In addition to almost 30 member representatives, the meeting featured guests Carlien Van Empel of the ILO’s Partnership and Field Support Department (PARDEV) and Kostas Papadakis of the ILO’s Social Dialogue and Tripartism Unit (DIALOGUE). With the upcoming discussions on the ILO’s development cooperation and on social dialogue at the 2018 International Labour Conference, their timely contributions provided valuable insights for the discussion on the links between the work of the TUDCN and that of the ILO.
This fed into the discussion on how the TUDCN is promoting social dialogue within development cooperation more broadly. Two of the major institutional settings for shaping development cooperation policy at international level are the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and the Global Partnership for Effective Development (GPEDC). The trade union-DAC forums and the Global Partnership Initiative on social dialogue in development are avenues for the TUDCN to promote a greater role for social dialogue in development. Accordingly, the discussion centred on these tools.
Another major aspect of the TUDCN’s work that was discussed was the coordination of trade unions’ work on the 2030 Agenda. The trade union monitoring of national progress is the centrepiece of this work, and both the way in which this work was undertaken and the national profiles were reviewed. The different spaces for trade union engagement on the Sustainable Development Goals were also explored. A strong emphasis was notably placed on the spaces that exist at regional level, notably at the UN’s regional fora on sustainable development.
Following the OCM, the TUDCN is set to continue to build on its work on trade union partnerships for development, advocacy and capacity development for the coming six months.
The OCM is an annual meeting that takes place halfway between the General Meetings of the Trade Union Development Cooperation Network (TUDCN). It aims to provide an update on recent developments and to make any adjustments on the orientation of the work of the TUDCN for the following six months. It is open to all members of the network.
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