DevTech is tasked with undertaking two performance evaluations of projects funded by the Department of Labor’s Office of Trade and Labor Affairs under the Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
The evaluations will focus on three projects implemented by the Solidarity Center in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. DevTech will analyze cross-cutting learning garnered from the three projects around the themes of intersectional equality and inclusion, capacity-building of workers and workers’ organizations, engagement between workers, governments, and the private sector, use of leverage points and collective action. The projects to be evaluated are:
- Strengthening Workers’ Ability to Exercise their Labor Rights in Mexico
This project aims to build the capacity of workers, support worker engagement and organizing, and strengthen democratic worker organizations in the aerospace, mining, and call center industries, such that they become protagonists in fulfilling the potential of Mexico’s historic labor reform. The project offers workers and their organizations expert technical assistance, ongoing skills development, and pro bono advisory and legal services. Additionally, the project creates spaces for analysis, exchange, reflection, and the development of recommendations to improve labor law reform implementation.
- Building an Independent & Democratic Labor Movement to Protect Worker Rights in Mexico
The objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity of unions to organize by legitimizing collective bargaining agreements, supporting internal leadership elections, building partnerships, and providing independent unions with legal support and training for lawyers.
- Improving Respect for Workers’ Rights in Agricultural Supply Chains in Honduras and Guatemala, and the Maquila Sector in El Salvador
This project, implemented by the Solidarity Center, aims to improve workers’ rights in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador by supporting workers’ organizations in the banana, melon, palm oil, and pineapple sectors in Honduras; the banana and palm oil sectors in Guatemala; and in the garments (maquila) sector in El Salvador. Specifically, the project aims to increase collective action of workers; improve effectiveness of worker organizations to train, represent and advocate for workers; and improve effective engagement by workers and worker organizations with government officials and employers to negotiate, address and resolve worker rights concerns.
