Employment and Social Protection
To achieve social inclusion and cohesion, income, employment and social protection are essential. Developing countries are typically characterized by unemployment, underemployment, lack of social protection, large informal economies and increasing working poor and marginalization, especially among women and young people. Reducing poverty by enhancing employment, employability, social protection as well as promoting decent work, feature high in the EU development and cooperation policies.
Story from the field
-
Appui aux enfants des rues d'Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Depuis 2001, le Service d'Aide Mobile d'Urgence Social intervienne au Burkina Faso avec comme but de lutter contre l'exclusion sociale de personnes vulnérables. Le projet permet à l'association d'étendre ses activités de soutien aux enfants de la rue -
Helping young people with severe intellectual disorders in Moscow (Russia)
The programme develops a special vocational training model in a Moscow college through setting up facilities for social adaptation, vocational guidance and employment of young people with intellectual disabilities. -
Helping Tajik children to find their way
The project supports poor children in Tajikistan on education, temporary employment, housing and social support. It also works on empowering adolescents with the ability to defend their rights either via the established helpline or training courses.
| view all | > |
What's On
EU ratifies UN Convention on disability rights
Following formal ratification, it is the first time in history the EU has become a party to an international human rights treaty – the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The Convention aims to ensure that people with disabilities can enjoy their rights on an equal basis with all other citizens. The Convention covers also international cooperation.
Study of Disability in EC Development Cooperation
The European Commission study on Disability in EC Development Cooperation has been finalised in close cooperation with numerous civil society and international organisations. The study examines how effectively EC cooperation has reached persons with disabilities and provides a set of recommendations in order to comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Between 2000 and 2010, the EC funded some 450 projects specifically targeting persons with disabilities in over 82 partner countries.
Financial support
For the period 2007-2013, the EU’s development action in this field is financed at national and regional level through:
• geographical instruments, such as the European Development Fund (in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries), the Development Co-operation Instrument (in Latin America, Asia and South Africa), and the European Neighbourhood & Partnership Instrument (in the neighbouring regions),
as well as by thematic programmes such as
• Investing in people, where 8% of the budget is allocated for “Social cohesion, employment and decent work”. Complementary to the country programmes, the thematic programme concentrates on developing methods to monitor and assess progress on employment, decent work and social cohesion in the EU's partner countries, identifying good practice and supporting a global policy dialogue between governments, social partners and other relevant stakeholders operating in this area.
Background information
Employment and decent work for all are key elements in reducing poverty and achieving MDGs. "Achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people" has recently been included as a target under the first MDGs.
The European Consensus on Development clearly indicates employment as a crucial factor to achieve high level of social cohesion. Consequently, the EC adopted over time a number of key policy documents proposing stronger and more coherent future EU commitments to address employment, social protection and decent work for all and to contribute to the social dimension of globalization 
[153 KB] .
In this field, the EU supports national and local development strategies and interventions aimed at enabling the most vulnerable population groups to emerge from poverty and insecurity, i.e. improving employability through vocational training.
The EU has a strategic partnership with ILO [321 KB] to ensure the effective uptake of decent work and related issues at all levels.
Social dimension of Globalization, Employment and Decent Work is one of the policy areas where the EU is committed to pursue policy coherence for development.