| GB.267/12
267th Session Geneva, November 1996 |
TWELFTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Report of the Committee on Technical Cooperation
1. The Committee on Technical Cooperation met on 11 and 12 November 1996. It elected Ms. A.C. Diallo (Government, Senegal) as Chairperson and Mr. E. Hoff and Mr. Mayaki as Employer Vice-Chairperson and Worker Vice-Chairperson respectively.
2. The Committee had the following agenda:
- Active partnership and technical cooperation, 1995-96.
- Strategies to enhance women's employment and income opportunities: Experience from technical cooperation.
- Further developments concerning operational activities in the UN system, including the principal measures taken by the ILO concerning General Assembly resolution 50/120.
- Reports of the UN Joint Inspection Unit:
- United Nations system support for science and technology in Africa;
- National execution of projects;
- United Nations system support for science and technology in Asia and the Pacific;
- Evaluation of the United Nations new agenda for the development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF): Towards a more operational approach?
Active partnership and technical
cooperation, 1995-96
3. The representative of the Director-General (Mrs. Chinery-Hesse, Deputy Director-General) welcomed the newly elected members of the Governing Body. She was confident that the blend of old and new members would enrich the Committee's work. The Office attached great importance to the work of the Committee on Technical Cooperation, as the ILO depended on its Members to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the ILO's operational programmes on the ground. There was no better barometer and there could be no better opportunity to deliberate on changes which would make the programmes constituent-led and relevant. She recalled the Committee's terms of reference, which were to consider and advise the Governing Body on matters relating to ILO technical cooperation programmes under all sources of funding. The agenda had been organized to focus on the implementation of the strategy of the ILO's technical cooperation programme, endorsed by the Governing Body in November 1994. The many activities undertaken in line with the strategy had enabled the ILO to make a worthy contribution to the fight against the scourge of want and to the attainment of social justice.
4. The Office paper provided a separate account of the implementation of the Active Partnership Policy. The policy was essential to ensure that the ILO's advisory services and technical cooperation programmes addressed the genuine concerns and needs of its constituents. The ILO continued to attach great importance to the country objectives exercise, and the ILO's multidisciplinary teams now more than ever continued to influence and shape the nature, volume and quality of ILO operational programmes.
5. The second item on the Committee's agenda concerned a theme selected by the Officers of the previous Committee: Strategies to enhance women's employment and income opportunities. As stated in the document, the topic was particularly timely in view of the commitment the ILO had made at the Beijing Conference to intensify work on gender issues. The third item on the agenda took note of resolution 50/120 adopted in December 1995 by the United Nations General Assembly, which was of direct relevance to the ILO's work and was the result of a triennial policy review of operational activities for development. In circulating the resolution to the field structure of the ILO, she had emphasized that ILO participation in the UN system's activities at the country level should in no way interfere with tripartite consultation machinery. While encouraging effective liaison with UN resident coordinators, field staff were requested to ensure that the social agenda was appropriately addressed in joint initiatives of the UN system. They were also advised to promote strongly the special concerns of ministries of labour and of workers' and employers' organizations in the establishment of development priorities. The Office would welcome the views of the Committee on the resolution. The last item on the agenda dealt with several reports of the Joint Inspection Unit submitted for information and which addressed various technical cooperation issues, including national execution of projects.
6. Turning to the issue of resource trends in support of the ILO's technical cooperation activities, she referred to the fact that UNDP, which used to be virtually the only source of funds for certain developing regions and which accounted for half of all ILO technical cooperation approvals in 1991, had suffered drastic declines in voluntary pledges. At its last meeting, the Committee had urged the ILO to redouble its efforts to find alternative and innovative ways to arrest the downward spiral of available resources. Significant progress had been made in diversifying sources of funding, making greater use of the field structure in fund-raising activities, and intensifying links with traditional partners. UNDP continued to be a major partner, with the ILO maintaining its favoured position among the "big five" specialized agencies; between 1991 and 1995 the ILO's share of the albeit dwindling pie had increased from 13.7 per cent to 18.4 per cent. Citing the major contributing governments, she noted that in 1994, trust fund and multi-bilateral expenditure had exceeded half of the total and peaked in 1995, when it stood at 54 per cent of total expenditure. Indications were that 1996 would match this performance. Programmes such as ACOPAM in sub-Saharan Africa, IPEC, post-conflict activities in the occupied Arab territories, Cambodia, and PRODERE in Central America were the outcome of the converging objectives of the ILO and its donors. Finally, she expressed the hope that the new International Programme for More and Better Jobs for Women would receive enthusiastic support from all the ILO's partners.
7. Mr. Hoff (Employer Vice-Chairperson) observed that the functioning of the Committee should be reconsidered so as to allow adequate time for preparation and discussion. More specifically, he requested that six priority points be given consideration: (a) the Office should develop a "marketing strategy" to extend and sustain donor support; (b) it should formulate action plans to increase national ownership of programmes; (c) the Office should launch an evaluation of the Active Partnership Policy and that of the multidisciplinary teams -- the tripartite membership of the Committee should preferably be involved in the exercise; (d) programme bottlenecks should be identified by the Office, including priority themes for which no adequate funding was available or where delivery rates were unacceptably low; (e) Office reports to the Committee should reflect more clearly the integration of past experience, problems and possible strategies for the future; (f) the Committee should recommend to the Governing Body to request the Director-General to arrange for a half-day meeting of the Committee at the March session of the Governing Body where the "productive ideas" contained in the report could be distilled. Turning to some specific aspects discussed in the report itself, he emphasized the importance of harnessing extra-budgetary contributions, while cautioning against excessive dependence on a few donor countries. He urged the Office to review and increase the regular budget allocations for technical cooperation activities. He was satisfied with the increased allocations for workers' and employers' activities, since this was supportive of the democratization process. He commended activities in support of employers' organizations in Guatemala and the occupied Arab territories, emphasizing the importance of promoting sound labour relations at critical points in the peace process. The chapter dealing with the implementation of the APP conveyed an ideal, but not a real, picture of experience to date, since the current MDT structure was still not working properly. He regretted the number of unfilled posts, and felt that the Office had not equipped the MDTs to make a good start and that more could be done to make the new complex structure work better. He sought further information on the management of the system and on the role of headquarters in ensuring that the field and headquarters had a unified vision and approach. He stressed the importance of showing that the ILO's technical cooperation programme was being effectively managed in the field and benefiting from the support of all concerned, as failure to do so would discourage present and potential donors from supporting the ILO's technical cooperation programme. He recommended that staff assigned to technical cooperation programmes should be properly trained and thoroughly briefed on the ILO's priorities, principles, procedures and strategies. He strongly supported the demand-driven approach as a basis for formulating proposals which could be matched with donor priorities.
8. Mr. Mayaki (Worker Vice-Chairperson), responding to the Employer Vice-Chairperson's preliminary observations regarding the functioning of the Committee, generally endorsed his views, noting furthermore the difficulty of expecting the Committee to complete its work in a single day. At the conclusion of its discussion, the Committee should be able to submit recommendations or points for decision to the Governing Body. In November 1995 the Governing Body had noted a recommendation of its Committee on Employment and Social Policy for the Office to submit a separate report on ILO activities on child labour to the present meeting of the Committee. Noting with regret that this was not the case, he hoped that steps would be taken to have a report on this question presented separately at the Committee's next meeting. Turning to the report, he felt that it had largely neglected the question of linkages between technical cooperation and international labour standards. He advocated an evaluation of the APP with a view to promoting greater efficiency. The Office report did not contain any information on the number of country objectives reviews completed so far, although it was mentioned that the exercise was suspended in some countries, and it was advisable to refer to the priority concerns of constituents rather than those of the ILO. He inquired why tripartite machinery had not been established everywhere. He stressed the cost-effectiveness of using suitably trained national expertise to implement technical cooperation activities. Achievements in resource mobilization had been very modest, with only small contributions from new donors, and he urged the ILO to strengthen its efforts in this regard and achieve greater diversification of financial sources. With respect to the development of new programmes, he observed that there was a major gap as far as programmes to enhance democratization, promote tripartism and alleviate poverty were concerned. He detected an apparent lack of trade union involvement in the training and information programme on the dissemination on women workers' rights described in the box on page 16. Similarly, he regretted the dearth of information on worker involvement in the design and implementation of the technical cooperation activities described in Chapter 6. He requested the Office to include details of support for trade union activities in Africa, as had been provided for the other regions in Chapter 5. The Office should do more and better in terms of enabling workers' organizations to initiate cooperative activities. Finally, he highlighted the importance of using regular budget funds to support activities for the elimination of child labour.
Progress in the implementation of the
Active Partnership Policy
9. The statements by members of the Committee focused on three aspects of the Active Partnership Policy: the need for an assessment of the policy; the work of the multidisciplinary teams and their relation to the overall ILO structure; and the possibility of developing a greater sense of ownership among recipient country partners.
10. As regards the implementation of the Active Partnership Policy, several members from all three groups considered it essential for an independent evaluation of the progress, impact and long-term results of the Active Partnership Policy to be carried out in the near future. The Employer Vice-Chairperson remarked that there were a number of practical issues in the workings of the Active Partnership Policy that needed clarifying; the ILO had a complex structure and it was not always evident how the multidisciplinary teams fitted into the structure or how the lines of communication with the Directors of the Regional Offices operated.
11. Several speakers thought it desirable for the assessment of the Active Partnership Policy to be as independent as possible. In particular, it should pay attention to the number of the country objectives and the extent to which they were being achieved, as well as the pertinence and quality of the work of the multidisciplinary teams and whether a multidisciplinary approach had been successfully applied. The view of the social partners must be taken into account in the evaluation.
12. A further point raised by several speakers related to the need for greater coordination and efficiency in the work of the multidisciplinary teams. Training should be provided for newly appointed specialists and experts on the ILO's principles and mandate, and on the demand-driven approach required by its constituents. The representative of the Government of Spain requested fuller information on the work of the teams. One Employer member suggested that guidelines were needed so that multidisciplinary teams were encouraged to work on a regular basis with the social partners, and not only in the formulation of country objectives.
13. Mr. Mayaki suggested that it would be cost effective to recruit local expertise to the teams. The formulation of country objectives had been a long drawn-out process, and it was important to take practical action to implement them now. Mr. Anand (Employer member), would have liked to see more worker and employer specialists recruited from the region in which the multidisciplinary team was operating. In that way, their linguistic ability, cultural awareness and degree of familiarity with the main issues of the region would facilitate their own work and enhance the impact of the team's contribution.
14. A number of speakers expressed concern about the length of time that staff vacancies persisted in the multidisciplinary teams, especially in such crucial areas as standards, social security and occupational safety and health.
15. Mr Hoff and several Government representatives shared the view that the Active Partnership Policy should encourage a greater sense of ownership by recipient countries of the technical cooperation carried out nationally. Each recipient country should review the possibility of taking on greater responsibility by participating with its own resources in the execution of technical cooperation programmes and projects in pursuance of the country objectives. This would lead to greater and more lasting impact.
Implementation of the ILO strategy
for technical cooperation
16. Efforts to revitalize the resource mobilization strategy by intensifying action to obtain new sources of funding and developing broad strategic alliances between the ILO, donors, national aid coordinators and constituents were endorsed by several speakers. including an Employer member and several representatives of governments (Italy, Spain and China). The representative of the Government of Spain noted, however, that the Office would need to define the strategy more precisely. Another Employer member called on donors, and particularly those in the Gulf, to contribute to operational programmes for the Arab countries. The representatives of the Governments of Egypt and Turkey noted the importance of maintaining and enhancing cooperation with the UNDP. The representative of the Government of Thailand also suggested that national and regional donor meetings could be convened with representatives of ministries of labour as part of the resource mobilization strategy.
17. Several speakers underlined the importance of cooperating with the European Union and the Bretton Woods institutions (representatives of the Governments of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan and Egypt, and one Employer member). Some, including the representatives of the Governments of the United Kingdom, Argentina and Egypt, also regretted the apparent slow pace in the development of such cooperation. The representative of the Government of Germany hoped that the conclusion of a basic agreement with the European Union was imminent.
18. Several speakers, including the representatives of the Governments of Argentina, Japan and Italy called for increased allocations from the regular budget for technical cooperation (RBTC), which would reflect the commitment of the ILO itself to the activities and/or compensate for shortfalls under other sources. Commenting on financial opportunities that could be tapped in the future, an Employer member said that some developing countries had now reached a stage where they could be expected, under cost-sharing modalities yet to be developed, to shoulder some of the financial responsibility involved in obtaining ILO support. He expected the regional offices to take a lead role in promoting such a strategy.
19. The representatives of the Governments of Sweden, the United States and China stressed the importance of forging links between international labour standards and technical cooperation and noted that the efforts made to this end should be better reflected in the report. The representative of the Government of China, recalling recent activities promoted by the ILO in this regard, suggested that standards-related activities should focus on concrete and practical objectives pertaining, for example, to poverty alleviation and labour legislation. The representative of the Government of France highlighted the merit of a multidisciplinary approach that some programmes successfully promoted. The Office should seek to increase and enhance multidisciplinarity.
20. Efforts to intensify national participation and hence ownership in all stages of the project cycle were welcomed by the representatives of the Governments of Italy and Sweden. The representative of the Government of Thailand also recommended the use of national experts for the implementation of programmes. One employer member said that successful participation by the social partners in operational programmes required adequate technical ability on their part, which the Office should seek to enhance.
21. Various speakers commented on the priority themes for the substantive content of the strategy. The representative of the Government of Thailand proposed focusing on youth unemployment and the informal sector. The latter focus was also urged by the representative of the Government of Sweden. The representative of the Government of China advocated employment promotion and poverty elimination as major priorities while an Employer member noted that the enterprise strategy would be enriched if the productivity of enterprises was given due consideration.
22. Several representatives of governments (Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, United States, France, Italy) commented on the importance of undertaking continuous evaluations of technical cooperation programmes and projects and ensuring that the findings were used for the benefit of future programmes. Of particular interest was the work described in the Office paper concerning the development of performance indicators. Speakers looked forward to more detailed information on the outcomes of evaluation. The representative of the Government of Sweden suggested that a measure of independence needed to be included in the conduct of evaluations, so as to draw a sharper line between those whose task it was to execute and those who performed the evaluation.
Trends in activities in different regions
and technical programmes
23. The global reduction in official development assistance and the decline in the resources available to the ILO for its technical cooperation programme in specific regions, especially Africa, was noted with concern by a number of speakers, including one Employer member and the representatives of the Governments of Egypt and Spain. This decline was taking place while Africa was facing daunting challenges, and it was hoped that the trend would be reversed. Mr. Mayaki observed that Africa's share of resources had continued to decline. In this context he asked the Office to take the necessary measures to reverse this trend. An Employer member noted that the delivery rate for employers' activities in Africa was very low: there was clearly a problem of capacity, which should be addressed immediately. Another Employer member, echoing a comment made by the representative of the Government of Germany, felt that the performance of the multidisciplinary teams was uneven: some were doing better than others, and this situation needed to be reviewed.
24. The representative of the Arab Labour Organization and the representative of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic spoke of the increasing cooperation between the ILO and the ALO; this was in conformity with ILO resolutions in this field, and a number of successful activities had taken place and more would be carried out in the future. The benefits of having the Arab States Multidisciplinary Advisory Team and the Regional Office stationed in Beirut became evident, and were also appreciated by the representative of the Government of Saudi Arabia. However, further efforts would have to be made in order to improve the lot of workers in the occupied territories. While resources for technical cooperation in the Arab States of the Middle East had doubled during the period under review, the increase was only relative, given the very low figures of the prior period. An Employer member called for further support to the programmes by the Arab and Gulf countries, and the representative of the Government of Egypt, while commending the ALO/ILO cooperation, called for greater coordination with other international organizations operating in the same area. The representative of the Arab Labour Organization asked that a correction be made in the report where mention was made of the Regional Arab Programme for Labour Administration.
25. The resources for Latin America, which registered a decrease in expenditure of 12 per cent, was a cause for concern to the representatives of the Governments of Argentina and Mexico. The latter noted that, although the report mentioned the need to respond to the process of economic adjustment in the Latin American region, this was not supported by the technical cooperation programme; she had remarked similar trends in other UN specialized agencies, and wondered whether there had been a change in regional priorities throughout the UN system.
26. The representative of the Government of Thailand, referring to the reduction in technical cooperation for Asia and the Pacific, observed that the decline was especially noticeable in UNDP funding for ILO activities. She suggested that greater attention be paid to inter-agency cooperation on poverty alleviation programmes, using the excellent national expertise available in the formulation of such programmes.
27. In relation to the ILO programme in Europe, the representative of the Government of Germany underlined the importance of the ILO's being associated with efforts to assist the ongoing process of social reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The provision of humane work opportunities was a prerequisite for the maintenance of peaceful conditions in the region. The representative of the Government of the Russian Federation commended the efforts now being made to upgrade and strengthen the ILO's presence in his country, referring specifically to the proposed establishment of a multidisciplinary team in Moscow.
28. A number of comments were also made on specific technical fields and programmes. The question of the role of the Committee in reviewing the IPEC programme vis-à-vis that of its Steering Committee was raised by several speakers. In view of the importance of IPEC, the Governing Body needed to be able to monitor it effectively. A question was also asked about the size of the regular budget contribution to child labour activities as compared to extra-budgetary contributions to IPEC. The ILO would need to maintain its competence in many important, highly specialized technical fields which were important to central areas of ILO concern and ILO standards. For example, the issue of access to credit, which the representatives of the Governments of Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom highlighted, was critically important for efforts to combat bonded labour and child labour. An Employer member said that the ILO's concern with population issues should not be overlooked, given that high rates of annual population increases aggravated poverty.
29. The decline in expenditure for employment and human resource development witnessed in most regions was at odds with the role the ILO needed to defend in follow-up on the Social Summit and the ILO's ability to address the priority needs in most regions. Another speaker mentioned the importance of ILO assistance in relation to actuarial reviews of social protection schemes in African countries and other countries undergoing structural adjustment.
30. Speakers from all three groups agreed that tripartite participation remained a crucial feature of the technical cooperation programme. The Worker Vice-Chairperson cautioned that his group did not regard mere consultations as adequate, and was anxious to see more evidence of active involvement in the promotion, implementation and evaluation of operational programmes. Consultations and information in themselves did not guarantee results. He expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the Office paper itself recognized implicitly that certain important projects did not reflect any involvement of trade unions in the implementation of projects. In this regard he cited the absence of any reference to support for trade unions to help them launch cooperative societies. This was unacceptable to his group. An Employer member stated that, while the Worker and Employer advisers did their utmost, the Office should impress on all team specialists that they should be constantly consulting with the social partners. There was particular concern that more should be done to empower the social partners to play an active role in shaping social policies at the country level. The debates often covered complex economic issues, particularly in the context of structural adjustment programmes advocated by the World Bank, and these required technical abilities that many of the social partners often lacked. Closer contact with research institutions was also felt desirable by an Employer member. Another Employer member felt that this was one of the reasons why, in discussions regarding such subjects as social security, the voice of the workers was hardly heard. The representative of the Government of Egypt, supported by the representative of the Government of Mauritius, stated that her Government was anxious to achieve greater involvement by the social partners in national bodies, but in her country, as indeed in other African countries, the shortage of qualified people affected the extent of effective tripartite participation. In this connection several Employer members, referring to the information contained in Appendix III, deplored the substantial decrease (of the order of nearly 17.5 per cent) in expenditure recorded in 1995 under employers' activities compared with the previous year. There was also a wide measure of agreement that when consultants were drawn from within the region, and were hence familiar with the culture of the countries in which their advice was sought, their contribution became more pertinent. This was true not only in relation to supporting the work of workers' and employers' organizations, but also in all ILO operational programmes.
31. A representative of the Director-General (Mr. Trémeaud, Assistant Director-General), replying to the observations on resource mobilization, remarked that in a world where development cooperation funds were decreasing and where there was sharper competition for activities, the fact that the ILO's extra-budgetary resource level had stabilized was encouraging and there was even reason to foresee that this position might improve. There had been a decline in UNDP approvals due to the decline in UNDP resources overall and the choice of national execution by beneficiary countries. The nature of cooperation had also changed, tending towards less emphasis on quantity, and more on quality; less project administration for the purchase of equipment and the recruitment of international experts, which accounted for large sums of money; and more services at a higher level, including policy advice and programme formulation, which gave better yields in terms of quality. The ILO enjoyed a privileged status with the UNDP, having increased its share, within the declining component, of those UNDP allocations which had gone to the large specialized agencies during the period from 1991 to 1995. Another reason for optimism was the beginning of the new UNDP programming cycle for 1997-99, potentially making new resources available. The UNDP had also decided to concentrate its activities on themes such as poverty, employment, and democratization, where the ILO had accumulated expertise and experience. Through mutual understanding on the nature of development activities, there was room for increased cooperation between the ILO, UNDP, and other development partners, as evidenced by discussions in New York in October 1996.
32. Since 1994, there had been a discernible upward trend in the multi-bilateral programme, which was likely to continue in 1996, with estimates as high as $70 million in new approvals. Cooperation with multi-bilateral partners was improving, with discussions centring on programmes rather than projects, some of which would be realized over several years. Satisfaction with this approach was evident in that some donors had increased approvals for the ILO while reducing those to other UN agencies.
33. In terms of new multi-bilateral donors, there had been an expansion from 15 donors in 1990 to 20 in 1995. Virtually all potential multi-bilateral partners now had agreements with the ILO and it was a question of attracting larger shares of their development resources. Another new trend was the increasing numbers of recipient governments willing to pay for part of their own programme's activities. Not only did this enable them to participate more actively in programme implementation, but it was also a tangible demonstration of their interest in the ILO's work. Other potential development sources were foundations, NGOs and private enterprises. The Office was working on further developing these sources of extra-budgetary financing. A basic agreement with the European Union was imminent; in the meantime contracts were drawn up on a project-by-project basis using the format of the basic agreement to be signed. Projects ready for signature were a child labour programme in Pakistan and a project for the reinforcement and modernization of trade unions' capacity in Central America.
34. In the next few months, a resource mobilization strategy would be prepared, making full use of all the ILO units, in particular the Regional and Area Offices and MDTs, so that the necessary funds would be available for the financing of the ILO's technical cooperation programme. This would also involve critical, systematic training of ILO officials in donor negotiations.
35. Replying to the discussion, the representative of the Director-General (Mrs. Chinery-Hesse) agreed that the Office paper to be submitted to the Committee in 1997 could be improved by including more country-level data, analyses of the impact of the ILO's programmes on its constituents, action taken in major thematic areas, and trends for the future. Using the available modern technology, but keeping in mind financial constraints, every effort would be made to improve the quality of the report.
36. Questions relating to the functioning of the Committee, in particular whether to adhere to a single meeting each year and the timing of the meeting, needed to be referred to the Governing Body. Consequently, consultations between the Officers of the Committee and the secretariat would be held to discuss possible proposals for change.
37. She noted with satisfaction the number of speakers which had addressed the subject of evaluation, which was an important means for the Office to assess the pertinence of the ILO's technical programmes and to ensure that lessons learned were effectively disseminated and properly applied to new programmes. Efforts would be made to structure the next Committee report in such a way as to highlight what improvements the Office had made in the evaluation of programmes in a more concrete manner. She drew attention to the fact that evaluation was a continuous programme in the ILO, and was reflected in the standing item on the Committee's agenda devoted to evaluation. The Office had recently introduced a comprehensive system for monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MERS). It was still at the experimental stage and an independent evaluation was under way to determine its application to all ILO activities, regardless of technical programme or source of funds.
38. The importance which the Office attached to staff training and the constant upgrade of skills, as demanded by many speakers, would become apparent during forthcoming discussions in the Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee on the Programme and Budget proposals for the coming biennium.
39. She conveyed the Office's thanks to all governments which had contributed to the IPEC programme, recalling that an appropriate reporting format for IPEC would be adopted by the Steering Committee later in the month. She expected members of the Committee on Technical Cooperation who were also participants in the Steering Committee to convey the former's perceptions to the latter. Turning to the question of the ILO's financial commitment to IPEC, she conceded that, given the current structure of the programme and budget, which did not always facilitate disaggregation, it was difficult to determine exactly what level of regular budget resources were allocated for IPEC. Taking into account work which was being done on this theme throughout the ILO, she estimated that at least 25 officials at an approximate cost of $3.5 million were carrying out work funded by the regular budget. Speakers were right in insisting that the Office demonstrate its commitment to the issue by making a financial contribution from the regular budget in addition to resources mobilized from external donors.
40. Tripartism was a unique feature of the Organization; it provided it a window of opportunity for the UN system as a whole, since it was the only UN system organization that could fully draw on the views of civil society through consultation with the social partners, without the permission of governments. She gave assurances that the country objectives process could never be deemed to be complete unless it had fully benefited from the active contributions of all the tripartite partners.
41. Concerning the question of the regional distribution of resources, she reminded members that the Office did not always enjoy full freedom in the allocation of extra-budgetary resources, since some donors tied their assistance to particular countries or regions. There were also instances where large-scale programmes had been approved for a particular region by a particular donor. In cases where the ILO was in a position to influence the direction of extra-budgetary resources, it attempted to favour the least developed countries. The increase in overall resources which the resource mobilization strategy intended to generate would help to ensure a situation in which the ILO could only gain.
42. The representative of the Director-General underscored the importance of using the technical cooperation programme for the purpose of promoting the ILO's core labour standards. The next Committee paper would highlight examples of how a synergy had been created between the technical cooperation programme and international labour standards. As the ILO gradually shifted from a project to a programme approach, it would become easier to relate operational activities to international standards. IPEC was one example; the programme on More and Better Jobs for Women was another.
43. Referring to current relations with the Bretton Woods institutions, she referred to a number of pilot countries where the ILO and the World Bank were working together so that best practices might be replicated in other countries in time. The Bretton Woods institutions had available to them vast financial resources, and the Office was constantly seeking to strengthen its working relationships with them in order to tap those institutions for funds. Programmes were already under way in Congo, Turkey and Poland. The personal involvement of the Director-General in Bank-related issues and the policy dialogue which the Office had been engaged in to date were expected to lead to strengthened cooperation in the foreseeable future.
44. The Active Partnership Policy was conceived in the light of past experience and was designed primarily to bring the ILO's programmes closer to its constituents, to ensure that its activities were constituent-led, and to enhance tripartite participation; thus the Active Partnership Policy was expected to encourage decentralization and the strengthening of the ILO's presence in the regions. The structure was not rigid, and the Office was constantly adjusting the process to emerging circumstances. The fact that the process had been introduced at a time of financial crisis had made the change involved, difficult at the best of times, even more difficult. Under the circumstances, the achievements to date, though not perfect, constituted a good beginning.
45. It was becoming more and more apparent that the Office was doing fewer things better, refocusing its activities, paying greater attention to the quality of its output, and effectively participating in world debate on such vital issues as employment promotion, child labour, labour standards, the social clause and women at work. This sharper focus had been evoked by the financial crisis.
46. Commenting on the request by the Workers' group for an evaluation of the Active Partnership Policy, she informed the meeting that preparations were under way to launch a thorough review of the policy, and a workshop was planned in Turin for early 1997 for this internal evaluation. It was expected that lessons learnt so far would guide the reshaping of the Active Partnership Policy so as to make it more responsive to the expressed needs of constituents.
47. In conclusion, the representative of the Director-General stated that partnership was the key to the success of the Office's endeavours. Partnership should be strengthened with ILO constituents, ILO donors and UN system agencies concerned with social progress. She expressed the hope that members of the Governing Body would help forge these important partnerships.
48. The Committee recommends that the Governing Body request the Director-General:
-- to prepare for the next meeting of the Committee on Technical Cooperation a report containing proposals for an innovative strategy designed to enhance the resources available to the technical cooperation programme;
-- to undertake in the course of 1997 an internal evaluation of the Active Partnership Policy, inviting the Officers of the Committee to designate a tripartite working party in order to review the results of this internal evaluation and to communicate the outcome of this joint exercise to the next meeting of the Committee;
-- to review the working arrangements of the Committee and in consultation with the Officers of the Governing Body examine the feasibility of arranging a half-day meeting of the Committee at the March session of the Governing Body.
Strategies to enhance women's employment and income
opportunities: Experience from technical cooperation
49. A representative of the Director-General (Mr. Brú), introducing the paper, recalled that the theme for the paper had been selected by the Officers of the Committee and that it contained an analytical synthesis of material drawn from evaluation reports in order to highlight the key elements of the lessons learned from technical cooperation activities. In the sample of programmes and projects reviewed for the paper, the strategies used to improve womens productive capacity through employment creation and income generating activities were examined and their relative successes analysed. In promoting wage employment strategies, two main strategic options were identified: vocational training and the improvement of working conditions. In the case of self-employment strategies, three were identified: entrepreneurship development, which included training and extension services; financial services such as credit and savings schemes; and policy approaches to secure access to, and the development of, land and other productive assets. He drew attention to section IV of the Office paper, concerning the organization of women and the importance of strengthening the grass-roots organizations of womens groups both as an operational strategy and as an end in itself. The organization of women was a main strategy component which facilitated the pooling of shared resources and sustained womens control over productive activities. The final section, on the role of the social partners, pointed to the need for them to play a more proactive role in technical cooperation activities.
50. The Employer Vice-Chairperson commended the Office on the paper. He agreed with the general policy of enhancing the situation of women by gradually integrating them into mainstream projects. However, he drew attention to the importance of education and training for girls and women to enhance their employment opportunities. Businesses and governments should strongly support the recruitment of women.
51. The Worker Vice-Chairperson, referring to the tripartite structure of the ILO and to the efforts being made by trade unions to encourage women's employment and income opportunities, considered it disturbing that the contribution of trade unions in this field had been overlooked, and that the ILO tended to favour NGOs. Each year the Worker members drew the Committees attention to the fact that the ILOs approach should invariably include the social partners in such activities. He noted that there were only one or two projects where trade union participation was mentioned in the report. Workers organizations were making a major contribution to enhance womens employment, particularly where they were exploited. He cited the provision of crèche facilities for children, and education and vocational training in the informal sector, to gradually integrate women and enhance their employment opportunities. Labour laws addressing the concept of equal opportunity should be enacted and enforced. Referring to paragraph 8 of the Office paper, he said that governments should be encouraged to ratify and implement ILO Conventions dealing with equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women at work.
52. Ms. Mokjalo (Worker member) noted that trade union participation should be promoted under all technical cooperation activities.
53. The representative of the Government of Germany expressed his appreciation of the evaluation in the paper. It dealt with either women-specific projects or womens components of general projects, and he stressed the need for womens issues to be taken into account in general projects as from the design stage.
54. The representative of the Government of Austria recalled that his country was also promoting womens employment and income-generating activities along the lines of ILO work in this area. More assistance was being provided for women re-entering the labour market and for migrant women.
55. The representative of the Government of Sweden proposed that a review of mainstream projects should be made for the next meeting of the Committee. She drew attention to paragraph 3 of the report, and said that the main burden of economic restructuring and transition processes was not borne by the women but by their children. She pointed to the need for measures, such as child-care facilities, to increase womens access to the labour market.
56. The representative of the Government of India recalled that his country had enacted minimum wage legislation which made no distinction between the wages of men and women. This gave women equal opportunity and helped to change attitudes among employers.
57. The representative of the Government of China commended the Office on the paper and noted that, in view of follow-up action on the Beijing Conference and womens important role in democratic and sustainable development, ILO activities in this area should be given greater prominence. She agreed with other Committee members that projects promoting womens employment should not only be included in special womens projects, but also in mainstream projects.
58. In reply, a representative of the Director-General (Mr. Brú) explained that in projects with an education and training component, womens illiteracy had been a major problem and had imposed changes in the strategies, such as the development of special visual aids. In others, measures had been necessary to alleviate womens family responsibilities and ensure that they were able to benefit from the projects activities. He pointed out that the theme for the paper had been the enhancement of womens productive capacity, and it was therefore not concerned with mainstream projects. He assured members, however, that more consideration would be given to mainstream projects in the future. He drew attention to an ILO 1989 publication on lessons learned concerning the role of women in selected mainstream projects. Referring to the remarks concerning the involvement of NGOs, he said that they were associated in technical cooperation activities as a means of reaching the target groups, and therefore were part of the so-called "institutional framework". Most of the projects under review had an organization-building component which should be seen as an ultimate opportunity to strengthen the trade union movement.
59. The Committee took note of the Office paper.
Further developments concerning operational
activities in the United Nations system, including
the principal measures taken by the ILO
concerning General Assembly resolution 50/120
60. The Employer Vice-Chairperson observed that the ongoing reforms of UN system operational activities, aimed at increasing coherence and effective coordination, represented a major challenge for the ILO. Referring to the measures taken by the ILO as outlined in the report, he particularly underscored the need for clear directions, policy guidelines and instructions from headquarters to the field structure and for training and briefing of ILO staff, particularly in the field, as the issues involved were complex.
61. In the increasingly competitive environment, offering opportunities and risks for the ILO, as described in the document, the ILO needed to develop specific measures in terms of substance and operational efficiency in order to remain relevant. His group welcomed the UN Staff College initiative entrusted to the Turin Centre.
62. The Worker Vice-Chairperson appreciated the thorough information provided in the report. The decline in overall official development assistance, which had implications for the ILO, was also especially felt in the poorest countries and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular. In the emerging new framework of UN system operational activities, the ILO had to be innovative and demonstrate its effectiveness through the translation of the country objectives into programmes and projects. The changes in the UNDP posed a challenge for the ILO to develop new forms of collaboration within a changing framework. As regards the Turin Centre's responsibility for the development of the UN Staff College, he observed that this should not in any way detract from the Turin Centre's primary function as an ILO training centre.
63. The ILO was well placed to ensure effective follow-up on General Assembly resolution 50/120, according to Mr. Beye (Employer member), as it had taken steps to meet the need for a more multidisciplinary approach through the MDTs and because the decentralization measures should yield greater operational efficiency. The fact that the Turin Centre had been entrusted with the UN Staff College project should be seen as recognition of the accomplishments of the Centre.
64. The representative of the Government of South Africa considered that the Office document served to alert and sensitize the Governing Body to the challenges and difficulties the Office was facing, and helped it to develop a better understanding of the considerable changes under way in the UN system as regards development activities. In the future further analysis would be useful of the implications for the ILO of the changes in UNDP and in the broader UN system.
65. South Africa was preparing for the new requirements of development cooperation and for a change in status from a country receiving aid to a country which wanted to share its experience and expertise with other countries in line with the TCDC concept.
66. The representative of the Government Sweden welcomed the document and the efforts by the ILO to participate actively in inter-agency discussions on continuing UN reforms. There was also a need to ensure harmony among the positions adopted by governments in the different fora.
67. The representative of the United Kingdom Government considered General Assembly resolution 50/120 a crucial step forward in improving operational efficiency and coherence within the UN system, and encouraged the ILO to do all it could to support these efforts, in particular through active participation in and support for the resident coordinator system.
68. A representative of the Director-General (Mr. Trémeaud, Assistant Director General and Director of the Turin Centre), replying to the discussion, said that 75 per cent of the Turin Centre's activities were for the ILO. The UN Staff College reinforced and supplemented the Turin Centre's other activities. Many of the activities under the UN Staff College were aimed at breathing life into and fostering practical collaboration and coordination with regard to ongoing UN reforms, and it could only be welcomed that this took place under ILO auspices.
69. The Committee took note of the Office paper.
Reports of the UN Joint Inspection Unit
(a) United Nations system support for science
and technology in Africa
(b) United Nations system support for science
and technology in Asia and the Pacific
(c) National execution of projects
(d) Evaluation of the United Nations new agenda
for the development of Africa in the 1990s
(UN-NADAF): Towards a more operational approach?
70. The Employer Vice-Chairperson, noting the Offices position concerning the consideration of a set of penalties by funding agencies (recommendation 4, section (a)), wondered if such an arrangement would appeal to all of the donor agencies.
71. The Worker Vice-Chairperson regretted that the JIU reports were not available with the Office paper. He had obtained copies only in the room. In the circumstances, he could only take note of the information contained in the Office paper.
72. The representative of the Government of Japan expressed his appreciation of the comprehensive document submitted to the Committee and the Director-Generals comments on the JIU recommendations. He recalled that resolution 50/233 adopted by the General Assembly on 31 July 1996 requested full compliance with the statutory reporting procedures for the consideration of the JIU reports. The resolution also requested the ILO to take measures to ensure that the JIUs thematic reports were included in the agendas of the appropriate executive bodies. He appreciated that the ILO had reacted so rapidly to the resolution, and considered this was a sign of progress in the relationship between the ILO and the JIU which he urged the secretariat to maintain.
73. He considered the inadequate arrangement outlined in paragraph 26, whereby JIU reports and related ACC comments would be made available for consultation in the meeting room. He suggested that the executive summaries and recommendations and the ACC comments be distributed early to member States and social partners to allow time for their consideration. He proposed that the secretariat should request the JIU to address the Committee when JIU reports were included in the agenda. The weakest point of the JIU was that it had no mandate to ensure the recommendations were implemented. However, follow-up, as outlined in the above General Assembly resolution, should be done within the framework of member States and the social partners, the ILO secretariat and the JIU. In order for the JIU recommendation to be implemented appropriately, it was imperative that they be approved by the Governing Body Committee concerned. Therefore, when the Committee discussed certain recommendations, it should invite the Governing Body to approve them for implementation. Unfortunately, this system was not working well. It evidently would not work without the completion of the ongoing reform process in the JIU itself and the member States and social partners continued positive and constant attention to the relationship between the ILO and the JIU. Member States, including the IMEC countries, had already begun to take concrete steps in this direction. He hoped that the secretariat would continue to make efforts in line with this process.
74. The representative of the Government of the United Kingdom noted with satisfaction that the Office supported the JIU recommendations on national execution, since this was the most promising modality of technical cooperation.
75. Referring to the JIU recommendation on technical backstopping, Mr. Beye (Employer member), emphasized the need for coordinated procedures throughout the UN system. He noted that paragraph 8, of the first recommendation (a) should have mentioned not only governments agreement to the formulation of the national strategy note but also their involvement in the formulation process.
76. Referring to the subregional integration provided for in recommendation 6 of the last resolution, he drew attention to the considerable efforts made by countries in West Africa in the field of labour legislation and social security, and called for more regular involvement of the multidisciplinary advisory teams to further strengthen these developments.
77. The representative of the Government of the United States agreed with other Committee members that the Governing Body should take an active role in JIU-related matters.
78. The representative of the Government of Panama welcomed the ILOs efforts in areas of interest to its constituents.
79. An observer from the Joint Inspection Unit recalled that the Unit was a subsidiary body of the United Nations with responsibility for inspections and evaluations. Referring to resolution 50/233, mentioned earlier by the representative of the Government of Japan, he noted that the second item on the agenda should have included references to the JIU report on "The advancement of women through and in the programmes of the United Nations system: What happens after the Fourth World Conference on women?". The JIU expected follow-up action on its reports, but this was very difficult when they were only submitted to the Committee for information. He referred to the importance of independent evaluations mentioned by Committee members during the discussion of previous agenda items, and recalled that the Unit was an external evaluation body and its services were available to the ILO.
80. A representative of the Director-General (Mrs. Chinery-Hesse, Deputy Director-General) noted that the conclusions and recommendations of JIU reports had been reflected in previous ILO reports, when appropriate.
81. Referring to the reduced circulation of JIU reports, she said that the Office had been guided by the decision of the Governing Body at its 212th Session (February-March 1980) that JIU reports should be made available to any member of the Committee or the Governing Body on request, but that they should not be distributed freely. This system, which had been initiated by the Employers group, had served the needs of the Governing Body, reduced the size and number of documents reproduced and circulated and resulting in savings. In the light of the comments expressed in the discussion, the Governing Body might wish to reconsider its decision.
82. The Committee took note of the Office paper.
* * *
83. In accordance with the usual practice, it was decided that the agenda for the Committee's next meeting would be drawn up by its Officers in consultation with the Office.
Geneva, 14 November 1996.
(Signed) Ms. A.C. Diallo, Chairperson.
Point for decision: Paragraph 48.