The ILO is the United Nations agency for the world of work. It brings together governments, employers, and workers to drive a human-centred approach to decent work, through employment creation, rights at work, social protection, social dialogue and gender equality.
The ILO has long recognized that the protection of workers from hazardous effects of chemicals is essential to ensuring healthy populations as well as sustainable environments. The ILO follows an all-encompassing approach to chemical hazards and risks and addresses all chemical-related exposures across all work-related processes. This includes the production, handling, storage and transport of chemicals, the disposal and treatment of chemical waste, the release of chemicals from the workplace, as well as the maintenance and cleaning of chemical equipment and containers. In addition, the ILO’s standards address chemical risks that affect the public and the environment.
The ILO works closely with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and collaborates with the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), the Secretariats of the several International Conventions on management of chemicals.
Project Description:
Workers around the world are facing a global health crisis due to occupational exposure to toxic chemicals.
Every year more than 1 billion workers are exposed to hazardous substances, including pollutants, dusts, vapours and fumes in their working environments. Many of these workers lose their life following such exposures, succumbing to fatal diseases, cancer and poisonings, or from fatal injuries following fires or explosions. Workers and their families face additional burden from non-fatal injuries resulting in disability, debilitating chronic diseases, and other health sequela, including impacts on women’s reproductive health.
Production of chemicals as well as the industries using them are expanding, which means a high potential for increased occupational exposure. Moreover, with new chemicals introduced every year, mechanisms for regulating exposure such as the implementation of occupational exposure limits, struggle to keep up. There is therefore an urgent need to take action and implement a range of effective measures to prevent harm to workers, their families, and wider communities.
This project aims at improving the knowledge and capacity of tripartite constituents to address the main risks on the use and management of chemicals in accordance with ILO standards and tools. It will be implemented under the GEF/UNEP Project Reducing uses and releases of chemicals of concern, including Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), in the textiles sector.
In Pakistan, the project will seek to assess the main risks related to chemicals use and management to the safety and health of workers in textiles mills and provide training and advice for addressing them. The project will also systematize the good practices and lessons learned of this pilot project as a means to scale up the work to other textiles mills in Pakistan and other countries.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Responsible for the implementation of the activities and effective utilization of project resources in Pakistan.
Develop a results-based project workplan and supervise its implementation
Prepare concept notes for the activities and TORs for consultants.
dentify partners and beneficiaries of the project.
Promote a sectoral strategy to draw complementarities, build synergies and foster partnerships with sector-specific initiatives within and outside the ILO.
Map sector specific initiatives, identifying ILO’s niche to lead sector policy discourse and joint programmes
Establish a development partners knowledge sharing forum
Consult national, provincial and sectoral stakeholders to provide inputs to and participate in the project
Establish an operational committee
Represent the project at the national working groups established by the GEF/UNEP Project.
Prepare and update project presentations and inputs for national working group meetings
Mapping opportunities and partnerships for expansion and scaling.
Proactively seek guidance and engage with Programme Team at CO, DWT Specialists and SECTOR at HQ to identify priorities for project expansion
Use ILO’s guidelines and tools on Just Transitions and other Sector specific knowledge resource to lead the discourse on but also identifying entry points on Greening Textiles, addressing environment concerns through DW, Living Indus and other national, regional and global initiatives.
Develop sustainability plan for the project and prepare inputs for timely project extension/scaling
Prepare project Technical Progress Reports
Prepare inputs for PIR reporting closely engaging with Programme Team at CO
Prepare inputs for project internal evaluation
Pictorial evidence and record, reports from participating factories, field reports
Prepare press releases and project fact sheet and other visibility material
Perform other relevant duties as assigned.
Minimum Requirements: Education:
University degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in a field relevant to the job.
Equivalent work experience may be considered in lieu of a University degree in accordance with the table below.
Experience:
Minimum of two years of professional work experience in programme and/or project planning, monitoring, implementation and evaluation activities.
Languages:
Excellent command of an official language (English, French, Spanish) of the Organization. Working knowledge of another official language of the Organization or an official national language of the duty station.
