High-Level Forum on 'Working Out of Poverty: A Decent Work Approach to Development and the MDGs'

A side event to the UNGA 63^rd Session in New York, the Forum emphasised the importance of a Decent Work component for poverty reduction and the achievement of the MDGs. The event was co-organised by the ILO and the international NGO “Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative”, with the support of the Government of Norway.

The participants were high-level and wide-ranging, including Juan Somavia, Elders Mary Robinson and Ela Bhatt, the newly-elected High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Presidents of Finland and Liberia, several ministers from industrialized and developing countries, and representatives of international organizations, business, workers and civil society. They recognised the need for Decent Work as an integral part of poverty reduction strategies, and called for its more complete integration into development programmes.

The message of the meeting reached out to the international development community, notably through the speech of participant Ela Bhatt before the UNGA just a few days later on 25 September. “A word that is largely absent from the development goals,” she said, “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.”

“Poverty reduction and Decent Work are the same agenda”, said Mr. Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator, “Poverty is reduced not through charity, but through development strategies that integrate poverty alleviation, decent work and growth”.