Delegates agree on generating more employment in Africa, UN’s ILO says

The 10th African regional meeting of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) has agreed on a list of priorities for action over the next two to four years, including creating more employment, encouraging entrepreneurs, upgrading the informal economy and improving the observance of workplace rights.

The programme of designated action was agreed on by some 400 delegates from 53 countries meeting from 2 to 5 December in Ethiopia. It aims to further the ILO’s agenda, “Decent Work for Africa’s Development,” the organization said on Friday.

The meeting approved a resolution calling on African governments to provide enabling legal and policy frameworks for workplace action to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and to remove the stigma from those infected.

Delegates agreed to activate the ILO’s tripartite network of governments, employers and workers to support the African Union’s (AU) summit on employment and poverty reduction next year in Burkina Faso. The delegates asked the ILO to highlight successful initiatives to generate employment so that the summit could discuss how to replicate them in their own countries.

"Through the African Union, Africa is developing a new vision and institution to tackle collectively its challenges. Through NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s Development), Africa is calling for new types of partnership,” ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said at the opening of the meeting.

“Through the Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Africa is shaping its own priorities that connect with people's immediate needs. That creativity and commitment should be matched at the global level. It is time for a new generation of policies for international cooperation."