Young Workers and the Future of Trade Unions in Africa

Active and meaningful participation of young workers in trade unions remains critical and essential to trade union revitalisation and transformation. In 2022, ACTRAV-Turin organised the first phase of a 5-weeks online course titled ‘Young Workers and Trade Union Revitalisation’ from 14 November to 16 December 2022. The course brought together young workers in leadership positions in various trade unions in Africa. The course provided the platform for the young leaders to share and learn implementable, innovative and transformative strategies to ensure more young workers participation and retention in trade unions. It also focused on how to ensure young workers presence in the union’s governance structure, thereby closing the union-youth gap. It also introduced the young leaders to the strategic foresight and scenario mapping and methodologies to enhance young workers participation and engagement in trade unions, as well as translating possible future into current priorities and strategies. As a follow-up to the online training held in 2022, and in building up from the knowledge and experiences gained by the young leaders, the five-day blended training course (Phase two) was designed to further equip the young leaders with concrete methods to support them in scenario planning, forecasting, visioning and strategic actions required in an uncertain future world of work and in their trade union work. The course also aimed at strengthening the capacities of the young trade union leaders to be able to deal with the profound changes in the labour market as they relate to young workers, technological change and digitalisation, climate change and just transition. OBJECTIVES This training aimed at strengthening and supporting young leaders in trade unions to undertake strategic foresight and scenario mapping in order to increase young workers participation and engagement in trade unions, including translating possible future scenarios into current priorities and strategies. Specifically, the training aimed at enabling participants to: i. Use strategic foresight and scenario mapping tools for enhanced visibility, activism, retention and voice of young workers in trade unions; ii. Develop new (including internet-based) forms of organising, mobilisation, collective bargaining, solidarity, communication and advocacy, networking, and connections with young workers; iii. Use the different tools and methods existing to support trade unions dealing with change and reflecting about the future of work and the future of young workers participation in trade unions; iv. Develop priority trade union strategies and actions to deal with the challenge of young workers disengagement in trade unions by using the ‘trade unions in transformation’ lens; and, v. Establish a network of young leaders for continued sharing, learning from, and replicating successful trade union initiatives, strategies in promoting young workers involvement, and meaningful participation in trade unions including governance structures. CONTENT The course covered the following topical areas: (i) strategic thinking and foresight methods and tools such as scenario planning, forecasting, visioning, horizon scanning, and stress-testing to imagine the future of key dimensions of the labour market and young workers in trade unions; (ii) back-casting and action planning, and translating possible future scenarios into current priorities and strategies; and, (iii) historical achievements of the trade unions in Africa. Learners spent an average of 40 learning hours to complete the course. ECAMPUS The online phase of the course was delivered via the eCampus. The eCampus is the education platform of the International Training Centre of the ILO. It was used to distribute course information, training material, learning tasks, exchanges of good practices and experiences, feedback and multimedia content.