According to World Health Organisation figures, 500 children are killed each day in road crashes globally. In a bid to raise awareness of this road safety crisis, Jean Todt, President of the FIA, the international motoring federation, and Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Road Safety, turned to world renowned film director Luc Besson to deliver a potent visual message highlighting the dangers facing children around the world!

 Sign the Child Declaration for Road Safety ! http://www.savekidslives2015.org/#sig…

Make It Happen is the 2015 theme for our internationalwomensday.com global hub, encouraging effective action for advancing and recognising women.

Each year International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911. Thousands of events occur to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organisations, governments, charities, educational institutions, women’s groups, corporations and the media celebrate the day.

Source: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/theme.asp#.VPg9V_nF86p

During 2013 the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) lead a research project that aims at analysing the emergence of “contract welfare” in eight EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. MUBE official Mr Stefan Attard Biancardi represented the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions – CMTU during the final Conference held in Brussels recently.

The project concentrates on Voluntary Occupational Welfare (VOW). It aims at evaluating the current state of play and at gaining a view of the challenges ahead.

VOW is provided by social partners and received by employees as a result of their employment. The project mainly concentrated on three core policies: Health Care, Reconciliation of Work/Life balance, and Training/Pensions. Partnership with 8 research institutes has allowed for the compilation of data over a period of 1year.

Project Objectives:-

1. To monitor Voluntary Occupational Welfare (VOW).
2. To analyse interaction between VOW, statutory welfare state & industrial relations systems.
3. To inform social partners

Challenge:-

VOW is a relatively new topic therefore data and information is very limited.  The project allowed for the formal commencement of:

• Literature reviews
• 8 country reports which gave an initial feel of the current scenario on the topic.

During the final conference the research teams presented the core findings and policy implications of the research, which aimed to ascertain whether and how supplementary welfare benefits are increasingly provided through collective bargaining, or unilaterally by employers. Lead academics, (EU and national) stakeholders and policymakers provided feedback and participated in the discussions.

For more info click on: http://www.ose.be/prowelfare/

The conference took place in Esher, London in April 2013, with more than 100 participants from academia, enterprise and trade unions, representing 32 countries including Brazil, South Africa and Japan. They focused on tackling the skills shortage, building organising among P&M workers and unions, and received practical training to promote the essential role of P&M workers. Delegates adopted a ‘manifesto for ethical P&M workers in employment’ which builds a union culture to safeguard workers’ rights on health and safety, whistle-blowing in collective agreements, and lifelong learning.

Rapidly and surely the world is getting older.  In 2000, for the first time in history, there were more people over age 60 than children below age 5.  The number and proportion of older persons is growing faster than any other age group, and will surpass 1 billion people in less than 10 years, an increase of close to 200 million people over the decade. Today two out of three people aged 60 or over live in developing countries. By 2050, this will rise to nearly four in five.

Ageing is now occurring fastest in the developing world, which has limited resources and plans to deal with this unprecedented demographic trend.

The older generation – which includes caregivers, voters, teachers, volunteers, entrepreneurs, leaders and more – represents a growing reservoir of talent and experience that can be tapped to reap a ‘longevity dividend’.

This new report published by the UN and HelpAge calls for new approaches to dealing with healthcare, workforce and retirement issues, living arrangements and intergenerational relations.  This will help countries to harness the potential benefits and minimize the disruption that ageing will bring.

To view the report please follow the link below: http://unfpa.org/ageingreport/