Promotional Activities and Technical Cooperation

Promotional Activities

Tripartite Seminars

In 2005, three subregional tripartite seminars were organized to promote the Tripartite Declaration at the subregional level in three continents. These seminars provided an opportunity for the tripartite constituents of the countries concerned, to discuss and share experiences regarding social and labour effects of FDI and multinationals, helping them identify issues that might be tackled through subsequent technical cooperation activities in line with the principles of the Tripartite Declaration.

• The 1st symposium (pdf, 409KB) was held in Pretoria, South Africa, on 25 - 26 January for the countries of the South African Development Community (SADC): Angola, Botswana, Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

• The 2nd symposium (pdf, 586KB) took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 11 - 12 April for the following South East Asian countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

• The 3rd symposium (pdf, 494KB) was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 25 - 26 April and covered MERCOSUR countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Past activities

• Symposium on the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy and related multilateral initiatives (Geneva, 24 November 2003) (pdf, 64KB)
• Tripartite Forum on Promoting the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (March 2002) (pdf, 128KB)

Technical Cooperation

Sustainable Development through the Global Compact

This project, funded by the Italian government, promotes the Global Compact, the MNE Declaration, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as essential instruments to advance CSR and ensure the social dimension of globalisation. Its main objective is to encourage enterprises and the world of work to adopt good labour policies and practices that contribute to sustainable development. Furthermore, the project aims at developing networks - with the participating enterprises, employers’ organizations, trade unions, public and private institutions and other interested parties - to facilitate exchange of experiences in putting the principles into practice.

The project is mainly addressed to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in Italy, Tunisia, Morocco and Albania. In each country, the project is implemented in close collaboration with the tripartite partners and other organizations that are interested in promoting CSR.

The first phase of implementation of the project consists of an information campaign to raise awareness of the three instruments promoted, which will be followed by training seminars for company managers and trade unions about how to integrate the labour principles in their operations.

The information campaign includes the creation of a Global Compact web-portal in each country containing relevant information concerning the project and CSR, as well as databases of Global Compact participants in the four countries and their examples of good practices.

Piloting CSR through globally agreed guidelines project

This project funded by the United Kingdom organized tripartite seminars at national level in several countries to promote CSR based on the application of the principles of the MNE Declaration. In most countries, the activities focused on specific sectors, taking into account the priorities identified by the local tripartite partners. In each case, the project tried to undertake a research before organizing the seminar, in order to determine the main issues to be addressed. Some of those researches were published as working papers (Kenya, Uganda and Costa Rica).

• National Tripartite Seminar on Social Dialogue and Employment in Azerbaijan (Baku, April 2004) jointly organized with the InFocus Programme on Social Dialogue and the ILO Office in Moscow.
• Tripartite Seminar on Promoting the MNE Declaration: Multinational Enterprises and the Impact of Foreign Direct Investment in Costa Rica (San José, October 2003).
• Tripartite Seminar on Promoting the MNE Declaration and Social Dialogue in the Ugandan Plantation Sector (pdf, 266KB). Kampala, April 2003.
• National Tripartite Seminar on the MNE Declaration and Social Dialogue in the Plantation Sector (pdf, 85KB). Nairobi, Kenya, October 2002.
• Seminar "Responsabilidade Social Empresarial e Multinacionais. Encontro com empresas multinacionais para discutir uma agenda de trabalho para o Brasil" (pdf, 186KB). São Paulo, Brazil, May 2002 organized in collaboration with ETHOS, a leading NGO concerned with CSR issues.