ILO joins forces with East African Countries to promote Decent Work

Kigali, Rwanda (ILO News) - The training aimed to develop a common understanding among national decision-makers from seven EAC Partner States on financing decent work (namely RDC, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and the United Republic of Tanzania). Objectives included addressing challenges of building decent work in Africa, identifying benefits of public expenditures on decent work, providing technical guidance for policy makers, developing customizable models, and creating national roadmaps for improving decent work financing.

The ILO Mandate on Decent Work and the role of public finances

Ms. Caroline Khamati Mugalla, Director of the ILO Country Office for the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and the EAC, underscored the importance of promoting decent work, reaffirmed by the member states' commitment under the Abidjan Declaration (2019) on advancing social justice while shaping the future of work in Africa.

She highlighted that, with the support of the ILO, a growing number of countries around the world have taken steps to place employment and social protection at the heart of their national development plans and employment policies. However, challenges in realizing decent work opportunities for everyone persist. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only strained the already limited development financing, but also labour markets, related income, and social protection systems, threatening the achievement of Agenda 2030 objectives as poverty has increased for the first time in twenty years.

While a growing number of countries are expected to gradually integrate the Decent Work Agenda into national financing strategies, mainstreaming decent work policy into budgetary terms can be a complex task due to the cross-cutting nature of employment and social protection, which has concrete implications when assessing budgets. In this context, this training provided an opportunity for governments and relevant stakeholders to understand the unique and multifaceted nature of decent work budgets and to implement creative solutions tailored to their specific contexts.

Overview of the training methodology and conclusions

During the first day of the training, Mr Jealous Chirove, ILO employment specialist and Mrs Jasmina Papa, ILO social protection specialist, introduced decent work and social protection through international concepts and status globally and in Africa. Mr Carlos Galian, ILO technical expert on social protection financing, then gave a session on defining what are the returns of financing decent work and social protection from a macro, state and household and individual levels.

The second and third days were divided between, on the one hand, group sessions to examine how social protection budgets and their implementation look like in practice, what are the classifications and the differences between them. On the other hand, Mrs Sally Torbert of the International Budget Partnership gave a technical presentation on budget reliability, transparency and reporting and Mr Ian Hawkesworth, Technical Assistance Advisor for the IMF, on performance-based budgeting.

On the fourth day, participants gained a better understanding of the difficulties involved in classifying employment-related public expenditures and application thanks to a presentation by Mr Mauricio Dierckxsens, Employment and Labor Market Specialist at ILO. The presentation was followed by group works on classifying, estimating, and analysing employment-related public expenditures. The whole training also benefited from a strong regional perspective thanks to the interventions of Mr Morris Tayebwa, Gender, Youth, and Childrens Expert, and Mrs Alice Karara, Programme Officer, Labour Migration, both working for the EAC Secretariat.

On the final day of the training, participants worked in groups to define what actions could be planned over the next two years at their national level to better design, allocate, monitor and evaluate public expenditure on decent work. As observed by participants, EAC Partner States generally allocate a small share of their GDP to decent work and social protection, which indicates a need for increased funding to adequately support vulnerable populations. Participants recommended the development of enhanced collective advocacy efforts to increase budgetary allocations for social protection programs and to mobilize resources to develop and implement a suitable financing strategy for decent work.

In addition, there are notable challenges in integrating social protection and employment-related public expenditures into national budgets; from a lack of clarity in budget allocations, fragmented implementation and weak coordination to low transparency and accountability of public finance. Strengthening the capacity of ministries, agencies, and stakeholders involved in decent work was identified as essential, while at regional level, EAC Partner States would benefit from shared standards, guidelines, and best practices, as well as collective advocacy for increased social protection funding to address common challenges. These insights can be used as benchmarks for improving Partner States’ systems.