پریس ریلیز

Media Update: United Nations Pakistan, 2 December 2025

02 December 2025

This Media Update includes:

UNOPS - PRESS RELEASE : USD 500K Funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation to UNOPS in Pakistan for a Plastic Waste Collection Project
ILO - PRESS RELEASE : ILO and Health Services Academy Convene National Dialogue to Strengthen OSH for Quality Health Services

UNOPS

PRESS RELEASE

USD 500K Funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation to UNOPS in Pakistan for a Plastic Waste Collection Project

Islamabad, Pakistan – 28 November 2025: The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF) is supporting the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and International Labour Organization (ILO), to initiate a pilot project titled, ‘Sustainability & Decent Work in Pakistan’s PET* Recycling Value Chain’. The Foundation is providing USD 500K for the project that will be implemented in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), an area that generates over 3,300 tons of municipal solid waste daily, with an estimated 79% being recyclable. This partnership was finalized in Islamabad by Dr. Faisal Hashmi, Senior Director, Public Affairs, Communication & Sustainability, Coca-Cola Pakistan, Ms. Jennifer Ankrom, Country Manager, UNOPS Pakistan and Geir Tonstol, Country Director for ILO Pakistan, along with other representatives from the ILO, UNOPS’ key project partner were also in attendance.

Key activities under this project include undertaking a comprehensive analysis of challenges; providing training on occupational safety and health to waste pickers and handlers; facilitating the formation of cooperatives for waste pickers; and conducting a diagnostic study to map the PET value chain. ILO, as the UN specialized agency for decent work, will bring essential expertise on labor rights, occupational safety, and worker formalization.

“This collaboration with UNOPS, and ILO demonstrates The Coca-Cola Foundation’s commitment to advancing waste collection and management systems while ensuring that those at the heart of the system, the informal waste pickers, receive the recognition, protection, and opportunities they deserve,” said Carlos Pagoaga, President, The Coca-Cola Foundation.

Dr. Faisal Hashmi, Senior Director, Public Affairs, Communication & Sustainability, Coca-Cola Pakistan, echoed this commitment, and added: “We thank TCCF for their support to this project, which represents a tangible step forward in creating shared value in the local community."

Highlighting the importance of this collaboration, Ms. Jennifer Ankrom, Country Manager, UNOPS Pakistan, noted: “By strengthening the PET recycling value chain, this initiative not only tackles the urgent challenge of plastic pollution but also empowers Pakistan’s informal waste pickers with safer, more dignified livelihoods. Together with The Coca-Cola Foundation, we are setting up a model to transform waste into opportunity.”

Geir Tonstol, Director for the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Pakistan, stressed the importance of improving the PET recycling value chain that requires not only technical solutions but also a strong focus on people. He expressed that this partnership provides an important opportunity to enhance working conditions for informal waste pickers and to promote decent work practices across the system, applying the core expertise of ILO.

According to WWF, in Pakistan, nearly two million tonnes of plastic waste is generated each year, of which 86% is not managed properly. Similar to many other developing nations, Pakistan faces a challenge in terms of waste collection and management systems, resulting in environmental challenges. The results of the pilot project will encourage adoption of a similar framework for more sustainable and inclusive waste collection, management, and recycling at the national level.

*PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a type of plastic

For more information, contact Wajid Zahid at wajidz@unops.org or +92 346 8557760

ILO

PRESS RELEASE

ILO and Health Services Academy Convene National Dialogue to Strengthen OSH for Quality Health Services

The dialogue focused on strengthening service delivery systems, improving OSH practices, and enhancing coordination across ESSIs to better support insured workers and those who care for them.

NATHIA GALI, Pakistan (ILO News) – Ensuring Pakistan’s workforce has access to quality, timely, and prevention-focused social security services requires stronger institutional coordination and a renewed focus on occupational safety and health (OSH). Participants at the two-day National Dialogue stressed the need to strengthen OSH systems in Employees’ Social Security Institutions (ESSI)-run health facilities and improve service delivery for millions of insured workers and their families.

This dialogue is part of the ongoing collaboration between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Health Services Academy (HSA) under the Working for Health Programme (W4H), bringing together institutional expertise to strengthen safe and decent working environment in health sector.

ESSIs play a central role in Pakistan’s labour and social protection system by providing healthcare, compensation and rehabilitation services. Strengthening their institutional capacity was identified as critical to building a more efficient, worker-centred and prevention-oriented social security delivery model aligned with international standards and moving towards universal social protection. The dialogue brought together senior representatives from ESSIs in Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Through technical sessions and experience-sharing, participants explored approaches for service enhancement, contribution compliance, hospital governance, and OSH improvements.

Geir Tonstol, Country Director ILO Pakistan, emphasized that: “ESSIs are the frontline of protection for millions of workers and their families. Their central focus is to ensure quality services to workers, however, this is not possible unless safety and health standards for health care workers are ensured. The ILO remains committed to supporting Pakistan in building prevention-focused, internationally aligned OSH systems so that every insured worker receives timely and dignified support. This is core to the Decent Work agenda.”

Professor Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor of the Health Services Academy, said: “This dialogue is an important opportunity to strengthen OSH across the board—whether within government entities delivering services to insured workers or across the wider health workforce. It brings all provincial social security institutions together to exchange knowledge, improve service delivery, and advance decent work in the health sector. The Health Services Academy is committed to supporting this platform and centralising OSH across our systems.”

Muhammad Ali, Commissioner PESSI, stated: “Through our collaboration with the ILO, PESSI has implemented the HealthWISE toolkit across its hospitals, and we are already seeing improvements in ergonomics, safer waste management, and OSH training for staff. We remain committed to expanding our services and delivering quality care, while also building partnerships with other provincial ESSIs so that more workers can benefit from social security.”

Since its start, the ILO–Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)–World Health Organization (WHO) Working for Health Programme in Pakistan has supported social security institutions in strengthening workplace safety, improving service delivery systems, and equipping health professionals and administrators with knowledge and tools to promote preventive, dignified and worker-centred care.