ESRC IAA project: Improving access to information on workers’ rights in a developing country

The proposed project seeks to facilitate the communication of workers’ rights and general labour regulations in a diverse workforce. The idea originates from findings of an 18-months Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project funded by UKRI in 2020 (£199K), and a knowledge exchange (KE) activity (£2.2K) conducted in March/April 2023. Findings from the former project showed that both migrant and local workers had limited information on their rights, often leading to abuse and precarious working conditions (https://qlifeworkmauritius.com/). The 2023 internally funded KE project springboarded a series of workshops with public, private and third sector organisations, via the support of the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC) and trade unions under the Confédération des Travailleurs des Secteurs Publique et Privé (CTSP). An important realisation was the need for better communication of workers’ rights and labour regulations to workers.Thus, the main knowledge exchange activity in the proposed project is a) to co-produce a series of approximately 8-10 multilingual audio-visual clips (the product) in partnership with CTSP, b) to pilot the product with 4 employers, c) to evaluate the outcomes for workers and managers, d) to disseminate the results using case studies, and e) to explore commercialisation opportunities of the product to be rolled out to unions and employers.