ISS refresher course for NFP alumni

ISS joins hands with IPS for capacity building in 'Globalization and Labour'
The International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS) in collaboration with the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, Colombo (IPS) has recently won a grant by the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (Nuffic) to conduct a refresher course for alumni of the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) on 'Globalization and Labout: New Global Strategies to Organize Work, Impact on Labour and the Reactions of Society' in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

ISS faculty involved are Dr. Freek Schiphorst and Dr. Karin Astrid Siegmann, while Professor E.A. Ramaswamy is invited as visiting staff. Dr. Nisha Arunatilake is the course coordinator on behalf of the IPS.

The dates for the course are September 13-25, 2010.

Challenges in a globalized world of work
Governments, trade unions and other organisations representing workers or working for labour rights face challenges in traditional (collective) approaches to guarantee decent working conditions. Global economic integration with a dispersion of employment in global value chains and the accompanying increasing informalisation of labour relations has been one of the most fundamental changes in the world of work, especially in developing countries.

One of the responses of lead firms in global production systems as well as international organisations has been the development of voluntary systems of labour rights governance in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR). At the same time, policy-makers face a changed and changing world in which the coverage of traditional labour legislation is waning. Different stakeholders concerned with labour rights therefore need to build capacity regarding the transformations in the world of work triggered by economic globalization, as well as about reactions from civic society, the corporate sector and policy-makers for labour rights governance in order to assess their scope and effectiveness.

Course contents
The curriculum of the refresher course will consist of four modules:
I. Introduction: Work and National Development in a Global Context
II. Globalisation and the Transformations in the Worlds of Work
III. Reactions from Civic Society, Corporate Sector and Policy Makers
IV. Study and Field Visits (interspersed through modules II & III).

Application
ISS and IPS are inviting NFP alumni from the South and Southeast Asian region with relevant work experience and in a position to transfer acquired knowledge and skills within their organization to submit applications for the refresher course. Participation in the course will be sponsored by Nuffic. The application deadline is May 31, 2010. The selection committee will ensure that at least half of the participants are female. The application should be submitted to the Programme Administration of the ISS specialization Work, Employment and Globalization (WEG) (see contact details below). Please find the application form for the refresher course here

Contact
Ms. Tanya Kingdon
WEG Programme and Staff Group Administrator
International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS)
E-mail: kingdon@iss.nl
Phone: +31 (0)70 4260 562
Fax: +31 (0)70 4260 799

Image: Lee Pegler