'Comply & Win' Success Building Government Labor Inspection Capacity   

Project Comply & Win partners convene Sept. 12 in San Jose, Costa Rica to discuss project impacts

October 2012 

Snapshot from the event. From left: Dr. Fernando Malespín, Advisor to the Ministry of Labor in Nicaragua; Ana Aslan, USDOL; Alfonso Carro, Advisor to the Ministry of Labor in Costa Rica; and Yolanda Brenes, SAI Lead Trainer.

Governments play a key role in enforcing the labor laws that establish the minimum for decent work. However, lack of resources and access to training and technical assistance can limit their capacity to carry out inspections. In  Project Comply and Win, the goal was to build the capacities of 5 Central American labor ministries to conduct quality inspections that emphasize root causes analysis of labor violations and more preventative approaches.  

On September 12, 2012, Project Comply and Win, a project of the U.S. Department of Labor led by FUNDPADEM since 2003, convened a meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica to present on project impacts in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Since 2008, SAI has participated in this project as an implementing partner, led by SAI Lead Trainer Yolanda Brenes who helped to train over 500 labor inspectors -- over 100 in each country.   

The project concluded this year; however the training materials and protocols developed will sustain the impact of the program in each project country as they continue to be used by the partner organizations, on the topics listed below:  

  • Labor Inspectors Code of Ethics (Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica)
  • Inspection protocol on Freedom of Association & Collective Bargaining Rights (Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador)
  • Inspection Manual on Occupational Safety & Health (Guatemala)  
  • Judicial Study on Termination of Contracts (El Salvador)
  • Inspection Protocol for the Agricultural Sector (Dominican Republic, Guatemala)
  • Inspection Protocol on Remuneration (Dominican Republic)
  • Labor inspection training on best practices for verification and investigation (Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic)

Two additional achievements were the project's ability to facilitate cooperation and convene and consult stakeholders. Two specific examples are:

1) The Labor Inspector Code of Ethics for El Salvador was adopted by the Ministry of Labor with support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); and
2) Dominican agricultural producers and workers' rights organizations cooperated with labor inspectors in developing an Agricultural Inspections Protocol.  

For more information, please visit www.sa-intl.org/complyandwin. For inquiries, please contact SAI Lead Trainer Yolanda Brenes - Ybrenes@sa-intl.org.    

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