DfID: Labour Standards and Poverty Reduction

In May 2004, the Department for International Development issued a strategy for decent work in development, Labour standards and poverty reduction. It was developed in consultation with unions in Britain, the global south and internationally, as well as with progressive NGOs, academics and employers. The strategy set out the importance of decent work for international development, and identified a number of practical steps that DFID and unions could take. The TUC-led Decent Work Forum, a place where progressive development actors could meet to discuss key challenges, was an early positive outcome.

The document is sadly no longer available from the government’s DFID website, and the TUC audit of DFID decent work policies issued in 2012 (A decent job?) showed how far DFID had retreated on the issue. With decent work back on the international development agenda due to growing concerns about inequality, and likely to be a much bigger part of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals than it was of the original Millennium Development Goals, the DFID strategy is as relevant now as it ever was, although it could be in need of updating.