RBSA

The Regular Budget Supplementary Account (RBSA) in Africa

The Regular Budget Supplementary Account (RBSA) was established to finance ILO activities that fall under the core mandate of the organization but cannot be implemented because of resource or capacity gaps in the Office. It was proposed by the Director-General as a third source of funding - in addition to the regular budget and extra-budgetary resources - to expand and deepen the capacity to deliver Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) in the context of United Nations reform and to strengthen the decent work components of national development plans.The following thematic areas are currently being implemented in Africa: Microfinance, Social protection, Labour Migration, Youth employment, Women’s entrepreneurship development, Labour Market Information Systems, Employment-intensive programmes and the elimination of child labour.
The role of constituents in the implementation of these RBSA programmes is crucial.
 
Date of project started: September 2008: This action research project aims to address Decent Work Challenges (e.g. poor working conditions, child labour and indebtedness) among microfinance clients. The ILO supports partner microfinance institutions to introduce innovative products, trainings and/or awareness raising campaigns to achieve this goal. Impact is measured through periodic surveys at the client level. The project runs in Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria and Uganda.

Date of project started: September 2008: The key outputs of this results-oriented project are: labour statistics capacity development, integrated training programme on labour market information systems; collection of wage related statistics as an input into the Global Wage report; establishment of an LMI tool for advocacy and policy-making and piloting of the new MDG indicators on employment.

Date of project started: September 2008: The project approach is to mainstream youth employment into relevant broader policies/programmes and to develop specifically targeted interventions for disadvantaged young people. National Action Plans on Youth Employment have been approved or are in process in Botswana, Ghana, Mali, Zambia, Tanzania, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Egypt, DRC, Lesotho, Kenya, Rwanda, Togo, Senegal and Nigeria.  

Date of project started: September 2008: Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the ILO Microinsurance Innovation Facility leads in efforts to make insurance accessible to low income households. The goal is to undertake studies and research, conduct training, as well as to provide innovation grants. There are ongoing activities in Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya, S. Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. More programmes are planned in the CIMA zone (Francophone W. Africa) as well as in Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt.  Information about the study results could be found at the Working Paper no.4: The Landscape of Microinsurance in Africa - (pdf)
 
 

Date of project started: September 2008: The program is aimed at policy makers and administrators responsible for formulating and implementing migration policies, social partners, migrant associations and research institutes in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.The indirect beneficiaries are targeted migrant workers, men and women and their families, especially targeting young, low skilled and vulnerable and migrant communities in destination countries.

Date of project started: September 2008: The general ILO training concept of QUATRAIN is adapted to the case of African countries (Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Burundi, Cameroon, Guinea, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal) to focus on the reinforcement of financial governance capacities and institutional tools at the national and institutional levels. One necessary condition for the successful implementation of social security falls on the availability of sufficiently trained technical experts, managers, policy makers and tripartite partners.This project initiative is directed to help governments:
(i) Coherently plan social protection priorities;   (ii) Project financial and fiscal implications of their choices; and  (iii) Organize, control and evaluate experience over time so they remain effective or adopt timely reforms to administer and manage sustainable national benefit delivery systems.
Date of project started: September 2008: The project assists governments, in consultation with the social partners (workers and employers), to strengthen national and regional strategies for the extension of social security coverage to African migrant workers and their families based on the following order of priorities:
(i) the promotion of regional and bilateral social security agreements;
(ii) the inclusion of social security provisions in labour migration programmes, including temporary and circular migration schemes,
(iii) the reinforcement of regional conventions on social security;
(iv) the proposition of voluntary insurance schemes to migrant workers abroad.
While formulating strategies to extend social security coverage to migrant workers and their families, efforts are simultaneously being made to enhance the coverage and governance of the existing social security schemes in Africa.
Date project started:September 2008: Women entrepreneurs face gender-based barriers to starting and growing their businesses: lack of access to formal finance, limited access to information, social and cultural practices, domestic violence, etc. Women’s Entrepreneurship Development has a comparative advantage to address women’s economic vulnerability. The project aim is to create an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs, increase the capacity of workers and employers to advocate for WED, expand the data and information available for the promotion of WED and mainstream the relevant ILO Gender tools.