The Global Labour University (GLU) and the GLU Online Academy have been creating spaces and opportunities for South-South Cooperation to prosper. ENGAGE Asia Programme is the latest outcome of South-South cooperation between the ENGAGE Programme South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) in Johannesburg and the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) in the Philippines.

The development of the curriculum of the ENGAGE Asia training programme started with exchanges of information and curriculum-related materials between Warren McGregor, Coordinator of the Global Labour University (GLU) master’s programme and the ENGAGE Programme South Africa at the WITS, and Melisa R. Serrano, Dean and Professor at UP SOLAIR. 

The ENGAGE Asia Programme is composed of six modules and follows a blended mode of learning. It is comprised of two phases—the online phase and the residential in-person phase.

Module 1: Global Governance and the Role of Labor

Module 2: Labor and Development

Module 3: Global and National Wage Policy and Finance

Module 4: Changes in the World of Work and the Transformation of trade unions

Module 5: Trade Union Capacity building

Module 6: Group Research Project

The online phase involves the completion of five GLU Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and several chapters of the online Power Resources Toolkit developed by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, that are related to the modules. There is an online workshop involving the participants of the training and an online tutor for each of the modules. These online resources serve as knowledge input into the various sessions divided into six modules of the residential phase.

The first ENGAGE Asia Programme took place in 2023. Twenty-three trade unionists and labour activists from nine countries in Asia (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) participated in the training programme. The online phase took place between 20 March and 9 June and the residential/in-person phase between 28 June and 25 July at UP SOLAIR. Warren McGregor of the WITS was among the lecturers in the last module of the residential phase.

To further strengthen and sustain South-South cooperation among the trade unions and worker organizations of the participants of the ENGAGE Asia programme in 2023, the GLU Online Academy will undertake the development of certified local trainers in Asia for the online academy.