
Welcome to our global community of worker educators!
Our Aim
IFWEA is building a global knowledge community. We facilitate global co-operation between worker educators so as to advance the frontiers of knowledge, education methodology and practice. Our beneficiaries are democratic worker organisations promoting freedom, justice and equality for all.
- Join us here for the annual Youth Globalisation Awareness Programme (YGAP) running now
- Would you like to participate in IFWEA’s Foundation Skills for Social Change (FSSC) Certificate Programme? click here
- View Foundation Skills Courses for 2018
- Visit our Online Resource Centre to search and share education and training materials here
- Become an affiliate of IFWEA – click here
- View the courses available on the Online Labour Academy (OLA) here
IFWEA e-bulletin Issue 43
Latest Affiliate News

The Global Labour University (GLU) – a network of trade unions, universities, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the ILO – invites trade unionists and labour activists to apply for its Masters’ Programmes in Germany, India and the USA. The Masters’ programmes focus on policies for social justice including global governance, international labour standards, development, economics, trade and multinational enterprises. Trade unionists with a trade union recommendation letter can apply for scholarships. For details, click on the links below…
▶️ Master of Arts (MA) in Development and Labour Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India Application deadline: 1 February 2019. Contact: glu.jnu@gmail.com. Application deadline only applicable to non-Indians (foreign students), who can apply for a scholarship by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
▶️ Masters in Professional Studies (MPS) in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights at Penn State University, USA Application deadline: 1 March 2019. Contact: lgwr@psu.edu
▶️Master of Arts (MA) in “Labour Policies and Globalisation” at the Berlin School of Economics and Law/the University of Kassel in Germany. Application deadline: 1 March 2019. Contact: glu.germany@uni-kassel.de

▷ GLOBAL – IFWEA 2018 ACTIVITY REPORT by General Secretary (GS) Sahra Ryklief and Secretariat Team
from the report by the GS:
▶️ read the Activity, Education, Research and Communication Reports

read the profile here

Sibailly’s Maximilien Douhouré shares his journey from telecommunications engineer, to working across Africa and the globe. ▶️ read the profile

GLOBAL – SOUTH AFRICA: YGAP 2018 theme: “Popular Not Populist – Make Your Voices Heard” The programme took place in Cape Town from 4th to 27th October 2018 – participants came from Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Finland, Ghana, India, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, Uganda, USA, Zimbabwe. ▶️ Check out: our photo and video updates of activities during the programme on the YGAP 2018 Page ▶️ View: information about the programme and facilitators who took part here ▶️ Watch: the multi-media “Postcards” produced by YGAP 2018 groups chronicling their experience on IFWEA’s You Tube channel ▶️ Read: YGAP 2018 REFLECTIONS from UNI Africa’s Elisabeth Neh Zama and Jane Katusabe


Juan Carlos Vargas, IFWEA Vice-President, pays tribute to colleagueNelly Ascencio at Programa Laboral de Desarrollo – PLADES. click here to read the tribute

ZIMBABWE -ZCIEA Educator Profile: Wisborn Malaya


Taking place in Berlin, Germany , from 27 – 29 March 2019 Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2018 GLU wants to invite labour activists and academics to contribute to the global discourse on what kinds of new global rules are necessary, what role the ILO is expected to play in a system of global governance, and how we can strengthen international labour solidarity to obtain the rules needed. click here to read more

- Winners: Jeffy Tangwena from ZCIEA, Zimbabwe and Varinia Rendón Martínez from CENAC Bolivia
- Runner up: Amar Sharate from Streetnet Asia, India and Sreyleak Loeung from IDEA Cambodia

GLOBAL – SOUTH AFRICA IFWEA SECRETARIAT:
Introducing Renaldi Prinsloo – Educator & Online Curriculum Developer
Renaldi Prinsloo joined IFWEA’s Secretariat office in July, working along with Saliem Patel in Education Programmes. She tells us about her background, her passion for education and it’s power for change for the individual and society.



SOUTH AFRICA – AFIT Educator Profile “Denile Samuel: Using Workers’ Forum Theatre”

SWEDEN – ABF and ZIMBABWE – PATSIME: Global Solidarity Education Project “Workplace Wellness”

GLOBAL – UK: “IN COMMEMORATION OF ROBERT LOCHRIE: Educator, and colleague in WEA UK and Scotland and IFWEA”

USA – “U.S. IMMIGRANT YOUTH AT A CROSSROADS” by Kent Wong , Director, UCLA Labor Center
“DACA has been a lifeline for immigrant youth. It enables them to no longer live in fear of deportation, and allows them to use their experience and education to legally work and contribute to the US. Having DACA has meant, on average, a 40 percent increase in wages, as immigrant youth are no longer forced to work exclusively in the underground economy, where exploitation and abuse are rampant.”
- read the rest of the article and get links to videos about UCLA Labor Center’s Dream Summer Program here

GLOBAL – IFWEA 2017 ACTIVITY REPORT by General Secretary Sahra Ryklief
Rounding off the report, the General Secretary says: “To all the IFWEA organisations who paid their affiliation fees; put forward their leaders to participate on the Executive Committee; contributed to the Secretariat directly through solidarity fee contributions; through strategic advice and dialogue; through fundraising for our project work; through information dissemination; through project activities … I thank you.” For a review of IFWEA’s work in 2017, with reflections as well as strategy for 2018, click below.
- read the report here
SOUTH AFRICA – “IN TRIBUTE TO MIKE LOUW, EDUCATOR”

- IFWEA’s Programme Manager Saliem Patel wrote this poem as a tribute to Mike Louw here
IFWEA WELCOMES NEW AFFILIATES INAESIN, SUNDERBY FOLKHÖGSKOLA AND ZCIEA

Introducing our new affiliates – firstly INAESIN which is the Instituto de Altos Estudios Sindicales in Venezuela for trade union higher education. Secondly from Sweden we are joined by Sunderby Folkhögskola the public education institution, and from Zimbabwe, ZCIEA – the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Education Associations.
- read more about the organisations here
ZIMBABWE – FOUNDATION SKILLS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE PROGRAMME by PATSIME TRUST “Worker Activism through the use of theatre within the workplace environment”

The course was designed by Patsimeredu Edutainment Trust and facilitated by Jasen Mphepo with 22 participants – 11 male and 11 female – representing three workers unions which are Zimbabwe Domestic and Allied Workers Union [ZDAWU], Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations [ZCIEA] and the Commercial Workers Union in Zimbabwe [CWUZ].
- read more about the course here
GLOBAL – SOUTH AFRICA: 6th ANNUAL Youth Globalisation Awareness Programme (YGAP)

IFWEA’s 6th annual YGAP programme took place during October. The programme is run by the IFWEA Secretariat based at Community House in Cape Town. This year the young worker educators came from organisations based in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Colombia, Venezuela, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Finland.
- read more about the course activity / watch Postcards here
WATCH VIDEO: INDIA – FOUNDATION SKILLS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE (FSSC) CERTIFICATE PROGRAMME: Women’s Leadership” Course by Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)

SEWA’s Indian Academy for Self Employed Women (IASEW) completed the Women’s Leadership course with dedicated participants and a certificate ceremony. “Learning the online platform was new to all so excitement was high”, said Director of IASEW and IFWEA Vice President Namrata Bali.
- read more and watch the video IASEW produced of their learning journey here

ASIA: SOLIDARITY VISIT “BUILDING THE GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY OF WORKER EDUCATORS”
IFWEA’s Programme Manager Saliem Patel travelled in September , meeting affiliates and associates including the International Domestic Workers’ Federation (IDWF), the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers’ Unions (FADWU), IndustriAll, and Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI).
- to follow the activities of IFWEA members join the global community on Facebook here for regular updates

GLOBAL – UK: IN COMMEMORATION OF RODNEY BICKERSTAFFE by Sahra Ryklief
“Not every union leader can say they were loved. But Rodney was loved by everyone.” Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Frances O’Grady.
Rodney Bickerstaffe died on 3rd October 2017. He served many years as President of the Global Network, a network of labour rights civil society organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, aimed at fostering alliances between trade unions and other civil society organisations towards building capacity around labour rights at a grassroots level.
- read the commemoration here

PAKISTAN – Gender Equity For Trade Unions by Labour Education Foundation (LEF) Designed By Director Khalid Mahmood – Facilitated By Educators Shahnaz Iqbal And Nosheen Amjad
This capacity building training was 3 days over 3 weeks, and was attended by 23 trade union members (15 men, 8 women) from 12 different organisations in Lahore Pakistan. The participants expected to learn about gender equality, gender roles, the situation of home based workers and rights of men and women.
- read more about the course activity here
GALLERY






IFWEA
International Federation of Workers Education Association (IFWEA) address: Labour Research Service (LRS), Community House , 41 Salt River Road, Salt River 7925, Cape Town South Africa
postal address: P.O. Box 376 Woodstock 7915 Cape Town South Africa
telephone: + 27 21 486 1115
fax: +27 21 447 9244
email: ifweasecretariat@lrs.org.za
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