ILO and Swedish SIDA together in empowering women against Covid-19

Thanks to the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the International Labour Organization (ILO) will help 400 laid-off women workers who lost their job due to the COVID–19 pandemic and lack access to social protection schemes.

The intervention targets the textile and footwear sectors and provides multiple services lines, including a major cash transfer operation for vulnerable laid-off women workers, in the amount of three minimum wages and social contributions. Other services include the access to ILO’s technical assistance for selected factories committed to implementing the ILO Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards and the GoA Red Protocols against COVID in the workplace to protect workers’ health and for a safe continuity of business operations.

Additionally, the project builds on the work and recommendations of the international working group – convened by the ILO – gathering employers, workers, retailers and major brands to address the already serious damage to the garment industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative aims to mobilize sufficient funding to enable manufacturers to ensure business continuity, payment of wages, as well as income-support and job retention schemes to protect garment workers’ income, health and employment (more information here). Leveraging the ILO and European model of operating in a tripartite manner in the world of work, the project will be implemented in close collaboration with relevant employers’ and workers’ organizations and other labour market institutions.

Both projects are aligned with the ILO DWCP 2017 – 2021, UNDAF 2017 – 2021 and “COVID-19 Socio-Economic Recovery & Response Plan (SERP)”, which has been consulted with and submitted to the Government of Albania.