Monitoring and Assessing Progress on Decent Work (MAP)

 

The “Monitoring and Assessing Progress on Decent Work” – MAP – is a pilot-project aimed at implementing the ILO framework on decent work measurement, taking into account legal and statistic indicators.

Measuring decent work, monitoring and assessing progress towards achieving this universal goal represent primary concerns for all countries, irrespective of their level of development. Yet, its multifaceted nature makes measurement a complex task. In their efforts to evaluate national situations, identify eventual decent work deficits and monitor progress, ILO constituents have sought the Organization’s support and technical cooperation. These quests culminated in 2008 with the adoption of the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization which called upon member States to consider “the establishment of appropriate indicators or statistics, if necessary with the assistance of the ILO, to monitor and evaluate the progress made” in the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda.

The MAP Project was initiated to address this need. With funding from the European Union for a period of four years (2009 to 2013), MAP is mobilizing government agencies, ministries of Labour, national statistical offices, workers’ and employers’ organizations and academia to strengthen the capacity of developing and transition countries to self-monitor and assess progress made towards achieving decent work for all. The project – coordinated by ILO’s Policy Integration Department in collaboration with the Department of Statistics, technical units and field offices and the International Training Centre in Turin – covers nine countries in four regions: Africa (Niger and Zambia), Asia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines), Europe (Ukraine) and Latin America (Brazil and Peru).

MAP’s strategy is threefold:
  1. facilitate the identification of decent work indicators, relevant at national level;
  2. support data collection through questionnaire design, surveys and database management; and
  3. use the collected data for analysis of decent work trends and deficits in order to mainstream decent work objectives into national policies. 
The methodology used consists of the preparation of statistical and legel indicators covering all dimensions of work, which can be used to develop Decent Work Country Profiles.

The profiles examine ten substantive elements of decent work, with gender equality and other forms of non-discrimination as cross-cutting issues. The ten elements are: employment opportunities; adequate earnings and productive work; decent hours; combing work, family and personal life; work that should be abolished; stability and security of work; equal opportunity and treatment in employment; safe work environment; social security; and social dialogue, workers’ and employers’ representation.