45TH SESSION OF THE COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
EMPLOYMENT WORKING FOR ALL: PARTNERS IN INNOVATION
STATEMENT FROM THE CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM
INTRODUCTION
Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Delegates,
I greet you on behalf of the Civil Society Forum, held yesterday. We want at the outset to
express our appreciation and strong support for the adoption by the 44th Session of the
Commission for Social Development of the theme Promoting Full Employment and Decent Work
for All with a two-year work cycle. We assure you that we are fully committed to using this
opportunity to draw on the extensive experience of our own organisations in the field, and on as
wide a range of civil society actors as possible.
We are pleased with the important follow-up being given by this Commission to the pledge
made by Governments in the 2005 Summit Outcome Document, and reiterated in the ECOSOC
Ministerial Declaration of July 2006, “to make the goals of full and productive employment and
decent work for all, including women and young people, a central objective of our relevant
national and international policies as well as national development strategies, including poverty
reduction strategies, as part of our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
We will be using much of the coming period between this session of the Commission and the
next to identify effective practices in the field related to the goals of full and productive
employment and decent work which can offer solid recommendations of good practice to be
considered in the elaboration of policy in the 46th Session of the Commission. The principal tool
we will be using to collect and collate material for you is a Survey of Effective Practices for
Promoting Employment and Decent Work. We want to use some of the time we have this
morning to share with you what will be for us our adapted modus operandi in this new two-year
work cycle.
But before doing so, we want to emphasise our deep concern about the increasing pattern of
jobless growth and poverty. This is a situation in every part of the globe which cries out to be
addressed. Without decent work people live in great poverty, without the ability to provide for
the basic needs of those whom they love--their families and their children. They also
experience the greatest impoverishment: the dehumanising experience of being without dignity
and a sense of worth. According to estimates from the International Labour Organisation, more
and more women and men are unemployed and underemployed: 195 million people were
unsuccessfully looking for work in 2006 and 1.37 billion people, half of the global labour force,
worked but without earning enough to lift themselves and their families above the US $2 a day
poverty line. It is due time to integrate full and productive employment and decent work
throughout the international agenda.
As direct service providers, development and grass-roots NGOs and trade unions, we are daily
with people living in poverty. We seek to partner with you in efforts to alleviative poverty through
the promotion of decent work. It is clear to us that there are significant benefits to be gained
from adopting the decent work approach as a comprehensive development strategy for poverty
eradication. This approach encompasses:
1. Employment and income-generating policies;
2. Social dialogue and participation of those living in poverty, those that are unemployed
and underemployed or living on subsistence wages;
3. Social protection from the risks associated with loss of income resulting from economic
shocks, disability, or aging;
4. Voice and rights in the workplace: the right to organize and bargain collectively for
decent wages and working conditions, the right to strategize collectively for access to
credit and income-generating activities that would help people to lift themselves out of
poverty.
For us, a people-centred approach to employment must give the basic social needs of human
beings priority over purely economic profit.
Our hope is that this comprehensive concept of decent work will be mainstreamed in the
dialogue of this Commission as it prepares for policy formulation at the 46th Session. Decent
work also needs to be fully incorporated into development assistance frameworks and national
development strategies (e.g., PRSPs).
PROCESS
Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Delegates,
Yesterday at the Civil Society Forum entitled Employment Working for All: Partners in
Innovation, we considered facets of the Secretary General’s Report thematically and from the
point of view of different geographic regions. We strategised and planned how we might in the
coming months broaden the reach of the Survey on Effective Practices for Promoting
Employment and Decent Work, as well as how we might fully exploit the collected data.
The NGO Committee for Social Development had spent much of October and November
designing a simple, but comprehensive, survey which we could send to the field to collect
information on effective practices in Employment and Decent Work. We launched the Survey
first through our own networks, and then other accredited NGOs at the UN, in December 2006.
Through them, we asked that the survey be extended to other national and local NGOs.
With this statement, you will be receiving a copy of the survey. As you will see, the matrix of the
survey asks for a description of the project (including location), its purpose, population served
and in what sector (health, education, etc.). The survey then invites the respondents to
evaluate the project in terms of effectiveness, challenges and difficulties. Lastly, they are asked
to put forward policy recommendations based on their experience.
To date, the 38 Surveys of Effective Practices received represent data from all five continents
and 17 countries. We want to engage all stakeholders in this effort, including governments.
The survey currently has been translated into five of the six official UN languages. We will
continue to collect field material through April 2007 to build a broad picture of projects on the
ground. Our intention is to compile a dossier of the survey findings and policy
recommendations for your consideration during the second year of the cycle. We hope to
present this dossier to you and your relevant Ministries in your capitals by the middle of the
year.
With the help of our NGO colleagues in different committees and academics both here and in
the field, the final dossier will include sections analysing the data in terms of cross-sectoral
issues (e.g., youth, women, ageing, migrants, indigenous peoples, sustainable development,
and poverty eradication) and discuss various regional challenges. We discussed yesterday at
the Forum how we might engage other partners in this effort.
EXAMPLES OF EFFECTIVE PRACTICES FROM PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY
The following is a sampling of some of the projects on Promoting Full Employment and Decent
Work submitted by NGOs, illustrating the breadth of different regions and varied populations
served.
Young women and men in a Central African country aged 18 - 35 from low-income, poor,
and homeless families were the focus of an employment programme. It included
handcrafts apprenticeships, peer mentoring, peer review, practical workshops, physical
tutorials, interactive learning spaces, leadership circles, open space technologies, café
seminars, learning expeditions, team building, exchange visits and publications. Effort
was made to give as much help and support as possible for young entrepreneurs in the
first crucial years to create a sustainable venture. An effective way of delivering this help
is through the nurturing of entrepreneurial activity, and the development of early stage
ventures.
In a South American country a project secured permanent jobs in the poorest regions
through the development of a socio-industrial, long-term project. The workers were
provided with a decent wage and medical attention for both themselves and their
families. Workers managed the production and administration at the plant. The purpose
of the project was to ensure adequate, secure, meaningful and long-term employment
for the participants so they were not forced to immigrate to other countries. This NGOrun initiative highlighted several important issues: 1). To be effective, development
projects should be long-term and sustainable. 2) The participants in the project should
be involved in decision-making. 3) Every economic project should have a social
component which improves the living conditions of the working people.
A similar example in Europe focused on the integration of people who had been
unemployed for a long time, or had never had a job before. Job skills were developed in
a self-paced environment. The project philosophy is that by giving the right support,
people excluded from employment can regain the confidence to get back into work, be
part of a team, and contribute much to the community.
The above illustrated projects underline the long-term nature of effective efforts for people to
reintegrate into society and the labour market.
Among the projects submitted were effective practices based on cooperation between NGOs
and governments. Although such projects are not yet normative; they offer possible models
which might be usefully replicated in other instances.
CONCRETE PROPOSALS FOR CONSIDERATION IN VIEW OF THE 46TH COMMISSION IN 2008
Dear Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Delegates,
The NGOs of the Civil Society Forum on the occasion of the 45th Session of the Commission for
Social Development represent social movements, women's groups, youth groups, social
workers, organised labour, environmental organisations and faith-based organisations. We
embody a wealth of experience and a variety of perspectives on employment and decent work
and their impact on poverty eradication and social integration. We are one in presenting to you
the following proposals for your consideration in view of the next session of the Commission.
(1) We were keenly disappointed at last year’s failure to arrive at a negotiated text. We
want the 46th Session of the Commission to produce a strong negotiated text fostering
the principles of Copenhagen in addressing employment and decent work as means of
alleviating poverty and promoting social integration.
(2) We encourage you to include civil society representatives in all of the Commission’s
follow-up discussions and decision-making at the country level to foster greater
collaboration between governments and civil society in the area of social development.
(3) We urge governments and NGOs to develop collaborative projects on employment and
decent work using effective practices in partnership with all stakeholders.
(4) Appreciating the close collaboration we have had with the Division of Social Policy and
Development of DESA and the Bureau, and aware of the greater impact that the twoyear cycle of work might bring to our labours, we would respectfully ask that you
consider the possibility of electing a Bureau in 2008 for the full extent of the biennial
work programme of the Commission (i.e., 2009-10). We think it would foster greater
continuity, coherence and cohesiveness in our efforts to promote the social development
agenda.
CONCLUSION
A final word in conclusion . . . We are not a large number of NGOs here, as you can see. Most
of our organisations are engaged in providing direct services to people living in poverty and on
the margins of our societies. They are the ones we would prefer to be here to speak for
themselves. All of us know the economics of why they rarely are able to come to these
hallowed halls. But I can assure you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished delegates, that we make
up for our lack in numbers with the depth of commitment and the expertise and passion which
we bring to work of this Commission.
All of us stand ready to support you in your efforts to change the reality of our brothers and
sisters across the globe living in poverty--without dignity and a sense of worth. Let us join
together to be partners in innovation and make employment and decent work available for all
people, of all ages, everywhere.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Delegates.
7th February 2007
45th Session of the UN
Commission for Social Development
[Word on the second distributed document: preliminary findings of the Survey, sample case study; sheet
on which to indicate interest in receiving a copy of the survey itself, and indication of where the
Committee might send the compiled dossier on the composite survey findings and recommendations.]