Suriname participates in ILO assessment to strengthen opportunities for sustainable enterprises

In early 2019, during the development of Suriname’s Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP), national tripartite constituents sought assistance with creating an enabling business environment for sustainable enterprises to start, consolidate and grow. During the exercise, they raised that the country required support to increase enterprise productivity and to remove barriers that hinder national productivity. As a first step toward achieving these goals, the International Labour Organization (ILO) agreed to undertake an Enabling Environment for Sustainable Enterprise (EESE) assessment with a special focus on the external factors affecting business productivity.

In response, the ILO, with support from experts in the area of productivity and surveys, developed a standard survey to be used for an EESE assessment focusing on productivity, which capitalizes on the agency’s general EESE methodology. This methodology was initially developed to assess, advocate and reform the environment in which enterprises start up and grow, and adapted to investigate productivity. It allows stakeholders to identify major constraints hampering business development and productivity and fosters dialogue between workers, employers and the government to reach shared policy recommendations. The assessment, available in English and Dutch, forms the basis for the adoption of reforms leading to unlocking entrepreneurial potential, supporting productivity enhancements and boosting investments that can help generate overall economic growth, create better jobs and reduce poverty.

“The request from Suriname was a new challenge for the EESE team, considering how we can consider the enabling environment through productivity lens. While productivity drivers, in the ILO, are rather often considered at the enterprise level, the request from our constituents in Suriname pushed us in innovating and piloting a new approach. We developed some methodology and mobilized expertise to help us identifying the external factors of productivity and apply them to the ILO framework on enabling environment for sustainable enterprises,” explained Ms Severine Deboos, Team Leader, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)/EESE Unit, ILO Geneva.

The DWCP Monitoring Committee and invited experts gathered virtually on 24 May and 15 June 2021 to validate the findings of the country’s 2019 EESE Assessment, discuss and agree on priorities to inform the development of national action plans to advance the most important factors to enable sustainable enterprise development and productivity.

On behalf of the Monitoring Commission of Suriname’s Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP), Chairperson Mr. Glenn Piroe, who is also the Deputy Director of Legal and International Affairs at the Ministry of Labour, Employment Opportunity and Youth Affairs, expressed his gratitude towards the ILO and the experts for preparing and facilitating the finalization of the action plans.

“These plans will be formally presented on 27 August 2021 by the tripartite Monitoring Commission to the Honourable Rishma Kuldipsingh, Minister of Labour, Employment and Youth Affairs. The plans of action will be communicated to all relevant state and non-state actors. The Commission will reiterate the importance of the implementation of the by law established by the Centre of Innovation and Productivity in relation to the unfolding of the plans of action,” said Mr Piroe.

The discussion led to the production of three action plans, available in English and in Dutch. They were adopted on 15 June 2021 by the representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Employment Opportunity and Youth Affairs; the Vereniging Surinaams Bedrijfsleven (VSB) / Suriname Trade and Industry Association (STIA) and Raad van Vakcentrales / Council of Trade Unions in Suriname (RAVAKSUR).

“The development of the EESE action plans marked an important milestone in Suriname’s quest to ensure the establishment of an appropriate policy environment for the promotion and development of sustainable enterprises in the country,” said Mr Dennis Zulu, Director, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean. “These plans should however not be seen to be an end by themselves. They were designed to clearly outline the necessary pathways, responsibilities and commitment needed to facilitate the creation, operation and growth of sustainable enterprises in Suriname. This will require the combined efforts of all stakeholders working together to implement the action plans to achieve the intended goal.”