The preparation of PRSPs is a learning process for all concerned: governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, the Bretton Woods institutions and development banks, the ILO, United Nations specialized agencies, bilateral donors and, most importantly, people living in poverty and the various forms of community organizations they choose to adopt.
Generally, the ILO’s experience of participation in the PRSP process has been fairly, although not universally, positive. 31 Governments have welcomed offers to help provide specific technical inputs in ILO areas of competence and the promotion of consultation with employers’ and workers’
organizations.
The ILO is different from other specialized agencies in that it combines both the provision of technical inputs in important areas – rights, employment and social protection – and support for the participatory process through tripartite consultations. ILO experience in a number of countries suggests that this aspect of PRSPs is becoming more widely appreciated and embedded in political systems. The World Bank, the IMF and many recipient and donor countries are beginning to include civil society consultation and participation in poverty reduction strategies. Rather than being a costly waste of time as some feared, this is becoming an important means of improving the analysis of the incidence and causes of poverty, and the effectiveness of poverty reduction strategies.
The ILO has encouraged governments to invite employers’ and workers’
organizations to join fully in all phases of the PRSP process. However, in some cases the social partners have expressed concern and frustration that their views and potential support appear undervalued. There are a number of explanations for this, including the following:
● Many low-income countries are under enormous pressure to produce PRSPs in order to be eligible for World Bank/IMF loans, debt relief and grant funding. In recent years the donor community has put great emphasis on medium-term expenditure planning, as well as public sector reform and improved macroeconomic management. Given their limited capacity to develop a comprehensive strategy quickly, external demands to focus on these areas have made it difficult for countries to address other objectives, such as decent work and employment creation, which constitute high political priorities for them.
● The traditional conduit for the views of social partners into government policy-making is the Ministry of Labour. However, in many countries it plays a relatively minor part in the PRSP process, which is still a heavily budget-oriented intra-governmental process, dominated by finance and economy ministries.
● The emphasis on the participation of civil society organizations (CSOs)
by the international community can cause difficulty in that few trade unions and employers’ organizations identify themselves with this relatively new all-embracing term. Furthermore, other CSOs sometimes do not think of unions and employers’ organizations as part of their movement.
32 ● In some countries, governments prefer not to engage with trade unions and/or employers’ organizations that have a history of openly challenging or opposing the government, and have deliberately sidelined them in the PRSP process.
● Some World Bank and IMF officials are unfamiliar with the work of the social partners and have not felt the need to prompt government PRSP teams to seek their involvement, despite encouragement to do so from their own senior management.
● A few workers’ organizations have preferred not to become involved in what some regard as a continuation of previous stabilization and adjustment policies to which they were opposed. Many others also share these concerns but are trying to change the policy framework by active participation in the PRSP process. Some workers’ and/or employers’ organizations have limited their engagement, either because they question the real value of the participation process or because they have other priorities that override their involvement in PRSP processes.
Despite the scope for PRSPs to draw on previous analysis and policy development work by the ILO, the first wave of interim and full PRSPs in 2000 and 2001 were, in the main, disappointingly meagre in their coverage of decent work issues. In part, this probably reflects the relative absence of labour ministries and the social partners from the consultation processes for the drafting of the first PRSPs. It may also arise from the lack of prominence given to the gender dimension of poverty.
Whilst public expenditure in vital areas such as education and health is of great significance to poverty reduction, the larger question of how to generate pro-poor sustainable growth is not yet fully integrated into deliberations surrounding most PRSPs. This should change as PRSPs evolve, and the ILO expects more attention to be given in future to the fundamental question of how to raise the productivity of the working people living in poverty and the returns they get from their labour. This is inextricably linked to the broader issue of moving equity and redistribution further up the policy priority list alongside emphasis on growth and social expenditures.
Experience to date has shown that the contribution of the ILO’s field structure is vitally important to full participation in PRSP dialogue. Regular and frequent contact – and ideally a presence in a country – is essential in order to take full advantage of formal and informal networking opportunities.
The challenge is for the social partners to take on much of the advocacy role associated with the ILO’s objectives on PRSPs, but in most low-income countries this will require substantial support for capacity building. Overall, the ILO’s four overarching concerns as the PRSP process moves from design to implementation are as follows:
● PRSPs need to include a more thorough analysis of employment and other aspects of decent work. This should lead to a more explicit conclusion of the four strategic objectives of decent work in poverty reduction strategies.
● Employers’ and workers’ organizations and labour ministries need to be more systematically integrated into the participatory process underpinning the design and implementation of PRSPs. Without social dialogue, the participation and national ownership principles of the PRSPs are seriously undermined and decent work strategies are unlikely to receive adequate consideration.
● PRSPs need to give more attention to maximizing the impact of sustainable growth on poverty. This should lead to greater focus on issues such as reform of land rights, development of a fair, efficient and effective fiscal policy, and the integration of the informal economy into mechanisms for the governance of markets that promote enterprise and employment.
● Donor countries must include in their funding priorities issues related to employment and enterprise creation, social protection, rights, representation and dialogue, promotion of tripartism and other poverty reduction policies on which the ILO has expertise.
The ILO has undertaken PRSP-related activities in a number of other countries in addition to the five special focus countries mentioned above, especially in Africa, where the policy environment is so closely aligned to the development of PRSPs. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) now provides a continental framework to which the ILO is contributing with its Jobs in Africa programme.
As the ILO’s work on PRSPs becomes more widely known, there is an increasing call on its limited resources from additional countries. The ILO seeks to respond positively to these requests to provide support to PRSP processes both at the design stage and, increasingly, at the stage of implementation, and has put in place internal organizational arrangements to ensure a coordinated and consistent approach. As well as the technical expertise we are able to offer, one of the most appreciated contributions is knowledge of how other countries with similar problems are addressing the challenge of eradicating poverty through promoting decent work.
In so doing, the ILO will continue to stress the importance of an integrated perspective on poverty reduction centred on decent work and drawing on the wide range of its technical cooperation initiatives in many countries. There will also be an increasing need to build the capacity of the social partners to enable them to participate actively in monitoring the implementation of PRSPs and to develop general guidelines to help field offices and the social partners make the most of the opportunity to engage in PRSP dialogue. Although donors have expressed an interest in supporting the ILO’s work in the PRSP process, this will require further funding. Integrating decent work programmes with the PRSPs of low-income countries will enhance the visibility and impact of the ILO contribution, strengthening the ILO’s influence in the policy dialogues and partnerships at many levels, including with the Bretton Woods institutions, donors and other development organizations.
To learn more about this author, visit International Labour Organization's Website.
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