General Meeting 2016 - Trade Union Development Cooperation Network

This year’s annual general meeting of the Trade Union Development Cooperation Network (TUDCN) was held between the 5th and 7th of April 2016. Bangkok was host to the meeting’s 60 participants from Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

The meeting began by reporting on progress in the different areas of the network’s work. A progress report made by the TUDCN global secretariat observed the results and anticipated the upcoming challenges for the decent work/development cooperation agenda. News from the networks’ members featured updates on progress in the regions by their respective coordinators as well as by Global Union Federations (GUFs) and national organizations.

Looking ahead, TUDCN’s strategy was discussed, including a revision of the advocacy focus. Trade union engagement on the 2030 Agenda also featured high up on the agenda. In order to set the scene, a high level panel was put together that featured Margarita Guerero (UN ESCAP), Arun Kumar, (ILO/ACTRAV Bangkok office) and Erlinda Capones (Government of the Philippines).

Various levels of targeted engagement were outlined in relation to setting the SDG indicators, with a particular focus on the Decent Work Agenda. Opportunities for action on the Second High Level Meeting (HLM2) of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation were also explored.

The network’s future approach to trade union partnerships was also discussed. Priorities of this work as well as research approaches to it were discussed. A new working group on communication, to be put together this year, was also announced.

The documents relating to the general meeting can be found here and its conclusions can be consulted here. Pictures of the event are available here.