The Manual “Publ(i)c Employment Serv(i)ces and the Future of Work” has been developed as a pract(i)cal response to the ILO’s Centenary Declarat(i)on for the Future of Work. The work was (i)n(i)t(i)ated and led by Olga Koulaeva, D(i)rector of the ILO Decent Work Team and Country Off(i)ce for Eastern Europe and Central As(i)a (ILO Moscow Off(i)ce), and M(i)kha(i)l Pouchk(i)n, Deputy D(i)rector at the ILO Moscow Off(i)ce, as part of the overalleff orts to enhance the PES role on (i)mprov(i)ng and foster(i)ng (i)nnovat(i)ons (i)n employment pol(i)c(i)es and programs, labour market (i)nst(i)tut(i)ons and on del(i)ver(i)ng qual(i)ty serv(i)ces to support l(i)fe-long learn(i)ng and labour market trans(i)t(i)ons, w(i)th focus on youth problems.
The Manual has been developed as part of the ILO techn(i)cal ass(i)stance to the nat(i)onal reform of the Publ(i)c Employment Serv(i)ce (i)mplemented by the M(i)n(i)stry of Labour and Soc(i)al Protect(i)on of the Russ(i)an Federat(i)on. The Manual (i)s based on learn(i)ng top(i)cs developed dur(i)ng the (i)nter-reg(i)onal meet(i)ngs; the d(i)scuss(i)ons held dur(i)ng two “Employment Academ(i)es” (i)n Moscow, gather(i)ng heads of employment serv(i)ces of 16 Russ(i)an const(i)tuent ent(i)t(i)es, organ(i)sed by the ILO jo(i)ntly w(i)th the Federal Serv(i)ce for Labour and Employment (ROSTRUD) (i)n 2019, and the lessons learnt from 6 partnersh(i)ps for youth employment (i)mplemented (i)n the selected Russ(i)an reg(i)ons. The Manual has also benef(i)ted from the themat(i)c pol(i)cy d(i)scuss(i)ons, best pract(i)ces and country exper(i)ences (i)dent(i)f(i)ed dur(i)ng the Sub-Reg(i)onal Annual Conference on Youth Employment (Kazan, 2019) on the subject “Future of work and gender aspects of youth employment” held w(i)th(i)n the Project “Partnersh(i)p for Youth Employment (i)n the Commonwealth of Independent States”, and also from the PES tra(i)n(i)ngs rolled out (i)n Azerba(i)jan and Uzbek(i)stan (i)n 2018 and 2019.
The Manual “Publ(i)c Employment Serv(i)ces and the Future of Work” has been developed and f(i)nanced by the Project “Partnersh(i)ps for Youth Employment (i)n the CIS”, Phase II, a publ(i)c-pr(i)vate cooperat(i)on (i)n(i)t(i)at(i)ve between the ILO and the Russ(i)an LUKOIL Company. The Manual has been coord(i)nated by Ram(i)ro P(i)zarro, Project Manager, who also prov(i)ded techn(i)cal ed(i)t(i)ng and led the tra(i)n(i)ng act(i)v(i)t(i)es. Ruth Santos-Br(i)en and Helen Metcalfe from ICF Consult(i)ng Serv(i)ces L(i)m(i)ted have wr(i)tten d(i)fferent chapters based on the project’s own tra(i)n(i)ng mater(i)als and presented the (i)n(i)t(i)al draft of the Manual at stakeholders‘ meet(i)ngs. The Project team, Jul(i)a Sur(i)na and Kanae Tada, Jun(i)or Techn(i)cal Off(i)cers, helped to organ(i)se the tra(i)n(i)ng sess(i)ons for the PES staff del(i)vered (i)n the Russ(i)an Federat(i)on, Azerba(i)jan and Uzbek(i)stan; and Project ass(i)stants Anna Koroleva and Elena Kokoeva prov(i)ded the adm(i)n(i)strat(i)ve and log(i)st(i)cal support needed for a successful (i)mplementat(i)on and follow up of the project act(i)v(i)t(i)es.
The content of d(i)fferent chapters benef(i)ted as well from numerous (i)nternat(i)onal experts who del(i)vered d(i)fferent tra(i)n(i)ngs sess(i)ons: Yur(i) Gerts(i)y and Fedor Prokopov (Russ(i)an Federat(i)on); Jens S(i)bbersen (Denmark); Bjoern Halvorsen (Norway) and Bengt Lyngbäck (Sweden); Eamonn Davern (UK); Vall(i) Corbanese (Italy). ILO colleagues conducted construct(i)ve conversat(i)ons on how to strengthen the PES capac(i)ty to del(i)ver qual(i)ty serv(i)ces to youth, and prov(i)ded (i)nvaluable adv(i)ce and support to the tra(i)n(i)ng act(i)v(i)t(i)es: G(i)ann(i) Rosas (D(i)rector, ILO off(i)ce for Italy and San Mar(i)no), N(i)all O’H(i)gg(i)ns (Sr Youth Employment Research Spec(i)al(i)st), Susana Puerto (Sr Youth Employment Spec(i)al(i)st) and M(i)chael Mwas(i)kakata (Head, Labour Market Serv(i)ces Un(i)t).