In fact, social dialogue and social partners have been present within the EU development policy framework for many years already, starting with the European Consensus for Development (2005), the Council Conclusions on Promoting Decent Work for all (2006), and on Promoting Employment through EU Development Cooperation (2007). These documents mainly referred to the overall Decent Work objectives and the need for involvement of employers and workers organisations, although sometimes omitting the reference to social dialogue.
This initiative, organised by DEVCO, was timely and particularly relevant given the renovated attention to the role attributed to social partners by the Agenda for Change [1]. The seminar evolved around the results of a feasibility study, recently commissioned by DEVCO, on strengthening social dialogue in EU development cooperation. Therefore, participants could provide recommendations on how to concretely support social dialogue in the future, including the next programming phase of the relevant EC funding program [2].
Particularly welcomed was the differentiation between civil and social dialogue, the first pertaining to the wider civil society and the second being specific to social partner organisations within well-defined social dialogue objectives and structures. In order to operationalize social dialogue, social partners need to be backed up in their capacity to respond to the needs of their members, to sustain advocacy and economic analysis, and in engaging in initial dialogue frameworks (bipartite dialogue). Social dialogue support must be seen as a long term and progressive process, to which also EU funding modalities need to be adapted from the one-size fits all call for proposal approach to a more actor and needs based approach (including, for example, facilitation of South-South cooperation).
As the DEVCO Head of Unit Mrs Helene Bourgade highlighted that social dialogue and Decent Work in general can be very difficult and politically sensitive ‘priorities’ to be sustained by the EU vis-à-vis partner governments, where democracies are often ‘balbutiantes’ and social partners are hardly consulted for development cooperation planning. In this respect, participants emphasized the role of international organisations that, besides capacity building, can provide also solid support for needs assessment and political mapping of most representative organisations on the ground, as well as, institutional frameworks such as ILO decent work country programmes.
On the basis of these considerations, the main demand to the Commission finally raised by the Trade Union delegation (in full consensus with the employers organisations) was to create a ‘permanent policy framework’ with social partners, allowing dialogue and consultation for designing and implementing EU development cooperation policies on social dialogue. If achieved, this would be a very important step forward in translating social dialogue as a strategic priority of EU cooperation, and could bring innovative inputs to mainstream social dialogue also in the context of the shaping of the future EU Development Cooperation Instrument.
Article by Paola Simonetti
* Organisations present at the meeting: ETUC, ITUC/TUDCN, ITUC Africa, LO-FTF Council, FGTB Belgium, Ghana TUC; IOE and some national organisations of employers; ILO Actemp/Actrav and Social Dialogue department.
