PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES
TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND HEALTH
OF HOMEBASED WORKERS
Dr. Tsuyoshi Kawakami
Asian-Pacific Regional Network
On Occupational Safety and Health Information (ASIA-OSH)-ILO
Dr. Kawakami presented a very comprehensive report on the best practices in safety, health and working conditions made possible by introducing participatory approaches like the WISH (Work Improvement for Safe Homes) project for homeworkers in Cambodia, Thailand and Mongolia; and WIND (Work Improvement in Neighborhood Development) concept for homeworkers and farmers in Thailand and Cambodia.
He emphasized that ILO adheres to the notion of extending decent work to all workers. It has been supportive of efforts that have strong provisions towards safe and healthy protection in informal economy workplaces. In particular, Article 7 of ILO Convention 177 on Home Wor serves as basis upon which safe and healthy working conditions must be extended to workers in the informal economy, homebased workers particularly.
According to Dr. Kawakami, approaches focusing on existing local efforts and initiatives have been widely applied as practical methodology to facilitate actions at workplace level. The WISH action checklist for homeworkers has been proven effective in the target sites. Hand in hand are the steps in participatory training that further boost doable and practical implementation of the project : 1) learning local good practices; 2) checking multiple areas priority; 3) implementing simple improvements; and 4) confirming benefits and follow-up.
Emphasizing that participatory training tools support people’s action towards improvement, Dr. Kawakami drew parallel lines to put the message across: Action checklist – (entails looking at people’s multiple needs); local good examples – (means learning from what people can do); and engaging in group discussions – (promote people’s participation).
Dr Kawakami also enumerated the various ways or means (which have been tried and tested) to access grassroots workplaces: through trade associations (to reach small enterprises); NGO networks (for easy access to homeworkers); health and agriculture networks (to facilitate access to farmers); direct visits (to construction sites for example); or an NGO inspector (in order to see the real situation of a child worker).
In conclusion, Dr. Kawakami reiterated that participatory approaches become effective when: 1) focusing on local people’s immediate needs; 2) promoting workable, low-cost solutions; and 3) strengthening people’s networks for sharing experiences.
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