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Alastair Usher

Director - Research

A co-founder of Ergon, Alastair has provided strategic advice, training and technical guidance on labour rights and employment issues to a wide range of organisations, including the European Commission (EC), UK Trade Union Congress (TUC), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), UK Department for International Development (DFID), UK Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), International Finance Corporation (IFC) Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).

Alastair's professional interests include:

* The labour and trade nexus

* Decent work promotion through finance networks

* Labour rights and women workers in agricultural development

* Employment creation and labour standards in rural infrastructure

* Labour rights in public procurement

Alastair has worked on labour rights in industrial and agricultural sectors in transition and low-income countries worldwide. From 2005-2008, he led research into the social impacts of cotton cultivation in West Africa, South Asia, Brazil and Central Asia.

Prior to joining Ergon, Alastair was Senior Researcher in the international department of Incomes Data Services (IDS). For 2004-5, Alastair was the UK research co-ordinator for the international WageIndicator programme run by University of Amsterdam Institute of Advanced Labour Studies.

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Research projects

How does freedom of association contribute to development?

Ergon was commissioned by the ILO to produce a study looking at how freedom of association fosters and supports economic and social development. The report analyses the key factors and includes detailed case studies from around the world. Click here for more information

What does decent work mean for development planning?

Ergon was commissioned by the Decent Work and Labour Standards Forum to investigate how far the Decent Work Agenda has permeated into national development planning and donor strategies through developing country case studies in Bangladesh and Zambia. Click here for more information

Promoting employment-intensive infrastructure

Research to analyse how employment and decent work objectives have been addressed in EC infrastructure programmes involved field missions to projects and programmes in five countries: Benin, Cambodia, Kenya, Peru, and Togo as well as engagement with Intergovernmental Organisations and bilateral development agencies. Click here for more information

Ergon Associates Ltd