Extra-ordinary meeting of SADC Ministers and social partners responsible for employment and labour

The meeting will also review the Draft Regional Integration Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and priorities for the ELS, follow-up on member states’ Implementation of the 2004 African Union(AU) Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment Promotion and Poverty Alleviation, as well as review member progress on the ratification and implementation of International labour Organization(ILO) governance international labour standards, in particular Convention No 151 on Labour Relations (Public Service), 1978. The Convention concerns Protection of the Right to Organise and Procedures for Determining Conditions of Employment in the Public Service.

The ILO will be represented at this week long meeting by the Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa – Mr Aeneas Chapinga Chuma and Officers from ILO Offices in Pretoria and Harare. The ILO has provided technical and financial support to SADC programmes on employment and labour under the framework of the Decent Work Programme for the region. The ILO places great importance in working with Regional Economic Communities (RECS) to achieve greater policy coherence and to increase support for the Decent Work Agenda within the context of continental, regional and national development strategies.

Initially conceived in the 1960 – 1970s as the ‘Front Line States”, it became the Southern Africa Community Development Coordination Conference Community in 1980 and was transformed to SADC – Southern Africa Development Community in August 1992. SADC, an inter-governmental organization based in Gaborone, Botswana, has the mandate to further social, development, economic, health, agriculture, diplomatic, defence and security cooperation among its member states. It has established numerous protocols to give guidance to these areas of focus.

The Employment and Labour Sector (ELS) established in 1996 operates on a tripartite basis i.e. workers, employers and governments consult as equals, and reports to the Council of Ministers – i.e. ministers responsible for labour and employment issues. The mandate of ELS is to ensure that member States respect workers’ rights and grant basic freedoms in the world of work such as freedom of association and collective bargaining as guided by the International Labour Standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Contact
International Labour Organization; Country Office for Zimbabwe; 8 Arundel Office Park; Norfolk Road; Mt Pleasant; P.O. Box 210; Harare. Zimbabwe. Tel: 2634 369805 – 12; Cell: 263 772 129 210-3; email: [email protected]; Website: www.ilo.org/harare