“The Future of Work – Labour after Laudato Si’” (FOWLS) Project is an initiative hosted by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC).

This global project is a multi-pronged effort that includes research, reflection, consultations, and dialogues among various Catholic-inspired and other Faith-based organisations engaged in advocacy for decent and just work and social justice – from Employers’ and Workers’ organisations to regional and national Episcopal Conferences and Academia.

The work carried out during the Phase 1 of this Project has highlighted the importance of work in promoting changes of perspective and practices related to the achievement of social justice and integral human development. Only work that takes care of both creation and society is likely to contribute to the care of our common home. In the same sense, and reciprocally, taking care of our common home implies real work and profound transformations in the world of work. This focus was highlighted in the report published at the end of the Phase 1 of the Project in 2021, entitled “Care is work, work is care” and available in English, French and Spanish.

The general objective of the Phase 2 of the Project is to build a Global Transformative Community, a common space to allow Catholic-Inspired Organisations (CIOs) and Ecclesial Institutions, and their partners, from other faith traditions, from Employers and Workers Organisations, from relevant popular movements, especially those formed by poor and marginalized persons, and other relevant partners to engage jointly in the promotion of social justice in world of work, to reinforce the voice of those on the margins of the world of work, and to do so at the national, regional and global levels. This common space will be made possible by developing a synodal approach, supported by Common Social Discernment (CSD), and reaching out to organisations sharing the same objectives and values.

In the process of building a global transformative community, the project will:

• Support the engagement of the Catholic faith communities in the global, regional, and national advocacy for social justice, climate justice, decent work, and fair and safe migration as an integral approach in relation to integral human development.
• Provide tools and support partner organisations to address the negative impact in the world of work of poverty, migration, economic crisis on the most vulnerable in the context of just transition and economic crisis in close collaboration with policy-setting efforts – especially the ILO Global Coalition for Social Justice, the climate change conferences (COP), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluation processes, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), as well as their national subsets.

The Project will aim to:

Understand the changes taking place in the world of work at global, regional, national, and local levels: how they affect communities and how they are interrelated.

• Many issues related to care as work, and to social justice in the world of work, are complex in nature. Root causes and various injustices are intertwined, linking needed transformation of societies as well as the attention to degradation of the environment. Such global phenomena often have direct impact on local communities, requiring a process of identification, even though global changes may not be directly visible at the grass roots level. The voices and perception of people at local level must be conveyed to global actors.
• The project will provide access to knowledge and understanding directly resulting from the engagement of people, communities in dialogue and co-construction with experts from academia and civil society organisations. It will publish a synthesis report and a series of technical notes to disseminate this knowledge.

Transform – by accompanying communities and organisations to be better equipped to promote care as work, work as care, as a unified integral understanding of integral human development for the world of work through capacity building.

• Organisations and communities involved in the project also are directly engaged in transformative actions for the world of work. Joint projects or synergies among projects can facilitate greater impact, either by offering the possibility of collective actions from different regions/countries/backgrounds, or by reinforcing the possibility of jointly addressing social as well as environmental issues.
• The Project will provide tools to strengthen all partner organisations in their ability to respond together to challenges and act locally, and to participate in international deliberations for the future of our societies and the planet, hence building global transformative communities. These tools could take the form of training seminars, the development of pilot projects, and knowledge and project exchange platforms to reinforce synergies between the actions carried out by the various players.

Advocate in relevant fora at global, regional, national, and local levels for care as work / social justice.

• The national and international planning agenda in the years ahead will offer numerous opportunities to promote integral human development in the world of work supported by the vision of “care is work, work is care”. Moreover, parallel negotiation tracks also are being developed to address social and environmental justice, fair and equitable policies for regular migration and integration/resettlement of refugees, access to decent and dignified work with just compensation, and, in particular, the achievement of the relevant SDGs and the defense of human rights. It will be important to evaluate potential gains from simultaneous engagement in several tracks as well as opportunities arising from the existing commitments of our partners.
• The project will engage in joint advocacy, both nationally and internationally, on issues affecting the future of our planet and our societies. and, in particular, will take part in the re-evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in the Global Coalition for Social Justice recently launched by the ILO, in the COPs process, and in other regional processes, enabling the voice of the voiceless in the world of work to be heard.

Each of these specific objectives will be integrated and developed through the method of Common Social Discernment.

This common undertaking will pave the way to reinforce the social justice reflection and activity of the Universal Church, its organisations, as well as other organisations with similar values, contributing to the promotion of human integral development and making it more of a Transformative Global Community, providing a space where local communities and global networks interact, reinforce their capacity for action, and join in common projects, while maintaining themselves in a continuous journey of Common social discernment.