Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to follow-up on ILO 2015 Africa Regional Meeting

MAPUTO (ILO News) - The Ministers of Labour, Hon Henry Mussa Minister of Labour, Youth and Manpower Development for Malawi, Hon Vitoria Diogo Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security for Mozambique and Hon Fackson Shamenda, Minister of Labour and Social Security for Zambia met recently in Maputo to discuss modalities of operationalization of the Addis Ababa Declaration.

The Ministers were accompanied by senior government officials and the ILO Director for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique country office, Mr Alexio Musindo.


The main objective was to discuss the implementation plan to deliver on the Africa Regional Meeting (ARM) recommendations but also to enhance the collaboration among the three countries in promoting the decent work agenda.

The Ministers agreed to share experiences on best practices on tripartism, promoting and mainstreaming the Decent Work Agenda in national planning processes and to share experiences and strategies in raising the visibility of Ministries of Labour.

Each country shared information on the structure, departmental responsibilities and mandate of the Ministry of Labour. A self-analysis on the effectiveness of the departments, challenges, best practices and departmental performances over last 3 years and key recent developments in the labour market, efficiency and effectiveness of the policies, institutions was presented amongst others.

International Labour Standards

Furthermore, the ILO team made presentations on international labour standards on promoting tripartism, strong and independent employers and workers organisations as well as their role in national economic and social development.

High on the agenda was the discussion on roles of and responsibilities of Ministries of Labour in implementing the related standards as well as information on global development frameworks adopted during the last twelve months and a discussion on their impact on the world of work, national policy settings, DWCPs, and the role of Ministries of Labour, particularly in delivering on SDG 8.

The Ministers further identified and agreed on a number of collaborative areas in which to share knowledge and practices in order to improve the functioning of the labour market in the three countries. The Ministers took into consideration the spirit of promoting South – South Cooperation in the deliberations.

13th Africa Regional Meeting

At the 13th Africa Regional Meeting, ILO constituents agreed to build on the strong African and global set of commitments to the Decent Work Agenda, acknowledging the responsibility to work together through tripartite social dialogue to make that aspirations a reality.

Tripartite participants recommended that governments should develop and review their plans and strategies to take into account the call in the 2030 Agenda for national sustainable development strategies.

The Tripartite delegations at the Regional Meeting further agreed to develop and implement, in consultation with the constituents, a new generation of Decent Work Country Programmes that are aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the African Union Agenda 2063, and the African Union Declaration on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development.

Contact: Alexio Musindo, Director, [email protected]