The High-Level Forum on Working Out of Poverty: A Decent Work Approach to Development and the MDGs held on 7-9 September 2008 brought together a wide range of stakeholders in development in Africa to share their experiences as relevant to the reconstruction and development of Liberia. The ILO co-organized the event with “Realizing Rights (RR): The Ethical Globalization Initiative” and the Ministry of Labour of Liberia, and was supported by the government of Norway.

Participants included H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia as well as the Ministry of Labour of Liberia Samuel Kofi Woods, former High Commissioner of Human Rights and founder of RR Mary Robinson. UN Resident Coordinator in Liberia Jordan Ryan was also present, as were representatives of of the ILO and its tripartite constituents.

Experiences shared by participants from Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Ghana highlighted the need for policy coherence in development programmes of African countries. Decent Work would have to be at the centre of any development reform package to achieve inclusive and sustainable progress. To this end, efforts and resources would have to promote domestic and labour-intensive industries, especially SMEs, and encourage social dialogue.

In her opening speech, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf restated her government’s commitment to a Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) for the reconstruction and development of Liberia, with Decent Work at its heart. “One of the government's most important goals during the PRS period,” she said, “is to promote rapid creation of productive employment that will reduce poverty, ensure peace and stability, and enhance the overall well-being of the Liberian population…The next three years will be critical.”

Mary Robinson insisted that Decent Work programmes would have to address the problems of formal and informal workers alike, and would need in particular to target the most vulnerable social groups, amongst others self-employed women market vendors, and unemployed youth.

UN Resident Coordinator in Liberia Jordan Ryan reinforced this latter point in his intervention which emphasised the urgent need for the generation of Decent Work opportunities, not least as a peace-keeping strategy. Especially for ex-combatant youths, he said, “a decent job is the peace-dividend”.

In addition to highlighting the need for coherent development policies which promote Decent Work, the discussions at the Monrovia Forum engaged business leaders, emphasising that their investments in Decent Work, far from putting them at a competitive disadvantage, would in fact help to create a business friendly environment. A tripartite panel discussed lessons for decent work country programmes, drawing form experiences in Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Zambia.

A coherent and comprehensive policy package for development at a national level would, however, have to be complemented by greater coherence between the policies of international organizations. As H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would argue two weeks later on 22 September at the High-Level Forum Working Out of Poverty: A Decent Work Approach to Development and the MDGs in New York, national governments taking measures to promote Decent Work would have to be assisted through greater amounts of aid that is channelled directly into their budget, rather than into disparate donor-driven aid programmes.