The next High Level Panel on post-2015 agenda meeting will take place in London on November 1-2st. The ITUC will take part in the Civil Society roundtable with the HLP representatives.

The consultations were carried out through the WorldWeWant2015.org portal. You can read the ITUC responses to the questions asked in the consultation below:

Human development

 How do we ensure that all people, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised, have the food, water, energy, health care and education they need?

Ensuring universal access to food, water, energy, health care and education can be done through (and in fact: means) implementing universal social protection floors. Social protection is a right as well as an effective and proven tool in fighting poverty and income inequality. The ILO sets useful minimum standards to be applied in national social protection systems through the Social Protection Floor [1] approach, adopted by the whole UN system.

Basic social protection schemes (which can be expanded and raised as the GDP increases) are affordable to all countries. According to the ILO, basic social protection schemes, which would already make a significant difference to the most vulnerable and marginalised groups, can be established even in the Low Income Countries for what accounts for 1-2% of their GDP [2].

Among the Middle Income Countries more and more countries decide to invest in social protection, with much success. Brazil, Mexico, Chile, India and South Africa are examples of the countries that managed to effectively reduce poverty and inequality in their societies through bold and well-designed social transfer programmes and ensuring access to essential services. Among the High Income Countries, according to ILO’s research, those that have invested more in social protection, experience less income inequality.

You can read more about the Social Protection Floors in the ITUC flyer and in a recent interview with ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

 What have we learned from existing Millennium Development Goals and what should be added/updated/modified, or is a different approach needed?

Through focussing on the structural causes rather than symptoms of poverty and vulnerability, the new agenda should encourage a comprehensive policy change at national level (adapted to the particular country context and needs, but based on international standards for human rights, decent work and social protection) rather than one-off service-oriented projects and programmes.

The new agenda should put more attention, than the MDG framework did, on the issue of full employment and decent work, which are crucial to human development, empowerment and the reduction of poverty and inequality. It should also reflect the interconnected nature of all the social sector areas (education, employment, health etc.) and approach it with an adequate, comprehensive policy approach that includes the Decent Work Agenda and the Social Protection Floors.
You can read more about the ITUC perspective on the MDGs and the post-2015 agenda in the ITUC/ETUC submission to the EC consultations on the post-2015 agenda.

Jobs and livelihoods

 What policies and practices best promote equitable empowerment of the poor and marginalized to ensure an adequate standard of living?

Jobs and better working conditions are the most effective and sustainable way in which people, communities and countries can lift themselves out of poverty and improve their livelihoods. But this happens only when work is decent, with fair wages, underpinned by rights.

The ILO Decent Work Agenda (DWA) is a comprehensive policy package, accompanied by practical implementation tools, including Decent Work Country Programme papers and indicators for measurement of implementation. The strength of the DWA lies in its coherent and comprehensive approach to empowerment through work. It does not only involve job creation through adequate policy measures and programmes, but looks at what is needed to make the work effective in improving the living standard of people employed. The DWA sets four strategic objectives: job creation, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social protection and promoting social dialogue. All of these pillars are interrelated and jointly contribute to empowering people through the creation of decent, productive and quality jobs that allow especially the most vulnerable groups to secure and improve their livelihoods and take a fuller part in the life of the society.

An important pillar of the Decent Work Agenda is social protection, for which the ILO sets useful minimum standards through the Social Protection Floors approach. Good social protection schemes, rights-based and well adapted to the country context, are an extremely effective tool in sustainably reducing poverty and inequality through the improvement of the situation of the most vulnerable groups. The introduction of a social transfer system ‘Bolsa Familia’ in Brazil contributed to the reduction of inequality by 20-25%; in Mexico the ‘Opportunidades’ has been responsible for 21% reduction in inequality; in South Africa old-age pensions, disability grants and child support grants together lowered the Gini coefficient for that country by 3%; the Indian Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the poor has achieved some success in poverty reduction and in empowering women both economically and socially. These are just some of the success stories.

What is important to keep in mind is that the labour standards and social protection should cover not only people employed in the formal economy, but also those in informal work, which account for a large percentage of the active population esp. in the Low Income Countries and Middle Income Countries.

 How can employment be meaningfully approached?

First of all, we need more jobs. We need comprehensive national policies for generating employment through an inclusive economic growth. But just as not all forms of economic growth generate jobs, not all jobs allow people to improve their livelihoods. Employment policies must ensure that the jobs created are decent and provide a living wage.

The ILO Decent Work Agenda offers a comprehensive policy approach to employment. It not only focuses on job creation, but includes other components that make employment decent and effectively improving the livelihoods of people employed. The four strategic objectives of the DWA include job creation, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social protection and promoting social dialogue. All four pillars are needed in order to make employment really work for the people.
What is important to keep in mind is that the labour standards and social protection should cover not only people employed in the formal economy, but also those in informal work, which account for a large percentage of the active population esp. in the Low Income Countries and Middle Income Countries.

An important element of the employment policies if they are to effectively improve people’s livelihoods is the living wage. States should not only implement minimum wage regulations that would cover both formal and informal work relations, but also ensure that the minimum wage is set up at a level that reflects the living costs in the country contexts and ensures that the people employed can secure decent livelihoods for themselves and their families.