Middle-income countries: African tripartite constituents endorse the “Praia Consensus”

PRAIA/ABIDJAN (ILO News) – Government, employers’ and workers’ representatives of 15 African countries have called for the speedy implementation of an ILO Strategy entitled “Decent Work in Middle-Income Countries” of Africa.

Following a two-day workshop convened by the ILO Regional Office for Africa in Praia, Cabo Verde, delegates to the meeting adopted a communiqué, asserting that they “further endorse the common implementation principles that must guide the Office’s interventions in Middle-Income Countries”.

The communiqué defined their commitment “to working together to demonstrate that through national commitment and international solidarity we can build a better future and enhance the prospects for prosperity and welfare in Africa”.

“We urge national governments, social partners, regional economic communities, and the international community to contribute to ensuring that this strategy is realized through joint, as well as individual concrete endeavours geared towards promoting job-rich inclusive growth, sustainable enterprises, greater social justice, full respect for the fundamental principles and rights at work, the extension of social protection, and vibrant social dialogue, as well as the effective governance of democratic labour market institutions and the rapid formalization of the informal economy”, the “Praia Consensus” underscored.

Moreover, “we call upon our governments to make Decent Work a central goal of national development plans and strategies”, they added.

Almost half of the 54 African nations have been classified as middle-income countries (MIC) by the World Bank. Yet, the term MIC masks an enormous variety and heterogeneity of country-specific contexts and situations. ILO's contribution to the ongoing debate is the design and promotion of a refined intervention strategy that takes into account the individual context of each Africa middle-income country.

The Prime Minister of Cabo Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, who opened the conference, committed to support and implement the strategy at the national level.

A message reinforced by the ILO’s Assistant Director General and Regional Director for Africa, Aeneas Chuma who pinpointed that “a strategy is only as good as its implementation. We need concretely-defined development pathways for middle-income countries” in Africa.

The African tripartite communiqué was officially endorsed by Algeria, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tunisia and Zambia in the presence of PM Ulisses Correia e Silva, Aeneas Chuma of the ILO, Ulrika Richardson (UN resident Coordinator - Cabo Verde), Ousseine Diallo, Secretary-General of the Federation of West African Employers’ Association, and Mezhoud Arezki, Secretary-General of the Organisation of African trade Union Unity (OATUU).