My name is Dekha Dewandana, I’m 46 years old. I’m the owner of Esa di Kubu homestay in Sudaji Village, Buleleng, Bali, Indonesia. Despite the difficulties during the pandemic, I didn't give up. I followed what I was taught during the ILO training: to be the owner and host of our own village.

My career started in the tourism sector. I graduated from Bali’s tourism vocational school in 1997. Afterwards, I worked as a housekeeper on a local cruise ship for four years, before I found a job at a hotel in the capital city of Bali. 

When my parents passed away, I followed their wish for me to take care of our family home in Sudaji Village.

At that time, Sudaji Village was already known as a tourism destination due to its cultural traditions and scenery, such as waterfall, hills and rice paddies.

In 2014 I started to realise my dream to develop homestays for tourists in my village. The idea is to not build new houses, but to preserve old houses for tourism. I was fully confident that I could succeed, based on my tourism and hotel background. I observed the operations of homestays and learnt how to transform the house into a homestay.

I started to develop my homestay by arranging the house and its spacious garden.

It was indeed a success. My homestay was chosen by the Bali Tourism Office to participate in community-based tourism at the national level, representing my village, and was awarded second prize.

When my parents passed away, I followed their wish for me to take care of our family home in our village.

Afterwards, the Bali Tourism Office recommended that I take part in the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Hospitality Coaching (HoCo) organized by BEDO-Sampoerna.

I participated in the training programme from 2018 to 2019. We were taught and were helped to standardize our facilities and equipment according to The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) standards. We learnt about professional bedding, toiletries, food presentation, guest services and so forth. Every month, the BEDO trainer would coach and evaluate our progress. 

The training also taught us the importance of digitalization and digital marketing. Since then, I began promoting my homestay online and as a result the sales and number of visitors increased.

My homestay was even ranked 9.4/10 on booking.com. In a good year our income has reached as high as IDR 50million (around USD 3,334).

Then COVID-19 hit at the end of 2019. We started receiving cancellations from our foreign guests from January to February, and when the Indonesian government declared the COVID-19 pandemic in the country in March, we had only five guests left, who got trapped in Bali. We were all panicked and worried. 

For the first four months, I used my savings to buy daily needs, particularly food. I bought as much rice and instant noodles that I could buy, as stores and markets were closed down. I could only survive for three to four months before using up all my savings. To get some income, despite the lock-down, I sneaked out and found my way to go to the nearby forest to get additional plants for our consumption and firewood that I could sell.

 The worst period was the first seven months of 2021. We could only depend on the vegetable farms where we planted vegetables to survive. From January to July, I ran out of everything. My fellow villagers and myself barely ate. 

Due to the global and national lockdown and mobility restrictions we had no guests and no income.

However, I knew that it was not only us who were suffering. Other family members and friends also lost their jobs and some even had nothing to eat. 

I was contacted by my previous guests overseas, asking about my condition and offering some help, which I felt grateful for. This assistance helped my family survive until the end of 2020.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we received health protocol training from the ILO’s SCORE Hospitality Coaching. We were taught how to protect ourselves by maintaining physical distance, using masks, washing our hands and so forth.

We maintained the protocols we learnt from ILO SCORE HoCo with the trapped guests, who continued to stay while finding ways to be evacuated and return to their countries.

Then conditions got better when the restrictions were lifted and we received assistance from the government. I never forgot about my dreamed homestay. I painted the house and used the supplies to fix parts of the house.

Starting in January 2022, the homestays in my village have received domestic and international tourists. My homestay has received a group of tourists from Denmark and Switzerland.

I’m glad that my homestay has come alive again.

I am also the co-founder of Sudaji Homestay, a group for homestay owners who have been trained and facilitated by BEDO. 

The aim of the group is to help each other so that we can maintain standards for our homestays. Not all the homestay owners can speak English or have an understanding about marketing and digital marketing. Through this group, we help those managing other homestays, assisting in marketing and teaching them about services. 

I also help by sharing my skills and knowledge so that we can continue to maintain our reputation as a winning tourism village and so that my fellow villagers do not have to find jobs elsewhere. They can stay in the village and be the owner and host of our own village. 

This is the concept that was taught during our ILO SCORE HoCo training: to be the owner and host of our own village.

The tourism sector is a major driver of economic growth, enterprise development and job creation, particularly for women, youth, migrant workers and local communities.

Tourism was one of the industries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its impact on enterprises, especially micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME’s), is unprecedented.

Dekha Dewandana is a beneficiary of the ILO SCORE programme's Hospitality Coaching module, a programme sponsored by the Swiss and Norwegian Governments. SCORE (Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises) is an ILO global programme that improves productivity and working conditions in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

ILO SCORE Training focuses on developing cooperative working relations to create shared benefits. The three chapters of the Hospitality Coaching module are Workplace Cooperation, Service Excellence & Responsible Tourism.

The ILO’s goal is to harness the fullest potential of the tourism sector to support a human-centred, inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery and a just transition to a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient future of work in tourism.

Tourism has potential to play a major role in global pandemic recovery

ILO and Switzerland launch expansion of SCORE HoCo programme to tourism sector

Business & Export Development Organization (BEDO)

Global Call to Action for a human-centred recovery

When COVID-19 struck Indonesia, Dekha Dewandana’s previously thriving ‘homestay’ tourism business was pushed to the verge of collapse. With the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), his business survived and grew.

How my tourism business survived COVID-19

Berevament EN 5.mp3

Lizzie Pickering's forthcoming book - When Grief Equals Love

Managing Grief and Loss At Work: A Guide for Employees & Managers

7 tips for thoughtfully dealing with grief in the workplace

Working while mourning: How to grieve when you're on the job

Managing  bereavement in the workplace – a good practice guide (pdf)

When Lizzie Pickering's young son Harry died in 2000, she embarked on a journey to understand grief, how to live with it and how to help other people when their life has changed. In this podcast she shares the lessons she's learned from her own experiences and those of others. 
We will discuss how to adapt to change and continue to work after losses, not only in the event of death, but also in the case of a medical condition, divorce, and a change of job. Is loss only a personal matter or should it be also touched upon at work? What can employers and colleagues do to support people when they are stressed or depressed?
Often others want to help but don't know how to deal with strong emotions, leaving those who are suffering to feel alone and frustrated. Are there any guidelines for coping with grief in the workplace? What is the impact of a workplace that handles grief well, as opposed to a workplace that doesn't?

When Lizzie Pickering's young son Harry died in 2000, she embarked on a journey to understand grief, how to live with it and how to help other people when their life has changed. In this podcast she shares the lessons she's learned from her own experiences and those of others. 

We will discuss how to adapt to change and continue to work after losses, not only in the event of death, but also in the case of a medical condition, divorce, and a change of job. Is loss only a personal matter or should it be also touched upon at work? What employers and colleagues can do to support people when they are stressed or depressed?

Often others want to help but don't know how to deal with strong emotions, leaving those who are suffering to feel alone and frustrated. Are there any guidelines for coping with grief in the workplace? What is the impact of a workplace that handles grief well, as opposed to a workplace that doesn't?

Is there a place for grief at work?

My family was poor and broken after the civil war in Sri Lanka but I could do nothing about it. So when I had an opportunity to improve our lives I grabbed it.

I grew up in poverty. When I was a baby we lived in Colombo. My father supported the family through daily wage labour. He died suddenly in an accident. I was only a year old at the time.

Our mother raised us with difficulty. She had five children to look after, four daughters and one son. I got married at the age of fifteen. After my marriage we were still living in poverty, but our life gradually improved; we bought land in Kepapilavu Mullaitivu, in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and built a house. 

It was during this time that the war was happening. We were forced to move in 2009. We moved from one place to another, and in Mullivaikkal we were relocated to a military-controlled area. They took us to the Cheddikulam refugee camp. Life in the refugee camp was hard as there was a shortage of food and water. We struggled a lot with the children for nearly seven to eight years.

I lost everything in Sri Lanka, but farming gave me a new start

After years of struggle, in 2016 our land was finally released for resettlement. 

We were given our land, but I did not have the savings to do anything with it because we had lost everything during the war - I had lost my home, and my husband was no longer with us. I didn’t have the money to send my five children to school.

I was unable to provide my family with even basic necessities.

Four of my daughters were married when they were young. One of my them was injured from a shell attack during the war. She then fell into depression and is to this day affected by loud sounds. She found employment in a garment factory, but she couldn’t bear the sounds of the machines. She couldn’t continue to work there. 

The only opportunity open to me was some daily wage labour. As a woman and head of a household with no external support, I was unable to take any steps to provide for my family with even basic necessities.

Our family lived in poverty even after we were resettled.

Then, we were lucky. A cooperative society and a project of the International Labour Organization (ILO) learnt about our situation and invited me to join a livelihood programme on groundnut farming.  

They said if I participated in the programme, they would give me groundnut seeds that I could use to start cultivation on half an acre of land. They said they would give me 20 kgs of groundnut seeds for farming and after the harvest, I would need to return the same amount to them. I was happy to do this.

Through the project they also taught us how to cultivate the land and grow crops. I practiced what I learnt. 

At first, I had to borrow money even for the wire to build a fence on my land. Despite all that debt I managed to cultivate 20 kgs of groundnut seeds and reaped the benefits from it. 

Today I have bought wire with my money, I own the fence, and I have expanded the land to one acre. I was able to return the 20 kg of groundnuts they lent me. After that, they even built an agro-well for me. 

The new agro-well has allowed me to cultivate groundnuts all year round. We have grown step by step.

Growing groundnuts has turned my life around.

When the war broke out we moved to the camps without even proper clothes to wear. Even after the conflict we were stuck at home with no income. 

So, when we were shown a way to improve our situation, we grabbed the opportunity. I believe by making efforts, we will progress forward.

It’s our own business, we put our heart and energy into it.

Cultivating is not easy, it's hard work under the unbearable sun. But it’s our own business, this land is ours and we are not working under someone else. We will put our heart and energy into it.

I have a lot of plans for the future; rearing chickens, fixing a water pump, and opening a small shop for my daughter.

Now I plan to repair a water pump, which is the only thing I don't have at the moment. And if our situation improves further, I would like to rear chickens as a livelihood. I also hope to set up a small shop for my youngest daughter. And it’s through my groundnut farming business that I will achieve these goals.

Note: This interview was conducted before the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

Veronica is a beneficiary of the US-funded ILO project  “Support to Resettlement and Reconciliation through the United Nations Joint Programme for Peace” (SURAR), which helps resettle Tamil communities in formerly conflict-affected areas in northern Sri Lanka.

SURAR  helps marginalised communities revive their livelihoods and reintegrate with existing communities.

Beneficiaries of the project include female-headed households, conflict-affected youth, and persons with disabilities.

The project’s impact goes beyond its direct beneficiaries, positively influencing the livelihoods of all those engaged in ground nut cultivation in the area.

Support to Resettlement and Reconciliation through the United Nations Joint Programme for Peace (SURAR)

ILO topic portal on work, peace and resilience

Displaced by Sri Lanka’s civil war, Veronica Rosani Susilkumar is making a new life for herself and her family as a groundnut farmer.

War in Sri Lanka took everything but I made a new start

My name is Champa. I grew up in a village in Myanmar. When I was five years old my father died. I am the youngest of nine children, and as a daughter, I was the one who had to help my mother.  

As I got older, I began to notice that there were people in the village who had returned from a place they called Bangkok. Back then I didn’t know what Bangkok was. I didn’t know what country it was in. All I knew was they had nice clothes. They had money to give their parents. They built their own houses. Their houses were more beautiful than ours. So, I decided I would go to Bangkok and help support my mother. 

At the time you had to be 25 to travel alone as a woman. I was 16. So, I used the ID card of my elder sister. We looked very much alike, and I had very long hair which made me look older.  

My brother was already in Bangkok working as a gardener. He helped pay for the travel costs. It was illegal to cross the border, so I paid an agent to help me get to Bangkok. An older woman from our village travelled with me. We were lucky or maybe our agent was good. I don’t know why, but we didn’t get arrested. 

Domestic workers need social protection too

In Myanmar we are called Gurkha. I am of Nepali descent so I can speak Hindi. This helped me find work as a nanny and housekeeper at an Indian family’s home in Bangkok. They spoke English, Hindi and Thai. They were like my teachers. I learned Thai and English there. I am very grateful to them.  

But there were obstacles and problems. The first problem I faced was that there were no days off. I didn’t think about this when I asked to work there. I knew that the work would pay me 1,800 baht per month (USD 52). Other than that, I knew nothing.  

I used to wake up early every morning to work. My life was always full of work. One month passed by, then two, then three. There was no mention of a day off. The first month I was happy. The second month I got tired. By the third, I was exhausted. 

I had lots of extended family in Bangkok. I saw they were getting days off. Some came to visit me once a month and brought me snacks from Myanmar. When they would leave, I would get very sad. Why could they visit me, but I could not visit them? Remembering it now, I get goosebumps.

When I started working as a domestic worker I knew nothing about my rights.

I gathered my courage after several months had passed and I knew my employer better.  I decided I would wait until they were in a good mood, like when they were watching a movie. I would peek inside the door and look at their faces. This is true, I’m not overstating it! If they were happy and smiling I would ask if I could take a day off. I managed to get a day off every 3 months.  

The employers also had their excuses. For instance, they would say “You don’t have a visa.  If you go out you will get arrested.  Do you want that to happen?” 

At the time I was young. I thought I was naughty. I thought if I got caught, then oh well. I had to get out.

When I asked for a day off my employers would say: “You don’t have a work visa.  If you go out you will get arrested.  Do you want that to happen?”

Domestic worker and President, Network of Migrant Domestic Workers

After five years of this I wanted more days off, so I resigned. I kept changing jobs, looking for one that would give me regular days off. I found a job with one day off a week. Everyone on our street said, “You are so blessed.” I kept thinking this wasn’t right. Having a day off shouldn’t be based on fortune. It had to be based on law.

Back then, I didn’t know about workers’ rights. Then in 2014 I found out about a non-governmental organization called HomeNet Thailand. They ran an event for migrant workers. By then I had a workers’ visa. But then it expired. Not only mine. All migrant workers’ visas expired. 

When we arrived at the event, we met someone from HomeNet Thailand as well as officers from the Royal Thai Police Immigration Bureau. They told us what steps we would need to take in order to renew the visa. They understood the problems of migrant workers. They told us to share the information with our friends and that there was no need to panic. 

At a Regional Workshop on Organizing Migrant Domestic Workers, held in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2015 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

I started going to more and more such events. I got involved with HomeNet’s activities and began to learn about workers’ rights for domestic workers, such as a day off each week and holidays. These are basic things. These are our rights. It isn’t about whether or not you have good fortune, or a good employer.  

I learned from an ILO project about labour rights for migrant domestic workers. Back then we knew that there was a network of Thai domestic workers, so we joined them. But then we realised that our problems were not the same as those of Thai workers, who don’t have to deal with work permits and visas.  

Among our family and friends, we say that apart from breathing, our priorities are our passports and work permits. We joke about this.

Among our family and friends, we say that apart from breathing, our priorities are our passports and work permits.  

We agreed to gather as a group and provide information about labour rights to domestic workers, as well as migrant workers in other sectors. We help spread correct information and post it in our Facebook group. 

I think it’s good that we work this way. Also, I have been working for almost 30 years. I know several languages. There are so many people that don’t speak Thai. So, I think it’s my duty to help other migrant domestic workers.

Recently, I went to a HomeNet meeting on what labour rights are included for domestic workers. We learned that because we have employers, we should be entitled to social security. Then why don’t we get this right? 

I started to think about female domestic workers, and how they typically get fired when pregnant. Or even if they are not fired, it can be hard for them to work.   They are afraid to ask their employers for days off. This is not right. And after you deliver a baby, you have to take care of the baby, you have to have enough money. 

I feel I have a duty to help other migrant domestic workers.

I am working with other networks to lobby the government for domestic workers’ rights, in particular our lack of access to social protection. We’ve told them how having social security would help us. How our lives would be much better. 

Think about it. I have many Thai domestic worker friends who are 50 to 60 years old. They have worked since they were in their late teens or early twenties. This is their occupation. They have jobs and employers like other workers do. But the government has excluded domestic workers from receiving social security benefits. 

Look at me.  At 18 years old I was working and could have deposited money into the social security fund. I have been a domestic worker for 30 years now.  There hasn’t been a single month when I didn’t earn an income. Thirty years multiplied by 12 months. 

If we could contribute to the social security fund when we are able to work and have a salary, no one would have to worry about the future and which of their children would care for them. Whatever they earned, they could save for when they are old.

Now I am 46. Some of my friends are already 60. They are worried about when they will no longer be able to work. When we don’t have energy to work as domestic workers, who will take care of us?

Members of our migrant domestic workers network create signs calling for the Thai government to ratify ILO Convention 189, which sets out labour standards for domestic workers.

I want to convey a message to the government to please include domestic workers in Social Security Article 33 like other workers. Include everyone. Because we also have employers. We are workers. Domestic work is an occupation. It’s labour. Don’t think that domestic work is not productive work. Actually, we are productive for the country and the economy.

Many of our employers are even members of parliament. They can go to work because we take care of their children and grandchildren. Yes. But they don’t say that we are workers and a part of the economy of this country. They think this occupation is lowly. If people think like this, there is no way we can overcome this challenge. I think this is the most important point.

Whatever the government does, we want them to think about the millions of migrant workers out there. We want them to have easier visa and work permit renewal processes that allow everyone to live in Thailand legally. We want them to provide us with social protection. We don’t want talk about us being bad workers. We pay taxes like other people do. We want to be good workers and be able to earn money to feed our families back home.

It’s estimated that there are between 289,760 and 1.4 million domestic workers in Thailand, many in the informal sector. 

Many domestic workers are migrants from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Myanmar, as well as internal migrants within Thailand itself.

HomeNet Thailand is non-governmental organization, which has helped the Network of Domestic Workers in Thailand (NDWT) to organize and advocate for the rights of domestic workers.

Since 2015, HomeNet and NDWT have been supported by the ILO’s TRIANGLE in ASEAN programme, which aims to maximize the contribution of labour migration to equitable, inclusive, and stable growth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

Thai domestic workers are eligible for fewer social protection benefits than other workers. Migrant domestic workers are excluded entirely. 

The ILO supports the Thai Ministry of Labour’s review of laws regulating domestic work. This review may provide more scope to extend labour rights and social protection to domestic workers.

The TRIANGLE in ASEAN programme (2015-2027) is a partnership between the ILO, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

Only six per cent of domestic workers have comprehensive social protection, says ILO

International Domestic Workers Federation

Global Call to Action for a Human-centred Recovery

What motivates someone to advocate for workers’ rights?  Meet Champa, head of a network of migrant domestic workers, who lives and works in Thailand.

My name is Akram. I am 14 years old. I have three brothers and I am the fourth. I also have three sisters.  I live with my parents in Mosul. Life is hard. My parents are poor. In Mosul, all families are in the same situation. They are all poor and tired. There is no work. Our situation is very difficult.

I used to have lots of friends, we used to have fun and play together. But after the war, they were gone. We got separated as we had to move.  

Before, when I went to school, I saw my friends and my teachers and I was happy. But then our situation became desperate. The COVID-19 pandemic started and my father was not able to work. Our financial situation was very bad. This is what made me work. I had to help my father. I left school and I started collecting scrap metal and selling it. 

I had to stop school and go to work because of COVID-19

My biggest challenge in life is collecting scrap metal. It affects my body. My bones hurt and my leg hurts.

When I was little I broke my leg. This is something I will never forget. I still think about it. I had platinum inserted in my leg. I have difficulty sleeping at night because my leg hurts. 

I cannot carry anything too heavy because it hurts my leg. But I carry metal and metal is heavy, so often I cannot carry it. I get tired when I work.

Recently I returned to school. I go to school in the morning and then I come home and do some homework for an hour. In the afternoon I work for four hours. I collect scrap metal with my father and then I go home. My father also sells second-hand clothes and sometimes I help him at the stall.

I am happy to see my friends and my teachers again.  

At school I like biology the most, because it’s taught me about human anatomy. I’ve liked learning about lungs and other parts of the body. It’s helped me explore and learn more so that when I grow up - if I succeed, God willing - I can become a doctor.

I do my homework at lunchtime before heading out to work.

When I am free and I don’t have to work, I like to garden.  I also like to fish, play football and go swimming.   Before COVID-19, we used to go to the beach. This is where I learnt how to swim.

My sports hero is the football player Cristiano Ronaldo.  He has many talents and ambitions.  He is very athletic.  That’s why I like him.  

My favourite TV show is a game show called “My Family Wins”. 

What would I say to other children in child labour? I think children shouldn’t work. They are still young and haven’t yet prepared for their future. They should study and look after their future.  

I hope that my siblings and I can continue studying and graduate and receive our diplomas. 

If I don’t become a doctor, I would also like to be a teacher so that I can teach other children how to read and write, and help them build their future.

Efforts to help Akram and his family are part of an ILO project implemented in Iraq to tackle the worst forms of child labour. 

It is funded by the European Regional Development and Protection Programme for Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq (RDPP II), a joint European initiative by the Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Union, Ireland and Switzerland. 

The programme targets children in or at risk of child labour among Internally Displaced Persons, refugees, and vulnerable host communities, including those in Mosul where the number of displaced and vulnerable children is high following years of conflict.

In Mosul, the programme is implemented in collaboration with the Al-Tahreer Association for Development.

It includes a Child Labour Monitoring System that identifies vulnerable children at risk of or already in child labour and refers them to the relevant services to receive support.

It also includes increasing access to tailored formal and non-formal education for children, and providing skills training and income-generating activities to older siblings and caretakers of vulnerable children.

The project continues to work with Akram and his family so that eventually Akram will be able to stop work altogether.

Iraq launches activities to combat child labour as part of nation-wide campaign

Tackling the worst forms of child labour in Iraq

Al Taheer Association for Development (in Arabic)

The European Regional Development and Protection Programme for Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq (RDPP II)

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city of Mosul in Iraq, Akram’s parents lost their income and livelihood. Akram dropped out of school to help support his family by collecting and selling scrap metal.  An ILO project has helped him return to school.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many people in the rural areas of Colombia had to flee armed conflicts in the country. Many of them came to Rionegro in the province of Antioquia and found that there was no work for them. Collecting recyclable material from rubbish was one of the only things they could do to earn some money in the midst of the forced exodus from their territories. 

At the time, I was a business administration student at the Catholic University Luis Amigo and had gone back to studying after years of being married and working in the private sector. Returning to studying was a way of turning my life around. My fellow students and I were about to graduate and our dream was to generate employment for waste recyclers by creating a cooperative. My vocation had always been in social issues and the cooperative model appealed to me. I was the eldest of the founding group. We called the cooperative Planeta Verde.

The cooperative model has always appealed to me.

When we launched our cooperative it was very difficult at first, because there was a lot of scepticism on the part of the informal waste pickers. Because of their history of poverty and being uprooted, they thought that we were going to take advantage of them. Also, they had had bad experiences with other aid projects that had disappeared when the money ran out. We told them that a cooperative had nothing to do with the government, and that we were going to build it together, because cooperatives are based on partnership and solidarity. Gradually we gained their trust, and the first people who joined motivated others to do the same. Recycling is a survival trade and individualistic. Our job was to learn to think collectively. Later, we learned that our peers were joining an organization called Arreciclar, and at the national level, the Association of Waste Pickers, and we decided to join them as well. We always had the conviction that working together would help us achieve our goals.

Over the years, the members of the cooperative have learned to think and work collectively.

Today, after 22 years, we have 94 members. Historically, waste pickers have been excluded from society. Those who worked in waste picking were associated with delinquency, informality or drug use. We are proud to say that through our cooperative work, we have managed to transform the way society looks at waste pickers. Today, the state recognises them as providers of an essential public service, through which they receive a fee that compensates them for their work.

Today the state recognises the waste pickers as providers of an essential public service.

The work of the waste pickers has made an immense contribution to the environment. The current challenge is to continue to strengthen this commitment, to ensure that they are recognised as key actors in their own development, and key players in the recycling chain. We have been achieving this through basic literacy education, based on a programme developed by a university in the region, with which we began a project specialising in educating adults. Thanks to this, most of them now have a basic education.

The work of the waste pickers has made an immense contribution to the environment.

In terms of my challenges as a leader, it is worth mentioning that I am now 60 years old. I look back with great pride on all that we have done, and all the obstacles we have overcome. But I confess that I am worried about the future. When we started more than two decades ago, nobody talked about recycling. Now, this activity has become a business for private, non-cooperative companies. Companies with political and financial interests have arrived and are taking everything with their big trucks. Our colleagues take to the streets, and sometimes there is nothing left. We cannot compete with them because we are not on an equal footing. It is as if we were invited to a race but we are missing a foot.

However, at the heart of our organization is the notion of solidarity. We have developed training and mediation in order to share the work - as in the case of the Venezuelan migrant population settled in Colombia. During the pandemic for instance, we shared out the bags of food that were donated to us. All of us have helped each other in the most difficult moments.

We understand that there is a legacy to take care of. We were born to dignify the work of waste pickers, to make it something more than just fine words, to be vigilant in the face of political guilds that only want to join in the corruption and to follow their personal interests. Today we are not rich but we are cooperative activists who have managed to provide for 94 families with a clear social and political commitment. That is our wealth!

Today, we are not rich but we are cooperative activists who have managed to provide for 94 families with a clear social and political commitment. That is our wealth!

The social and solidarity economy comprises of entities that pursue social, economic, and environmental objectives in the collective interest of their members and users.  

The SSE is based on the principles of voluntary cooperation and mutual aid, democratic and participatory governance, autonomy and independence. People and social purpose are prioritized over capital and profits.

Cooperatives are part of the social and solidarity economy. They are owned, governed and run by their members.

After winning a legal battle in 2013, organised waste pickers in Colombia became formally recognised as providers of a public service and are renumerated by the government for their recycling work.

But many waste pickers in other countries are not legally recognized as workers and suffer from poor working conditions and lack of social protection. It’s led many to set up cooperatives, particularly in Latin America and South Asia.

A committee is discussing the social and solidarity economy at the 110th International Labour Conference. This is the first such high level discussion within the United Nations system.

In Colombia, a Global Model for Inclusive Recycling is under Threat

Waste pickers’ cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations

ILO topic portal on the social and solidarity economy

Decent work and the social and solidarity economy

General Discussion Committee: Decent work and the social and solidarity economy - 110th International Labour Conference

Twenty-two years ago, Martha Elena Iglesias helped found a waster picker cooperative in Colombia called Planeta Verde.  Over time, the cooperative has transformed how the local community views waste pickers and a sense of solidarity has developed amongst its members.

Our cooperative has dignified the work of waste pickers

My name is Muhammad Taher Muhammad al-Tahri. I’m 28. When war broke out in Yemen in 2014, the factory where I worked shut down. 

In high school I was an outstanding student and dreamed of becoming an electronic engineer. But the war meant I gave up on my dream.  

I looked for work in other factories but there were no opportunities. I was young, unemployed and couldn’t achieve my dreams for the future. I fell into a state of despair. 

Then one of my old classmates told me about an apprenticeship programme run by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Ghadaq Organization for Development. Registration had opened for new applicants. When I went to register, there were lots of other people there and I wondered whether they would even look at my application let alone accept me onto the programme. But they did! By God I was happy.

An apprenticeship changed my life

I chose solar panel installation, repair and maintenance training, one of the options of the apprenticeship programme. 

When we started the training, I thought we would be in a classroom with paper and pen, but I was surprised that the course was both theoretical and practical. It was divided into several phases - a class training phase where I learned life skills, financial literacy and about occupational safety and health, and then specialized technical training, which was divided into two parts: I studied the theory in institutes and then had on-the-job training in a workshop where I worked with experienced craftspeople. After I completed the specialized technical training, I studied entrepreneurship, which taught me how to open and manage my own business.

I learned a lot from the on-the-job training. 

The combination of theoretical and practical training meant it was really comprehensive, both in terms of the work experience and the knowledge I gained. I learned how to install solar energy systems and connect them in parallel, series or mixed-mode; how to measure the battery and the panels; and how to maintain the panels.

We also learned the correct way to install home solar energy systems, as well as larger-scale systems for farms.

The apprenticeship has changed my life, thanks to God, and in a big way.

Solar panel installation and maintenance specialist

Solar energy systems are a good alternative green energy source in Yemen, particularly given the power outages caused by the war.  I want to expand the use of solar energy in many applications in my country.

At the moment the fighting has stopped in my region. I’m now working freelance and have enough work to keep me busy full-time.  

The apprenticeship has changed my life, thanks to God, and in a big way. My living conditions have improved. I am able to support my parents and younger siblings, and I am now on my way to achieving my goals in my personal life.

I am working on developing my own business by setting up a workshop and expanding to neighbouring areas. I am also trying to expand my list of clients through social media and WhatsApp. I am sure, God willing, that I will be successful.

When war broke out in Yemen, the factory where Muhammad Taher Muhammad al-Tahri worked shut down.  His job search was going nowhere, until he joined an apprenticeship programme in solar panel maintenance and installation.

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