OECD-DAC steps up dialogue with trade unions

After a few years of joint efforts by the TUAC and TUDCN, the trade union movement was invited by Brian Atwood, the chair of OECD-DAC, for the first time, to participate at the DAC Senior Level Meeting (SLM). The SLM brings together the senior level policy makers, many of them heads of the different development cooperation agencies of the member states (USAID, SIDA, GTZ, CIDA, DANIDA, NORAD, AECID etc.), to exchange views on current development issues.

The DAC Senior Level Meeting

The trade union movement, represented at the table by John Evans (SG TUAC), took part in the SLM on 3-4 April 2012 in Paris. The main issues on the agenda were a first exchange of views on the post-2015 UN development framework debate, the follow up on the Busan Partnership, the new OECD development strategy, the DAC work plan for 2013-2014 and the UN ‘Rio+20’ conference. The trade unions raised the issues of inclusion of the Decent Work Agenda and the Social Protection Floor initiative, as well as issues of democratic ownership and the involvement of social partners when addressing the growing inequality as an emerging challenge for sustainable development.

DAC prepared a short statement on Rio+20 that was amended by Norway and the trade union delegation, asking for the enlargement of the perspective from “environment”-centred aid to the broader sustainability agenda including the social and economic pillar.

The Governance Network (GOVNET)

Govnet is one of the subsidiary bodies of DAC. Its main task is to discuss the improvement of “governance” related to development and aid amongst the donor agencies. This is a large agenda that goes from Human Rights, over the role of the Supreme Courts and national audit institutions as well as parliamentary oversight, to the accountability and ownership dimensions of development.

The GOVNET meeting on 23-25 April was centred on the donor support to parliamentary oversight work, discussions on multi-stakeholder dialogues and domestic accountability, taxation and domestic resources mobilisation, fight against corruption, Human Rights and development and, as the central issue, the debate about the future of the GOVNET within the overall reform of the DAC agenda and its working methods.

The restructuring and reorientation of DAC already led to the elimination of POVNET, which was centred on poverty reduction strategies (including Decent Work) and with the disappearance of the GOVNET Task Team on Human Rights. The main issue became the place of Human Rights-Based Approaches (HRBA) in the DAC work. The discussion revealed the interest of some governments to keep the HRBA as a central theme in the GOVNET. Others considered that the work was done and GOVNET should focus on accountability issues and on effective institutions (supporting the post-Busan Building Block on that issue) and should cooperate with the INCAF process linked to the International Dialogue on Peace-Building and State -Building.
However, despite the open debate, with some interesting inputs from Norway and other governments, the conclusions did not recap the central issue of HRBA but aligned on the course of action on the latter option, as proposed already in the preparatory draft. This would mean that, if no alternative proposal or strategy is developed, the Human Rights Based Approaches as fundamental to governance (democratic ownership, decent work, gender equality etc.) risk to get sidelined in the GOVNET and thus in the DAC work in general.

Trade Union Consultation on the OECD Development Strategy

A trade union delegation, headed by John Evans (TUAC), including Jan Dereymaeker, Paola Simonetti (TUDCN) and Matt Simonds (TUAC) met with a team of the OECD Development Cooperation Directorate to discuss the draft outline of the OECD Development Strategy that will be proposed for endorsement to the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in May 2012. Policy Coherence emerged as the central theme of the Strategy as well as the changing landscape for development cooperation and the shift in paradigm from traditional North-South aid flows, to a more horizontal and more inclusive international cooperation. Emphasis is also put on the “added value” of the OECD in terms of peer to peer evaluation, analytic work and information sharing. Since the Strategy discussion will be an on-going process, further consultations are envisaged, including with the informal drafting group that is responsible for the final shape of the strategy.

TUDCN, in cooperation with TUAC, will now further follow up the discussions and contacts, in the first place to secure HRBA in development policies to be further developed and included in the OECD strategy and in the coordination of national donor development policies.

Article by Jan Dereymaeker, Brussels 04/2012