GENEVA (ILO News) – In an effort to help boost the technical cooperation programme and further harmonize the planning and implementation of its operational programme, the ILO met today with main external donors, governments and agencies.
The two-day meeting, the third in a series of informal annual ILO-donor gatherings, is to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the ILO strategy for the development of its technical cooperation programme in closer partnership with its donors.
Partnerships are an essential link in the ILO’s efforts to engage and act on current multilateral processes and changing aid structures, and to secure extra-budgetary funding for technical cooperation. In his opening remarks, the ILO Director-General Mr. Juan Somavia commended donors for their strategic and generous contributions and trust in ILO programmes, and assured them that the Organization will continue to play a global role in developing strategic partnerships within the UN System. He especially thanked donors (Note 1) for their contributions to the newly established Regular Budget Supplementary Account (RBSA) (Note 2).
Today’s meeting comes at an exceptionally important moment, as an effective and coordinated effort to address the immediate financial, food and fuel crises must be a first step towards increased cooperation and coherence in the global policy-making. “It will be very difficult to evaluate the final impact the current credit crunch will have on the real economy, especially on emerging markets. In the face of the current crises we must not abandon, but rather step up our partnerships for decent work”, Mr. Somavia added.
What is more, the current grim global financial situation will not allow any foreseeable increase in the regular budget, he said, adding that the process of reform of the financial system, together with a political analysis between Governments about the role international organizations will play in the global governance framework, is to be expected soon.
In a statement to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank meetings on 10-11 October, the Director-General cited the “grave consequences” of the global financial crisis, adding “Our financial systems must support, not undermine, fairness in society and the importance of sustainable enterprises and decent and productive work to stable, peaceful communities”.
The Director-General further reminded participants of the important statement made by Ela Bhatt at the recent High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals: “A word that is largely absent from the Development Goals is Work. In my experience, the link between poverty and growth is decent work. Decent work means full employment at the household level; it builds the local economy and strengthens a community.”
The recent changes in the international development assistance architecture have sought to link aid to effectiveness, providing a better focus to achieve results and building more effective and inclusive partnerships that brings country ownership to the fore of the development process. The new aid architecture bears an immediate impact on the ILO programmes that are increasingly demand-driven and nationally owned. In the future this trend will continue, as donors will be encouraged to shift away from highly earmarked funding with a potential distorting effect on achieving decent work outcomes. Donors are encouraged to support a three-pronged approach for funding technical cooperation, which should be un-earmarked, predictable, inclusive and linked to decent work outcomes, through: 1) RBSA, 2) multi-annual partnership agreements, and 3) access to UN joint programmes, including the One UN Funds.
Over the years, the ILO has steadily increased the volume of extra-budgetary resources, amounting to US$ 224 million in 2007. Figures for 2008 look promising, with a total of US$ 215 million already pledged by October 2008, compared to the US$ 70 million for the same period in 2007.
In the wake of the 2005 Paris Declaration, the 2007 Resolution on the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR), the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), the 2008 UN MDG Summit and the ongoing UN Reform processes, the ILO is responding to the call to “unlock the full potential of aid”. The 2008 ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization will serve as main guide and instrument for the allocation of resources towards the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda.
For more information, please contact:
Partnerships and Development Cooperation DepartmentInternational Labour Office
4 route des Morillons
CH-1211 Geneva 22
Switzerland
Tel. +4122/799-7239
Fax +4122/799-6872
PARDEV@ilo.org
www.ilo.org/pardev
Note 1 - Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the UK were the first donors to support the RBSA.
Note 2 - The Regular Budget Supplementary Account (RBSA) was established to expand and deepen the ILO’s capacity to deliver on decent work outcomes and priorities and to overcome the gap in the real growth needed for the 2008-09 regular budget.
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