In this post, Raza Abbas from the Career Guidance and Social Justice Editorial Board interviews Pedro Moreno Da Fonseca from the International Labour Organisation. They discuss global careers month, social justice and the particular challenges of low- and middle-income countries.

Global careers month

Raza: You were a key organiser behind the first Global Careers Month. Can you explain what this was about?

Pedro: Global Careers Month provides a platform for global cooperation on the field of career guidance, by linking practice, research and policy cooperation. Very significantly, it is an initiative that is mostly led by careers associations, that provide an insight into diverse realities of practice.

Given the scale of the initiative, it provides very strong visibility to career guidance, allowing its value to be better understood by a large audience. Due to the fact that it’s promoted by a wide range of international agencies with complementarities in scope, this message reaches into all key policy areas, such as education, training, employment, industrial policy or social protection.

It also allows to shine a light on the specificity of challenges that exist in each region and national reality. Countries differ a lot in terms of culture, administration, demography, economic specialisation and the degree of economic informality, that require distinct approaches in terms of delivery and system development. Participants are also being able to showcase specific solutions, methodologies, tools and relevant research pieces. Hopefully this will be consolidated into stable cooperation and exchange.

Raza: Based on the first Global Career Month, how can we continue to build cross cultural dialogues around career guidance?

Pedro: The level of activity during Global Careers Month exceeded our expectations. I think one of the important reasons for that success is the fact that there was a genuine attempt to voice local concerns and provide visibility to local solutions and realities. In moving forward, it will be important to promote stable cooperation to expand policy and research work that acknowledges of local challenges and understandings of work and careers and is informed by international exchanges.

Promotion of exchange spaces and a global community of practice that gathers the international institutions with international and regional careers organisations will be important. This community may cooperate on many levels, including data gathering, exchange of practices or standard development. Promoting local and regional networks, as well as collating, generating and curating a critical mass of methodologies and tools. The inter-agency group provides a natural point of engagement for this type of cooperation.

The agencies also develop activity that should, to the extent possible, mobilise multi-stakeholder platforms. One important example of this work is ILO’s Global Strategy for Skills and Lifelong Learning that will support its constituents to develop lifelong learning systems up to 2030. This is a strategy discussed and agreed in the tripartite environment of the International Labour Conference, thus reflecting views of both governments and important sectors of civil society. The strategy also reflects the views of constituents from all global regions and clearly acknowledges a key role for career guidance. Continued cooperation under the strategy will certainly bear fruit in many areas, mobilising important technical and financial assets.

On social justice

Raza: How do you understand social justice and its relevance for career guidance?

Pedro: The promotion of social justice is directly linked to the reduction of inequalities, enhanced learning, decent employment opportunities for all, and stronger social protection. While guidance obviously cannot address such large challenges on its own, it can be a key component in more comprehensivestrategies, that promote employment security, provide financial incentives and other types of support.

Career guidance can influence both professional and job mobility, illuminating horizontal and ascending pathways to decent employment. It has a strong role in empowering individuals in identifying and acting upon learning choices and career opportunities, influencing access to skills in demand. It can also act on the development of skills, knowledge and attitudes that influence acquisition of social and cultural capitals, by for example, promoting professional networking and self-awareness.

Career guidance can have an important role in helping low skilled workers, workers in informal contexts, domestic workers, migrants and vulnerable youth access career opportunities. This will be especially important to bring forth a just transition to a greener and digital rich economy, that is employment saving and enhances opportunities for all, rather than amplifying existing inequalities. It is also important to mention that beyond career opportunities, career guidance also promotes self-esteem, personal dignity and a sense of agency that enable individuals to pursue meaningful targets in life, other than work and careers.

Social justice is a shared responsibility and its advocacy as well. Governments have important missions aimed at promoting equal opportunities and curbing socioeconomic inequalities, that should be developed in cooperation with social partners. While social justice is not the sole purpose of career guidance, it can clearly play a relevant role in its promotion and advocacy. Career guidance professionals can undertake advocacy roles, especially on behalf of vulnerable beneficiaries. Careers associations can increase the visibility of the needs of the most vulnerable near to their associates as well of methodologies and tools to address them. Careers associations can also voice the role of career guidance before policy makers and asocial partners as an enabler of greater social impacts at policy level, especially for vulnerable individuals and groups.   

Raza: What can countries do to support effective career guidance?

Pedro: Many countries are making efforts to develop lifelong learning systems that mobilise a plethora of ministries, training institutions, workers’ and employers’ organisations, and other civil society organisations. This turn to lifelong learning invites greater integration across policy fields and, in potential, a possibility to increase access of vulnerable groups to learning and decent work. It also displays the opportunity to promote wide social understanding and solidarity in the pursuit of a better future.

The integration of career guidance in incentives to learning, active labour market policies, social protection schemes, outreach initiatives and workplace interventions, among others can increase their social impacts. As also briefly mentioned, it is important that initiatives aimed at promoting a just transition incorporate career guidance, to assist workers and enterprises in their efforts to skill, reskill and adapt within a job-saving logic.

It’s also important that career guidance can be more consistently adapted to local realities, in outreach activities and community-based interventions. One role can be played in the upgrading of traditional learning systems, in which apprentices can use career guidance support to explore possibilities to upskill, access qualifications and formalise small businesses. Another interesting example is the support to domestic workers and in particular women, who can see their experience recognised and search for training that can provide access to decent work and social protection.

Working in low—and middle-income countries

Raza: Can you share your perspective on careers work in low and middle income specifically?

Pedro: Low- and middle-income countries have distinct environments from high income countries and are themselves extremely diversified. There is enormous cultural variability that is associated with different understandings of the role and value of work and the concept of career may not have the same validity. People may be led to undertake specific roles in their families and communities that limit their opportunity structures and perceptions. We know this especially true for women and young girls in many countries and therefore understand the need to promote cultural and gender sensitive approaches.

The weight of the informal economy also tends to be much higher. It’s not infrequent that a large share the young population is pushed to or prefers to learn and work in the informal economy. While career guidance can intervene in informal environments it requires a specific type of delivery and alignment with, for example, interventions aimed at promoting income generating employment and enhancing social protection. Another point of divergence tends to be the fact that there is higher population growth and younger populations.

Career guidance systems in themselves may be very under-develop or non-existent. Countries may not have a solid public employment service and absence of trained practitioners is not unusual. There may also be a very weak basis for the development of career information, which also compromises service delivery. Approaches to career development support need to be progressive, in many environments, departing from existing initiatives, cooperation between governments and civil society organisations, as well as donor support. Capacity will necessarily be developed slowly and good practices will require support for mainstreaming.

Emerging trends

Raza: What emerging trends do you think that researchers and practitioners in career guidance should focus on?

Pedro: Unfortunately, there is no shortage of challenges to focus on, at the moment, but they also may constitute opportunities for career guidance and other skills related fields to evolve.

The pressure created by digital transformation is clear and is impacting most workplaces. Uncovering pathways to re-skilling to widen and change functions or move jobs for mid-career workers has become a priority. To some extent this transition will be supported by the emergence of micro-credentials, that are not necessarily easy to navigate for learners who do not understand their relevance, validity or connection to qualifications and job opportunities. Guidance will definitely have a role to play there.

I think that it will also be important to pay attention to emerging skills and occupations and the fact that many of the later may be linked to non-standard forms of employment. While jobs are coming up in new activities linked to the environment, digital economy and creativity, many of them are developed as temporary work in the ‘gig economy’, not leading to decent employment relationships. Career guidance will need to inform young people on how to access these new activities, while coordinating with other services, to promote access to social protection and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Demographic transformations are another trend to watch. The aging of many societies, some of them curbing their previous fast growing population trend, needs to be conveniently accounted for. Not only it creates pressure for people to remain longer in work, requiring a combination of better social protection and active aging approaches in organisations, as it also sponsors greater migratory fluxes. Career guidance can very clearly be an important factor in enabling better transitions to mature career stages and retirement, as well as better migration support in host and sending countries.

A message for 2023

Raza: What message will you like to share for 2023?

Pedro: This is a period to be hopeful, solidary, and kind.

We have been crossing a difficult period, that has tested our metal as people and societies and we are still navigating a complex economic and political climate in the world, with several countries plunged in sometimes forgotten internal turmoil.

I think that it is important that in our activity we attempt to embed career guidance in policy, local services, programmes and initiatives in way that supports balanced development of communities. This integration should also promote the development of a set of attitudes that allows us to move onto more secure and cohesive societies, where responsibilities are shared and mutual promotion of one’s potential is a principle for action.