WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its intent to award approximately $8 million for a technical assistance project to improve workplace safety and health conditions in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and provide workers greater access to social protection.

Administered by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, this funding opportunity will finance a project that is part of a $20 million commitment to promote respect for and compliance with labor rights in the region. This program is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Root Causes of Migration Strategy.

The project will establish sustainable occupational safety and health systems and model interventions for safe and healthy working conditions in the agricultural and apparel/textile sectors. The project will focus on injuries and illnesses, including chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes and the coronavirus, in the agricultural sectors in Guatemala and Honduras. The project will also address injuries and the coronavirus in El Salvador’s  “maquila” sector. The aim is for vulnerable workers and families to increase access to existing social protection systems while unions and government institutions become more prepared for future pandemics, illnesses and injuries.

The administration’s Root Causes strategy recognizes that decent work and the promotion of labor rights foster inclusive economic growth. Through ILAB, the department will use its mandate to advance labor rights compliance in the region, and engage workers, worker organizations, civil society organizations, women’s empowerment organizations and other organizations in the U.S., El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to further this strategy and to inform future programming.

ILAB seeks to strengthen global labor standards, enforce trading partners’ labor commitments, promote racial and gender equity, and combat child labor abuses, forced labor and human trafficking.

Learn more about the funding opportunity.