Annual meeting DECP and ITC-ILO inspires cooperation partners

Since 2006 DECP has been cooperating with the International Training Centre of the ILO, ITC-ILO. The employers’ activities of ITC-ILO are responding to a large extent to the needs of DECP’s partner organisations and therefore to the needs of DECP. The experienced trainers of ITC-ILO are used to working with employers’ organisations and know their challenges very well. Furthermore, the fields of expertise of the employers’ activities of ITC-ILO and DECP are very complementary.

This is why the management of DECP meets with the ITC-ILO employers’ activities team on a yearly basis, with the aim to align agenda’s and to determine which joint activities will be carried out, guaranteeing additional added value for all parties involved. Jorge Illingworth, ITC-ILO Programme Manager Employers’ Activities, and his staff received the DECP team at the offices in Turin. After looking back on the joint activities in 2019 and the overall activities of ITC-ILO that year, he presented the results of a recent in-depth study on the sustainable impact of employers’ training activities conducted by ITC-ILO. This highly interesting study, carried out by a reputable external advisor, showed that the majority of participants are likely to have obtained improved levels of knowledge and skills. And what is more, they apply and integrate them in their tasks defined as job related knowledge, skills and attitude. 77% of the 125 respondents indicated that, as a result of participation in an ITC-ILO training, their professional performance had increased a lot or even extremely. The employers’ organisations benefit on the short term and on the longer term. Changes in carrying out tasks are evident and sustainable which proves that investing in L&D activities (Learning & Development) pays off.

Nevertheless, an important remark should be made. It is by no means evident that training on itself guarantees significant improvements. Step by step implementation should be guided by a learning coach, an advisor or through peer-to-peer feedback. With the end result in mind and supported by the executive director. After all, one cannot expect a trainee to change from one day to another. For that reason the participants to the meeting discussed what they can do together to contribute even more to the steps to be taken after training has taken place. Most likely, ITC-ILO and DECP will work together on further improvement of their activities and integrate training and programmes even more then they did before.

A concrete activity calendar for 2020 was the result of this very fruitful meeting, starting with a joint cross-cutting training in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on negotiation skills in February. To be continued!