This global meeting brought together producers and users of decent work indicators to share experiences and discuss main challenges for measuring and monitoring decent work at the national level. Participants included officials from national statistical offices, ministries of labour, and workers’ and employers’ organizations, ILO experts, and representatives from the European Commission and relevant UN agencies. It gave an opportunity to those countries which have participated in the MAP project to present lessons learnt from their experience in several important areas: how the ILO framework on measuring decent work has been applied; how it has been adapted to national priorities; what are the main challenges; and what are the tools and supports that are developed by ILO to respond to these challenges.

The discussion focused on the following themes:
 
·      what is measured (indicators identified at national level, definitions);
·      how is it measured (data collection tools, compilation and databases);
·      for what purpose decent work is measured at national level;
·      main outputs (national assessments on progress and deficits on decent work); and
·      for whom (main users and links to policy-making).
 
This meeting – drawing upon the Tripartite Meeting of Experts (TME) in September 2008 – took stock of past and existing initiatives to develop decent work indicators both in international organizations and academic or research institutions, and discussed how existing methodologies and networks may be used for the project components linked to i) statistical data collection and ii) empirical policy analysis of decent work data. It contributed to strengthening ILO constituents’ capacities to measure and monitor decent work. A full report on lessons learnt and main challenges has been produced from the proceedings. Recommendations will be formulated for tools and guidelines and on a global methodology for self-monitoring and self-assessment of progress towards decent work. This global methodology will be further developed and discussed at the MAP project’s Global Conference (mid-2013), and presented at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (end 2013).