From Care Work to Climate Jobs: How Local Action is Powering Global Progress on Decent Work
Across continents and communities, people are rising to meet one of the most urgent challenges of our time: how to ensure that everyone, especially youth, women, and vulnerable groups, has access to quality jobs.
With leadership from UN Resident Coordinators, UN Country Teams are working together to support national initiatives, turning the ambitions of the Pact for the Future into real progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, which translates into solutions that transform the lives of the people we serve on the ground.
At this year’s High-Level Political Forum, countries presenting their Voluntary National Reviews share how they are making change happen through national leadership, local innovation, strong partnerships and integrated UN support. From strengthening care systems to building greener homes, these efforts reflect a common purpose: creating decent work and better lives for all.
Bangladesh: Future-proofing the workforce
In Bangladesh, the future of work is not a far-off ideal; it is a rapidly unfolding reality.
With support from the UN, the government has overhauled its employment framework, launching a revised National Employment Policy and a new Directorate of Employment. The goal: more formal jobs, more inclusion, and better alignment with the demands of a fast-moving economy.
The impact is visible on the ground. Women in Cox’s Bazar are learning agricultural and entrepreneurial skills at resilience centres. Job fairs match persons with disabilities with employers. The RCO is bringing together UN-wide expertise to help revise Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) policies, unlock financing, and support small business growth.
Demonstrating inclusive development in practice; efforts co-designed with the private sector, backed by donors like the EU, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, and centred on the rights and potential of every person.
Another standout is“Futurenation,” a youth skills programme co-led by UNDP and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and funded by Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone network, GrameenPhone. With 130,000 young people already trained, it’s bridging education and employment, especially for women and marginalised communities.
El Salvador: Making the invisible visible
For generations, women in El Salvador have carried the weight of unpaid care; quietly, tirelessly and without recognition. Now, that’s changing.
The country is rolling out one of the region’s most progressive care economy reforms: the National Policy for the Shared Responsibility of Care (2022–2030), which signals a structural shift. It aims to redistribute care work between families, the state and society while integrating it into El Salvador’s labour and economic frameworks.
Backed by UN Women, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) the policy went from pages to pavements. It made a statement that care work is real work. And when it’s counted, valued, and paid, it creates pathways to economic independence for women everywhere. But unlocking its full potential will require one more critical ingredient: financing to scale services and create formal jobs in care.
Iraq: Building homes and a new economy
In Mosul, a construction site hums with activity. The process moves beyond bricks and mortar to rebuilding lives and an economy after years of crisis.
Iraq faces a housing shortage of over 3 million units. But with the EU-funded Building Equitable and Inclusive Transformation (BEIT) programme, jointly led by UN-Habitat, ILO, and International Trade Centre (ITC), the country is turning that gap into a springboard for jobs, sustainability, and social inclusion.
With coordination led by the Resident Coordinator, BEIT is delivering climate-smart vocational training, launching green innovation hubs, and supporting SMEs in the construction sector. Iraq now has its first modular training curriculum for green construction. And the country’s new National Housing Policy places job creation at its core.
In just one year, BEIT is showing that housing can do more than shelter; it can power recovery, climate action and decent work.
Kyrgyzstan: Migration comes full circle
For many Kyrgyz families, migration was a necessity. Now, it’s an opportunity.
Through the Mekenim 1+1 matching grant programme, returnees are investing in their home communities, launching greenhouse farms, food businesses, and micro-enterprises with support from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and government partners. Their savings are matched through grants and backed by training in entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
The Resident Coordinator helped bring ministries and UN actors into alignment, making return migration part of Kyrgyzstan’s national development strategy. It is an important reminder that migration isn’t just about departure, it’s about return, renewal, and reinvestment in local futures.
Saint Lucia: Skills, security, and second chances
At a training centre tucked into the hills of Saint Lucia, students in crisp uniforms prep gourmet dishes in a gleaming new kitchen. They are part of the first graduating class of a UN-backed hospitality and catering programme—and for many, it’s the first step into formal employment.
With youth unemployment at 25 per cent and concerns over rising crime, Saint Lucia is urgently investing in young people. In partnership with the Centre for Adolescent Renewal and Education (C.A.R.E.), the government and UN launched vocational training tailored to the country’s labour market needs.
The initiative, supported by ILO, the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, and the European Union (EU), was part of a wider citizen security effort coordinated by Resident Coordinator Simon Springett. And it’s already changing lives.
At the same time, Saint Lucia is walking the talk. As one of only two countries to ratify all ILO core conventions, it is putting workers’ rights, youth protection and safety at the centre of national progress.
South Africa: Youth in the driver’s seat
In South Africa, more than 65 per cent of youth are either out of work or out of school. But they are not sitting still; they are taking charge.
Generation Unlimited South Africa (GenU SA) is helping to flip the script. With support from BMW, PwC, GIZ, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research—and led by the RCO and UNDP, the initiative has trained nearly 640 unemployed youth in digital skills, upskilled nearly 300 young workers, and empowered nearly 3,000 new entrepreneurs.
The YoMobi platform now reaches over 16,000 youth, and the momentum is building. A new Higher Education Innovation Fund is transforming the country’s vast Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college network into engines for job creation and economic inclusion.
Behind the scenes, the Resident Coordinator has brought together national ministries, private sector actors, and civil society to anchor this work in national planning and policy frameworks. The result: an ecosystem of opportunity for young people, beyond job seekers, towards being innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs.
Decent work, real impact
From care policies to climate jobs, from migrant entrepreneurship to youth-led innovation, these efforts show that decent work is more than a development goal; it is a lever for lasting change.
And when communities lead, governments act, and the UN system provides coordinated support, that change moves faster, deeper and wider, touching lives, opening doors and proving that the future of work can be fair, green and inclusive.
