Report of activities Cinterfor/ILO 2001-2002

IV. ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

Financial resources

Cinterfor/ILO continued to enjoy a balanced financial situation in the period 2001/2002 despite the acute economic and financial crisis that affected the region.

Two favourable facts have to be emphasised this biennium, that have encouraged the Centre and supported it in its tasks. In the first place, the revenue from contributions by member countries has remained high notwithstanding the sustained financial crisis that is afflicting the whole area, and secondly, the ILO has become increasingly involved in vocational training, consequently providing strong backing to the work of the Centre.

On the one hand, the promptness and regularity shown by member institutions in honouring their financial pledges as well as their having maintained the same level of contributions in spite of the critical situation of the region has meant for Cinterfor/ILO a clear sign of support by member countries of the Centre’s budget and management. Without that sustained backing the Centre could hardly have fulfilled the plan of action adopted by the Meeting of the Technical Committee. The Centre received approximately US$ 450,000 in the 2000-2001 period for contributions by member institutions, and more than US$ 310,000 from January 2002 to June 2003.

On the other hand, the greater involvement of the ILO in vocational training as an instrument for promoting employment, enhancing productivity, decent work and gender equity is leading it to rely increasingly on Cinterfor/ILO as supplier of technical co-operation and provider of substantive contributions to the work of the International Labour Office in the region and the world in general. In this sense, the ILO has allocated considerable additional resources, either through its services at Geneva Headquarters, its Regional Office for the Latin America and the Caribbean, and other ILO units in the region or Turin, for the financing of practical activities in the field of training.

The ILO regular contribution to the Centre’s budget amounted to approximately US$ 1,700,000 and covered the basic operational costs of the Cinterfor/ILO Office. At the same time extraordinary resources from Headquarters, mainly through the Infocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability (IFP/SKILLS) exceeded US$ 240,000 that went to the implementation of activities, research, seminars, publications, etc. and technical co-operation activities in countries of the region.

For its part, as in previous years the ILO Regional Office granted special allocations that this biennium amounted to more than US$ 360,000. This contribution enabled the Centre to carry out technical co-operation activities (seminars, research, publications etc.) as well as the training and updating of several of its officers, the renewal of its computerised equipment and maintenance of Cinterfor/ILO facilities.

Contributions by ILO Offices in countries of the region, by the International Training Centre at Turin for the implementation of practical activities in the countries and sub-regions amounted to approximately US$ 25,000 during this period. This figure also includes the co-operation offered by Cinterfor/ILO to other ILO Offices in the region in technical co-operation in VT.

In the 2001-2002 biennium the Centre received international technical co-operation funds to the amount of over US$ 330,000. Three technical co-operation sources made it possible to carry out activities in the areas of Gender and Youth:

A contribution by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB/FOMIN) financed operation of the Regional Coordinating Unit of the Regional Programme to Strengthen the Technical and Vocational Training of Low-income Women in Latin America (FORMUJER) providing the sum of more than US$ 200,000 for its activities.

The PROIMUJER Project, financed by the National Employment Board (JUNAE) of Uruguay, provided over US$ 115,000 in the present period.

The contribution of the National Youth Institute (INJUVE) of Spain enabled the Centre to implement projects RLA/00/04M/SPA in 2001 and RLA/02/M02/SPA in 2002 in the area of youth training and employment at regional level. This contribution amounted approximately to US$ 20,000.

In January 2003 resources were received from the Swiss Development Co-operation (SDC) for the updating of the Cinterfor/ILO website in English.

Income through the sale of publications grew considerably as compared to the preceding two-year period. In the 1998-99 period it was US$ 27, 525 whereas in 2000-01 it exceeded US$ 60,000. This was due, among other things, to the diversification of distribution channels (ILO units, book stores, member institutions, etc.) and to joint publishing undertakings with other organisations, mainly United Nations Agencies (UNDP, WHO, ECLAC).

The combination of all these factors made implementation of the Cinterfor/ILO action programme for the biennium possible. Likewise, the contributions in services offered by the national and international organisations that co-sponsored seminars, technical meetings, internships, etc. (board and lodging expenses, logistic support, travelling, etc.), costs defrayed by participating institutions (passages, pocket money and insurance for their representatives) as well as specific funds contributed by national and international organisations, were decisive in facilitating implementation of activities planned for the period under review.