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ELS.MSP/2003/9.7
Employment and Labour Sector (ELS)
Meeting of the Employment and Labour Sector (ELS) Committee of Ministers and Social Partners (TRIPARTITE)
Recommendations of the expert group meeting
on labour markets and employment, convened by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Lusaka, Zambia, 3 - 6 February 2003
Arusha, Tanzania
24th – 28th March, 2003
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA (ECA)
ACTIVITIES IN THE SADC
Contact: zkazeze@uneca.org
Posted with permission of the ECA, Lusaka office
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[Complete version  - 102Kb ~ 1 min (31 pages)]
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I. Preamble
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The 1995 World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) brought into focus global problems and prospects at the core of humanity’s social development that include: reduction and elimination of widespread poverty; achieving the goal of full employment; enhancing social integration; and fostering stable and just societies. At the 1995 WSSD, world leaders gave attention to the challenges Africa faced in these areas and committed themselves to accelerating the economic, social and human-centered development of the least developed countries, the majority being in Africa.
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One hundred and seventeen Heads of State and Government attended the 1995 WSSD in Copenhagen, of which 35 were Africans. An African Common position on human and social development in Africa, prepared by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), was adopted by the first Conference of African Ministers responsible for human development, and was transmitted to the Preparatory Committee of the WSSD. The African common position stressed the gravity of human and social situation in Africa and underscored the determination of Africa to take appropriate measures to reverse the unacceptable situation and mobilize the world community in support of Africa’ socio-economic development efforts.
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The ten commitments of the 1995 WSSD cover issues of poverty, employment, gender, health and education, governance and human rights, structural adjustment programmes and social development, mobilization of resources for social development and their efficient use. An evaluation of progress in the implementation in Africa of the WSSD, undertaken in 2000 by the ECA, showed that poverty continued to increase in most countries in Southern Africa. Many countries were concerned with the increasing demand for employment and were attempting to expand employment opportunities. Some countries reported that they were in the process of formulating or putting in place national employment policies with the assistance of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Although some countries tried to adopt programmes to increase productivity of the small-holders in the agricultural sector and to increase employment, such programmes have not succeeded. The evaluation of the WSSD showed that employment creation rates did not keep up with labour force growth. The evaluation identified constraints to employment creation. The major challenge was the design of comprehensive, integrated and coherent employment policies and strategies to facilitate the attainment of employment generation objectives.
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Recently, poverty and employment issues featured in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, the ILO Global Employment Forum 2001, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002. In Africa, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) 2001 has included a section on Human Resource Development Initiative. The section addresses poverty reduction, bridging the education gap, increasing access to better health and reversing the brain drain and health. On each of these, objectives are given as well as actions to be carried out.
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Within SADC, labour and employment issues used to be addressed through the Employment and Labour Sector whose Coordinating Unit was hosted by Zambia till the new centralized structures were put in place at the SADC Secretariat. In the new structure, employment and labour issues will be handled through the Directorate of Social and Human Development and Special Programmes.
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The Expert Group Meeting addressed labour market and employment issues in the context of employment, poverty and development nexus to continue the debate and contribute to the identification of solutions towards attainment of sustainable human development in Southern Africa. The Expert Group Meeting discussions covered a wide range of issues including: the historical context of colonialism and legacy that conditions the economic structure, performance and employment; gender and labour markets; labour migration; globalization, HIV/AIDS, conflicts and natural disasters; the role of statistics in labour markets; social policy and labour market policy. It also considered a proposal on employment policy.
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Some of the major observations of the Expert Group Meeting were as follows:
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The nexus of problems comprising inadequate employment opportunities, increasing unemployment and under-employment, increasing forms of vulnerable work, increasing poverty and the mismatch of education and training with economic needs was a development problem that needed to be addressed comprehensively;
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Labour market and employment problems in Southern Africa were directly related to the relationships between the structure and performance of the economies and structure and performance of labour market. Both of these were related to the problem of colonial history and legacy. However, after 40 years of independence, conditions had not improved generally and there was need for African countries to refrain from continuing to put blame for their failures on the colonial era. Countries needed to take bold actions to reassess their situation and approach development problems differently. In this case, NEPAD offered a chance to African countries to make a difference from the past;
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Lessons from elsewhere have shown that the ingredients for moving away from poverty to advanced levels of development include: vision, leadership and commitment of government and stakeholders, good governance, sacrifice by all parties concerned, long-term planning; having policies and structures to implement policies and programme as well as linking the various structures, proper management of material, human and financial resources from within and those from outside;
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The pursuit of the agenda for promoting economic growth and development, employment and overall economic transformation should be seen as mutually necessary and supportive components. Thus, there is need to unlock the productive potential of the labour force by making it the basis for the generation of effective demand and mobilization of savings for investment;
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Gender issues in the context of the 1997 SADC Declaration on Gender were important and need to be mainstreamed into all aspects of economic and social activities, beyond mere representation in government and parliament;
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Africa cannot shy away from globalization. It should continue to make its case with a united voice to influence global issues of trade, in the fora where such issues are discussed. Attraction of investments depends and is directly related to governance, transparency, accountability available of reliable infrastructure as well as communication services and facilities. Without these, it would be difficult to take advantage of globalization;
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Labour migration in the subregion could show positive outcomes if complemented with relevant socio-economic development policies. Harmonization of migration policies in the subregion was essential as restrictive labour migration was not an option and would not be viable. In this context, it would be essential that the SADC Protocol on Facilitation of Movement of Persons be reconsidered and made consistent with the Organization of African Unity/African Union (OAU/AU) Protocol on Free Movement of People and Goods;
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Brain drain issues are currently being addressed by the AU. Brain drain does have some positive aspects as well as negative aspects. Minimizing the negative effects could be addressed through creation of conducive employment conditions. Implementation of NEPAD Governance component would go a long way towards this. Countries in the subregion would need to address the root causes of the problem if the brain drain is to be minimized. Social dialogue with all concerned parties should be one of the ways in dealing with issues pertaining to the brain drain;
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The impact of HIV/AIDS on employment and all other sectors can no longer be ignored and needed urgent attention. Southern Africa is at the epicenter of HIV/AIDS. The SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme should be implemented fully and with urgency. Individual country programmes as well as the collective efforts within the subregion are required to combat the pandemic;
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Social policy and labour market policy are mutually reinforcing and need to be integrated. In this case, it is important to ensure that social policy and labour policy implementation are budgeted for. Social policy should reflect the unique problems of Africa. In this case social policies targeting community participation were relevant; and
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What is generally known as the “informal sector”, is in effect so diverse ad the appropriate term should be “informal economy”.
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