Towards the right to work: Innovations in Public Employment Programmes (IPEP)

Organised by the International Labour Organization in partnership with Silatech, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and the Arab Urban Development Institute, the symposium, held on 6-8 March 2014 in Doha, brought together policy makers and practitioners with academics and researchers to present and discuss the evidence base for 'what works' in increasing the employment and productivity of youth. Discussants shared recent findings of impact evaluations from the Middle East and North Africa region and other developing regions. Participants were also introduced to evidence from systematic and literature reviews which are important for evidence based policy creation. This working paper was one of the background documents to the symposium.

The ILO Summit on the Global Jobs Crisis in June 2009 stressed the importance of public employment programmes as a response to the economic crisis. The Global Jobs Pact [GJP], which was unanimously adopted by all ILO constituents in June 2009, calls for decent work responses to the crisis. Included amongst these responses is the role of direct employment creation by government through policies promoting productive growth and investments through public employment programmes and employment guarantee schemes. This paper attempts to guide policy-makers who are considering the responses suggested in the GJP. At the same time, it provides a framework for the ILO course on Innovations in Public Employment Programmes (IPEP), designed to support such efforts. The working paper discusses many aspects of employment guarantee schemes, but its main objective is to demonstrate that many of the elements of these programmes can be incorporated into long-term public employment programmes and even into emergency or short-term public works programmes to improve their impact and performance.

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