The Office of Foreign Relations manages a robust international
cooperation program to assist developing and transition countries to: 1) adhere to
internationally recognized core labor standards and acceptable conditions of work; 2) provide
effective skills training and employment services to dislocated workers and unemployed youth;
and 3) combat the spread of HIV/AIDS through workplace-based prevention education
programs.
Since 2000, OFR has committed $186.5 million in funds to assist 72
countries in the three areas above. As required by the Trade Act of 2002, its programs are
increasingly targeted at strengthening the capacity of U.S. trading partners to protect the
fundamental rights of workers and to effectively enforce their national labor laws. At the
same time, the economic opportunities provided by more open trade and investment regimes also
present new challenges to governments to address the needs of workers for retraining and job
placement assistance in a more dynamic labor market. In this regard, OFR also funds programs
to assist governments to deliver more effective training and employment services to
jobseekers.
The technical cooperation programs of OFR are designed with the full
participation of foreign governments and key representatives of employer and worker
organizations to ensure they respond effectively to the priority needs of the country and
obtain the necessary buy-in from stakeholders. OFR also works closely with other U.S.
Government (USG) agencies such as the State Department, U.S. Agency for International
Development, and United States Trade Representative, to ensure that its programs fully support
the broader U.S. foreign policy objectives, and complement the efforts of other USG assistance
efforts.
OFR takes seriously the need for accountability. To that end, it has developed
an extensive performance management system to hold each project accountable for tangible, human
impact level results. Every project has clear, well-defined objectives, the achievement of
which are measured and tracked systematically.
