive gathering of experts and institutes that implement the WHO Glob-al Plan of Action on Workers’ Health (Resolution 60.26). The 10th meeting of the Network was held on 27‒29 May 2015 in Jeju, the Republic of Korea, back-to-back with the 31st ICOH Congress on Occupational Health.

The global workforce is 3.3 billion, and roughly only 10‒15% have access to any kind of occupational health services. This speaks for the huge need to improve work-ers’ health everywhere. The most important topic on the agenda of the Meeting was how to further develop the Global Master Plan for 2015‒2017 and beyond. This is a joint work plan of the WHO/HQ Occupational Health Programme, the WHO Regional Offices, and the Net-work of the Collaborating Centres.

The work of the two and a half day meeting was or-ganized in the form of introductory lectures and world cafés, in which all participants had the opportunity to have their say regarding the modifying of the contents of the GMP and the collaborative programme for the years 2015‒2017. The discussions in the world cafés were live-

WHO Collaborating Centres Meeting in Jeju, Republic of Korea

ly, and although a large number of needs for develop-ment were recognized, an equally rich number of con-tributions by the CCs to implement the Plan were also noted.

A total of 39 CCs were represented, as were the In-ternational Labour Office (ILO), and NGOs such as the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH), the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), and the International Occupational Hygiene As-sociation (IOHA). The total number of participants ex-ceeded 100.

Before the Network meeting, a Planning Committee meeting was also held as a half-day discussion. The Ways of Working of the Network are currently under revision. In order to maintain the strong, active support of the CCs, a clear definition of the goals and the roles of each actor still need further thought.

Suvi LehtinenChief, International Affairs Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Helsinki, Finland Email: [email protected]

Photos by KOSH

A

Photo by Suvi Lehtinen


Suvi LehtinenFinland

The 31st International Congress on Oc-cupational Health was organized on 31 May-5 June 2015 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. A total of 3535 participants attend-ed and contributed to the success of the Congress. The largest number of profes-sionals represented were physicians, and also hygienists, safety officers and nurses were well represented in the audience.

The Congress Programme accommo-dated 10 keynote lectures and one special lecture in the Opening Session. In addi-tion, 30 Semiplenary lectures were held. For the first time in ICOH Congress his-tory, a Global Policy Forum was arranged, with the aim to discuss the future of occu-pational health and the current challenges in the development of occupational health services for all working people. The pro-gramme of the Global Policy Forum con-sisted of introductory policy overviews by International Organizations, followed by and comments of experts from different continents.

The Programme of the Congress was rich in topics and presentations. Parallel sessions offered sessions for all interests. There was an abundance of most inter-esting presentations. The African priori-ties were discussed among others in the Keynote Lecture by Dr. Barry Kistnasamy of South Africa when he discussed in his lecture Occupational Health and Work-ers in the Informal Economy. Dr. Edith Clarke of Ghana described in her pres-entation in more detail the Occupational Health and Safety Challenges of the Infor-mal Sector in West Africa. Dr. Vera Ngowi of Tanzania discussed in her semi-plena-ry presentation the Changes in the Global Trade and Markets and Related Impacts on OH&S in Agriculture in Developing Countries. Several additional reports were heard in the Special Session on Occupa-tional Safety and Health in Africa: State of the Art and Future Challenges.

In the Closing Session of the ICOH Congress, a Seoul Statement on the De-velopment of Occupational Health Ser-vices for All was approved and signed

ICOH2015 in Seoul

Analysis of priorities by geographical region.

by the President of the 31st International Congress and President of KOSHA (Ko-rea Occupational Safety and Health Agen-cy) Dr. LEE Young Soon and ICOH Presi-dent, Dr. Kazutaka Kogi.

The ILO Turin Centre had offered to ICOH an opportunity for two ICOH members to receive a partial fellowship in the training of the ILO Master in Occu-pational Health. The winners of the ILO Master Partial Fellowship awards assigned during the ICOH 2015 Congress were Dr. Victor Hoe, Malaysia and Dr. Gloria Villalobos, Colombia. The two received a partial fellowship for a 3-month residence at the ILO’s international training centre in Turin, Italy, and a 3-month distance-learning class.

The next ICOH Congress will be or-ganized in 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. ICOH members voted during the Seoul Con-gress the 2021 Congress site to be Mel-bourne, Australia.

In addition to thanks to all partici-pants of ICOH2015, the Organizers de-

serve a special and warm thank-you, as all events were excellently organized and the helping attitude, friendliness and hospital-ity could be felt throughout the Congress. Our warmest thanks!

Suvi LehtinenChief, International AffairsFinnish Institute of Occupational HealthE-mail: [email protected]

Dr Edith Clarke of Ghana presents the Occu-pational Health and Safety challenges of the informal sector.


Recallingthat decent conditions of work, occupational health and occupa-tional safety constitute a basic human right of workers as declared by the UN International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultur-al Rights of working people (1966), the ILO Declaration on Funda-mental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), the Centennial Dec-laration of the International Commission on Occupational Health, ICOH (2006) and the Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work adopted by the ILO, ISSA, KOSHA and ICOH together with a high number of other Non-Governmental and Professional Asso-ciations (2008),

Emphasizingthat in spite of positive developments of occupational safety and health particularly in industrialized countries, over three quarters of workers of the world live and work in developing and transitory countries, often working in high risk occupations in both formal and informal sectors, without adequate protection by occupation-al health and safety law and lacking social protection and access to occupational health services. Such gaps in prevention and protec-tion lead to 2.3 million deaths among the workers of the world eve-ry year,

Keeping in mindthat the ILO Convention No.161 on Occupational Health Services and the WHO Global Strategy on Occupational Health for All, as well as the Cancun Charter by the ICOH (2012), call for organiza-tion of occupational health services for all working individuals and all occupations, without exclusion of any group of workers, eco-nomic sectors, including the informal sector, or workers in con-tracted or self-employment,

Taking into considerationthat new challenges, risks and hazards continuously emerge, due to changes in economic structures, transfer of technologies, demo-graphic changes, migration and social dynamics. The management of and adjustment to the continuous change need active sharing of

information, the effective use of existing knowledge, and the gener-ation of new research on occupational health.

Recognizingthat a growing body of research evidence speaks for positive eco-nomic and productive impact of occupational health services, due to prevention of loss by accidents and diseases, sickness absentee-ism and disabilities, and through facilitation of production pro-cesses,

Remindingthat according to the principles of the ICOH International Code of Ethics for Occupational Health Professionals, protection and pro-motion of workers’ health is a professional, ethical and social im-perative for all occupational health professionals and for the inter-national occupational health community,

the 31s t ICOH Congress states the following:1. Policies Every government in collaboration with social partners should, as a part of their stewardship, draw up necessary regulations, strategies and programmes for national policies on occupational health and occupational health services by using the international guidance provided by the ILO Convention No. 161, Recommendation No. 171 on Occupational Health Services and the WHO Global Strat-egy on Occupational Health for All. Such policy should aim at the provision of services for all, with full coverage without exclusion of any group or sector of work life.

2. ImplementationImplementation of occupational health policies should be based on legislation, with appropriate governance structures, well-defined rights and responsibilities, establishment and strengthening of the occupational health system and respective infrastructures, and suf-ficient resources and financing for services. Special measures, mul-tiple service provision models, including primary health care, and support should be developed for organization of occupational

Seoul Statement on the Development of Occupational Health Services for All

The 31st International Congress on Occupational Health, ICOH 2015, was organized by the International Commission on Occupational Health, ICOH, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, KOSHA, and the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, KSOEM, from 31 May to 5 June 2015 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The Congress approved a “Seoul Statement on the Development of Occupational Health Services for All”.

health services for small-scale enterprises, the self-employed and the informal sectors. Public occupational health services should be provided for the underserved sectors. Where front-line services are of limited scope, usually occupational medicine and nursing, they should be reinforced by secondary level support services.

3. Contents and activitiesThe content and activities of occupational health services at the workplace level include prevention and management of physical, chemical, biological and ergonomic factors, prevention of occupa-tional diseases and injuries, prevention of excessive work load, and work life constraints, promotion of health and work ability, reha-bilitation and return to work, as well as first aid and curative ser-vices. Such services should be adjusted to the health needs of work-ing people, by taking into consideration the existing hazards and responding to the needs of various groups of workers, including young, female, ageing, and migrant workers and various types of vulnerable groups.

4. Human resources, competence and expertiseGovernments should ensure the availability of sufficient human re-sources for the effective delivery of occupational health services. Where possible, the occupational service team should be multidis-ciplinary, covering several types of expertise, such as occupational medicine, occupational health nursing, ergonomics, occupational hygiene, psychology and accident prevention, rehabilitation and re-turn to work. In cases, where multidisciplinary services may be dif-ficult to organize and sustain, the basic occupational health service (BOSH) approach and proactive risk prevention and locally adjust-ed methods may be used.

5. Training and educationIn line with the ILO Convention No. 161, special competence and training are needed for provision of competent occupational health services. Governments should ensure appropriate and updated training and education curricula for occupational health personnel. International standards and model curricula should be developed for occupational health personnel. Depending on national condi-tions the training could be organized at universities or other rele-vant institutions.

6. Sharing information and good practicesEffective exchange and dissemination of information on all aspects of occupational health should be promoted and encouraged, and good practices and guidelines should be shared via the internation-al collaboration between occupational health professional bodies, International and Non-Governmental Organizations, WHO, ILO and ICOH and other relevant institutions and associations. Dissem-ination of this knowledge should be supported by international and national expert communities, employers, workers, and governmen-tal organizations.

7. Research Appropriate and adequate research support should be structured for the production of evidence based information for the develop-ment of occupational health systems, methods and good practices, training and education. Longstanding international experience has shown that research is best supported and sustained when it is nest-

ed in the National Institute of Occupational Health, or respective centre of excellence in the country.

8. Collaboration and networkingNational CollaborationTo ensure sufficient coordination and exchange of information within countries, continuous dialogue should be maintained and close and regular collaboration between occupational health and general health services, with occupational safety and health, social security institutions, social partners (employers and workers) and academia should be encouraged. Networking between all involved in the development of occupational health, including occupational health service providers, is also recommended.

International CollaborationInternational Collaboration, including bilateral and multilateral networking, should be enhanced among all the key internation-al professional associations in the field of occupational health and safety. Such networks should collaborate and provide scientific and professional support to the International Organizations, ILO and WHO.

9. CommitmentThe organizers and participants of the ICOH 2015 Congress declare commitment for collaboration and support for all parties, nation-al and international, professional and governmental in their efforts for organization of competent occupational health services for all workers across the world.

10. Follow upIt was agreed to follow up and evaluate the implementation of this Statement and results be presented to the forthcoming 32nd Inter-national Congress on Occupational Health, ICOH 2018, which will be organized in Dublin, Ireland.

On behalf of the 31st International Congress on Occupational Health

In Seoul, Republic of Korea, 5 June 2015,

Dr. Kazutaka Kogi, MD, President of the International Commission of Occupational Health, ICOH

Dr. Lee, Young-Soon, PhDPresident of the ICOH 2015 Congress,President of the Korea Occupational Health and Safety, KOSHA


Contact persons/country editors

DirectorDepartment of Occupational Health and Safety(Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs)Private Bag 00241GaboroneBOTSWANA

Samir Ragab SeliemEgyptian Trade Union FederationOccupational Health and Safety Secretary90 Elgalaa StreetCairoEGYPT

Kebreab Zemer GhebremedhinMinistry of Labour and HumanWelfareDepartment of LabourP.O. Box 5252AsmaraERITREA

Ministry of Labour and Social AffairsP.O. Box 2056Addis AbabaETHIOPIA

Commissioner of LabourMinistry of Trade Industry and EmploymentCentral Bank BuildingBanjulGAMBIA

Dr Edith ClarkeOccupational and Environmental Health UnitGhana Health ServiceAccra GHANA

The DirectorDirectorate of OccupationalSafety and Health ServicesP.O. Box 34120-00100NairobiKENYA

The DirectorOccupational Safety and HealhPrivate Bag 344Lilongwe MALAWI

H. Ali El SherifChief Medical OfficerOccupational Health ServiceMinistry of Health and Social ServicesP/Bag 13198WindhoekNAMIBIA

The Director of FactoriesFederal Ministry of Labour and ProductivityFederal Secretariat, Phase 1MaitamaP.M.B. o4AbujaNIGERIA

Chief Inspector of FactoriesMinistry of LabourSIERRA LEONE

Peter H. MavusoHead of CIS National CentreP.O.Box 198MbabaneSWAZILAND

Chief ExecutiveOccupational Safety andHealth Authority (OSHA)Ministry of Labour and EmploymentP.O. Box 519Dar es SalaamTANZANIA

CommissionerOccupational Safety and Health Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social DevelopmentP.O. Box 227KampalaUGANDA

Kirjapaino Uusimaa, Porvoo

NO

RDIC ECOLABEL

441 763Printed matter

Editorial Boardas of 1 August 2015

Director, Department of Occupational Health and SafetyMinistry of Labour and Home AffairsBOTSWANA

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Environment DepartmentMinistry of Labour andSocial AffairsETHIOPIA

Edith ClarkeOccupational and Environmental HealthMinistriesGHANA

The Director, Occupational Safety and Health Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations& EmploymentMAURITIUS

Nancy LeppinkChief of LABADMIN/OSHInternational Labour OfficeGeneva, SWITZERLAND

Evelyn Kortum Technical OfficerOccupational HealthInterventions for Healthy EnvironmentsDepartment of Public Health and EnvironmentWorld Health OrganizationGeneva, SWITZERLAND

Jorma RantanenPast President of ICOHICOH International Commission on Occupational Health

Antti KoivulaDirector GeneralFinnish Institute of Occupational HealthFINLAND

African Newsletter 2/2015, Age management, including young workers

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