Decent Work proposed as a way to alleviate poverty in Zimbabwe

ILO News (Harare): In a country where more than two thirds of its population reside in the rural areas with agriculture being their main occupation, better integration of decent work in the rural economy has been recommended by ILO during a strategic ILO-supported Knowledge Sharing Forum held in Harare.

The population dynamics and statistics of having more than two thirds of the population residing in rural areas is a cause for immediate strategizing. Provision of decent work as a way to alleviate poverty will go a long way”, Dr A. Makochekanwa, Senior Economist and Lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Zimbabwe.

Rural communities face a myriad of challenges which require attention from government, development partners, investors and businesses. Access to education and training is limited to the rural populace, which is worsened by the absence of universities, polytechnics or vocational colleges. No companies are available to train and recruit workers. Contract workers in rural areas are mainly workers deployed by and from bigger companies in urban areas. Consequently, social protection coverage is lacking, coupled by poor health and safety regulations.

Lack of access to information results in human rights abuses, such as child labour and exploitation of workers. Contracts are verbal and there is no way of tracking accountability and commitment. Social dialogue mechanisms, such as trade or labour unions structures to represent workers in addressing grievances do not exist in rural areas. Most, if not all trade unions are headquartered in urban areas.

Standards and rights at work

Standards and rights are central to decent employment and incomes, social protection and social dialogue and tripartism. Rights are one of the four pillars on the ILO decent work agenda.

Workers require basic rights such as social protection, right to organise, collective bargaining, equal remuneration and freedom of association. For these rights to be exercised, there must be some form of employment. However, due to the informalities that exist within the rural economy, most workers are “own-account workers” hence do not have an employer.

This serves as emphasis for urgent need to provide decent work in rural areas – the key theme of the two day discussion. Government and stakeholders have an obligation to provide an enabling environment to deal with restrictive by-laws.

Social Dialogue and tripartism require a bottom up approach in order to be effective, emphasized experts.

“It is important to involve local people in decisions that affect their daily lives. Consultations with other stakeholders are key, but the main stakeholders are the rural people, who are set to benefit or lose from the decisions”, Mr E Mutemeri from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, stated.

Providing infrastructure building dams, irrigation all year round (to curb drought), investments, education, health, roads, electricity. All these are crucial in the development of the rural economy. Accountability and managing (preventing) corruption is essential in ensuring the success of any development project in rural areas.

The Rural Economy Knowledge Sharing Forum” was held from 23-24 August 2016 in Harare. The ILO had been working on rural economy issues under the Joint Programme for Gender Equality.