Mainstreaming the Decent Work Agenda

1. Mainstreaming the Decent Work Agenda Expanded RDT Meeting Beirut, 2-5 November 2009 Nada Al-NashifRegional Director and Assistant Director-GeneralILO Regional Office for Arab States, Beirut

2. Decent Work • Productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. • Four inseparable, interrelated and mutually supportive strategic objectives: • Employment creation and enterprise development • Social protection • Standards and rights at work • Governance and social dialogue

3. Global Endorsement of the DW Agenda • UN World Summit (2005) - World leaders agreed to place full and productive employment & decent work as a central objective of relevant national and international policies; adopted new MDG target (1b) • ECOSOC (2006) requested UN bodies & financial institutions to support efforts to mainstream the goals of full and productive employment & DW for all in their policies, programmes, and activities • CEB (2007) adopted the toolkit to mainstream employment and DW for the use of UN bodies & financial institutions • ILO Declaration on Social Justice for Fair Globalization (2008): an expression of the universality of the DW Agenda • Global Jobs Pact (2009): A decent work response to the crisis

4. Global Jobs Pact • Adopted by International Labour Conference in June 2009; endorsed by UN (ECOSOC) in July 2009 • Calls for coordinated global policy action to maximize the positive impact on jobs and sustainable enterprises worldwide • Reflects the ILO’s commitment to give effect to the decisions of the CEB under its system-wide joint crisis responses initiative • Places employment and social protection at the heart of the response to the crisis • Proposes a balanced and realistic set of policy measures that countries can adopt to strengthen their ongoing efforts to the crisis while pursuing social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

5. Convergence between the Jobs Pact and the RDT-AS Priority Areas

6. Arab Employment Forum (Beirut, 19-21 October 2009) • Arab Action Agenda for Employment constitutes the regional response to the Global Jobs Pact • Revisited pre-existing structural problems of unemployment, low productivity and limited access to decent work opportunities and social protection, as well as respect of rights at work that may be exacerbated by the crisis • Identified an opportunity for a new development paradigm that places employment as a central objective of socio-economic strategies • Agreement to support tripartism and social dialogue as the most effective tool for dealing with the repercussions • Warns of the need to minimize the time lag between economic growth and the recovery of jobs.

7. Implementing the Decent Work Agenda: the Challenges of the Arab Region • Unemployment rate: 9.7% (world: 5.9%) • Lowest employment-to-population: 46% (world: 60.3%) • Highest youth unemployment rate: 22.1% (world: 12.3%) • Lowest labor force participation rate: 50.9% compared to 64.1% worldwide (females: 26.4%) • Less than 30% of the population is covered by pension schemes • The informal economy represents the greater proportion of the employed and a significant portion of the private sector employment

8. I. Decent Work Country Programmes • Ongoing: Jordan, Syria, and Yemen • In progress: Oman, Bahrain, Jordan (second DWCP), and in the NA Region: Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, and Algeria • Initial consultations to identify priority areas for ILO’s intervention in UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait

9. II. Decent Work Strategies In progress: • Palestine 2. Lebanon

10. III. Mainstreaming DW in national planning processes a. Ongoing Iraq: -Technical inputs to the National Development Plan (NDP) sectoral papers -Employment policy is aligned with the National Development Plan and the PRSP b. Planned • Yemen: Support to the preparation of the Five- Year Development Plan (2011-2015) • Syria: Support to the preparation of the Eleventh National Five-Year Plan (2011-2015)

11. IV. Mainstreaming DW in the work of the UNCTs Iraq • Employment and decent work mainstreamed in the CCA document Lebanon • ILO ROAS chaired the socio-economic development and regional disparities working group; mainstreamed decent work in the UNDAF; and ensured the engagement of social partners in the UNDAF process Yemen • ILO is co-chairing the thematic working group on inclusive growth Syria • Specific recommendations to mainstream decent work in the UNDAF mid-term review report

12. V. Mainstreaming DW in UN programmes: some examples Ongoing: -Lebanon: Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in North Lebanon (MDG Fund), local economic recovery (UNDP) -Palestine: Gender and Women’s Empowerment in Palestine (MDG Fund), Private Sector Development (UNDP), emergency reconstruction for Ghazza (UN-HABITAT,UNRWA) -Jordan:youth employment, promotion of entrepreneurship culture, public-private partnerships -Syria: employment policy, entrepreneurship development, CSR, social protection (UNDP) child labour (UNICEF) -Yemen: Labor Market Information Analysis (UNDP), gender audit (UNFPA) -Iraq: local development and skills development (UNOPS), vocational training (UNESCO, UN-HABITAT) In Progress: Syria -MDGs Scaling Up, -Strengthening Social Protection in Syria

13. CEB Toolkit for Mainstreaming Employment and Decent Work Chief Executives Board for Coordination First multilateral system-wide effort to promote -coherent, -mutually supportive, and -multi-sectoral approach to effectively deliver on employment and decent work for all

14. Using the CEB Toolkit to Mainstream Employment and DW in the Region Iraq: • Presentation on the toolkit to the UNCT (2008) • Report was prepared by the ILO on mainstreaming employment and Decent Work in the UN Iraq Assistance Strategy 2008-2010 • Presentation to thematic working groups on using the toolkit to mainstream DW in UNDAF (planned in November 2009) Syria: • Presentation on the Toolkit to the UNCT (July 2009) • Presentation to familiarize thematic working groups with the toolkit (planned in November 2009)