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5.8 Looking towards the future: Working Out of Poverty

Written by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: A tripartite commitment to the eradication of poverty

5.8 Looking towards the future: Working Out of Poverty

In the new multilateral drive to reduce poverty there are three dimensions
linking the work of the ILO and other partner agencies. First, the
open and participatory principle of the PRSP process is a direct invitation to employers’ and workers’ organizations to contribute substantively to shaping
national policies. Governments and the Bretton Woods institutions
should actively foster such participation. Second, employment, representation,
social protection and social dialogue should form a central concern of
poverty reduction policies, in both macroeconomic and microeconomic
terms. Third, the effective implementation of principles and rights at work
will ensure a social floor allowing market forces to function more effectively
and equitably.

The renewed international commitment to the reduction of extreme
poverty, the streamlining of national and international assistance towards
this goal and the broader conceptual and policy framework provide an
extraordinary opportunity for the ILO to make a significant contribution.
The challenge is to demonstrate the validity of a decent work approach to
the reduction of poverty.

As stated in the Programme and Budget proposals for 2004-05, the ILO
intends to strengthen the capacity of constituents to influence the national
policy on poverty reduction on the basis of the Decent Work Agenda. This
will be particularly relevant to countries engaged in the PRSP process and
other similar national development planning mechanisms that aim to pull
together the national and international resources for poverty reduction.

The ILO is actively involved in developing the national Decent Work
Agenda with constituents in a number of countries that have undertaken pilot
programmes or sought the ILO’s assistance in the PRSP process. 33 Experience
has shown that an integrated agenda for poverty reduction and
social inclusion grouped around standards and rights, enterprise and employment
promotion, social protection and social dialogue, with gender
equality and international partnerships as constant themes, promotes both
analysis of the main issues and the identification of specific measures.

The ILO approach is to start by discussing with its constituents their
perceptions of the key problems facing enterprises, workers and communities
in improving social and economic conditions generally, and those of
people living in poverty in particular. Initial meetings gradually lead to the
identification of a number of often interrelated issues such as crime and
growing levels of violence and youth unemployment, the fragility of micro
and small businesses in the insecure environment of the informal economy,
and the lack of education and health services in isolated rural communities.

As discussion moves from the identification of problems to possible responses,
the ILO is able to introduce information and ideas on approaches
to addressing these issues both at local and at national level and examine
with the social partners and government agencies whether they could be
adapted to meet their priorities. In many cases, the ILO is able to facilitate
joint analysis and connecting the “community of work” to national development
policy debates and international initiatives such as the PRSP process.
Its main contribution is to bring available technical expertise and the experience
of other countries in dealing with similar problems into the discussions.
A common understanding of the poverty challenge built up by
involving the social partners and key civil society groups in discussions of decent
work deficits and the dividends that can be realized by overcoming
them can help government to build consensus on priorities and actions.

Participatory research and analysis techniques can be particularly rewarding,
as they identify grass-roots solutions and experience by involving
organizations representing people living in poverty. For example, a study of
the one micro-insurance scheme for informal economy women workers in
India that included provision of maternity benefits encouraged members of
two other schemes that did not provide such benefits to do so. 34 In Mali, the
Government, employers, unions and the ILO itself were able to draw on research
work and policy dialogues promoted by the Jobs in Africa programme
to convince the Finance Ministry and the World Bank that
employment policies should figure in the country’s PRSP. In the Philippines,
national-level discussions quickly generated awareness of the value of using
a decent work perspective to promote local economic and social development.
The government initiative to create “poverty-free zones” has stimulated
considerable interest, and the ILO was able to contribute by offering
its experience with various types of community organization, such as rural
cooperatives and community-based training.

Given the positive response of constituents to the ILO’s Decent Work
Pilot Programme and its engagement with the PRSP process, a flexible
agenda for national discussions might include the following policy topics for
discussions among the social partners. In many countries, a similar agenda
could also be useful at regional and community level in bringing the perspectives
of the community of work into a coherent programme for poverty reduction.
The ILO could help prepare basic discussion papers, in consultation
with national governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations to
facilitate exchanges on what they consider priority issues.

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Article Tags: bretton woods institutions, budget proposals, central concern, development planning, employment promotion, extreme poverty, international assistance, international commitment, international resources, microeconomic terms, national policies, number of countries, partner agencies, policy framework, poverty reduction policies, social dialogue, social inclusion, three dimensions, work agenda, work approach



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