Trade union participation to the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for an Effective Development Cooperation

Wellington Chibebe, Deputy Secretary General of the ITUC, recently took part (19-20 January) in the 7th meeting of the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), and the second official meeting since the High Level Meeting in Mexico City in April 2014.

It has been more than two years since the inaugural meeting and some of the questions which marked the initial meeting still remain at the center of the discussions. Namely, where is the GPEDC’s added value? And what should the partnership focus on as thematic priorities? This is somewhat to be expected with a change in leadership (now co-chaired by Malawi, Mexico and the Netherlands) and with new members having been added to the overall composition. Further, no debate on development at an international level can be set apart from the soon to be set Post 2015 development framework. Therefore, the meeting was a mix of honing the GPEDC’s thematic priorities and situating the partnerships overall agenda and activities vis-à-vis the broader development framework.

DSG Chibebe used the opportunity highlight the development relevance of the Social Dialogue. Framed within the reaffirmed priority areas of the GPEDC, in particular on inclusive development partnerships and the private sector, there was an important recognition that the Social Dialogue could be an area for further work.

Another key development at the 7th steering committee meeting was the agreement to compose a technical advisory group which support the process to monitoring progress on the aid and development effectiveness agenda.

An official account of the meeting can be found here: http://effectivecooperation.org/2014/12/10/global-partnership-steering-committee-meeting-in-the-hague/

Article by Matt Simonds