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September 1994, Vol. 117,
No. 9
Training programs: the key to achieving ILO goals
Allan Salt
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has always considered training an important tool in achieving its goals to improve working conditions and promote social justice. Indeed, the ILO Constitution declares vocational and technical education a principal way to attain these goals.
The 1944 Declaration of Philadelphia renews ILO's training objectives and puts this mandate in an economic context, proclaiming ILO's obligation to advance world programs that advocate achieving full employment and raising standards of living; employing workers in occupations in which they can use the "fullest measure of their skill and attainments and make their greatest contribution to the common well-being"; and guaranteeing facilities for training and the transfer of labor. These objectives have been restated in numerous Conventions and Recommendations adopted over the years, some of which directly address training.
The ILO emphasizes the importance of training1 in achieving social goals, such as equal opportunity for workers in acquiring skills that will allow them to choose productive employment. It recognizes that training must be efficient and consistent with national economic and other policies. For example, Human Resources Development Convention 142 (1975) stipulates that vocational guidance and training policies and programs "shall take due account of " employment needs, opportunities and problems, both regional and national; the stage and level of economic, social, and cultural development; and the mutual relationships between human resources development and other economic, social, and cultural objectives.
Given this mandate, ILO's research, information, advisory and, particularly, technical cooperation activities have been to improve the economic efficiency and relevance of vocational training as a necessary condition for promoting its social aspects. The ILO has been less concerned with improving training methodology, leaving this task to more specialized organizations. However, it keeps up with developments in new instructional methods and shares this information with member states and, where appropriate, helps the states adapt innovative approaches to their specific circumstances.
This excerpt is from an article published in the September 1994 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
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Footnotes
1 Hector-Hugo Barbagolates, Vocational Training
within the System of International Labor Standards (Montivideo,
Uruguay, CINTERFOR ILO,
1991). See also ILO: Human Resources Development Leave, Report III
(Part 4B) (International Labor Organization, 1991).
ILO labor statistics convention: U.S. accepts new obligations. June 1991.
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