TUDCN meeting on the private sector in development and the CIVICUS World Assembly

Over 20 trade unionists from Europe, Africa and Latin America came to Montreal to attend the World Assembly of CIVICUS as well as the parallel Policy and Advocacy Working Group of TUDCN, where they discussed the issue of private sector’s role in development.

The meeting of the TUDCN Working Group on Policy and Advocacy focussed on the role of private sector in development – a question that has been increasingly present in the debates on development policies, especially with the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan coming closer. The official statement, summarizing the discussions on the forum of the Working Group, will be published later this month.

Parallel to the Working Group, the trade unionists took part in the World Assembly of CIVICUS – a yearly conference which this year gathered over 800 delegates of civil society organisations from all around the world. The main thematic threads included “Development Effectiveness”, “Climate Justice”, “Connecting People Through Technology” as well as “Civil Society and Democratic Space”. Trade unions were well represented among the speakers of the plenary and working sessions. During the panel discussion on Climate Justice Alison Tate, the Director of External Relations of ITUC presented the trade union perspective on the issue as well as the concrete initiatives taken by the ITUC and its affiliates. The report from the Assembly is available on the website of CIVICUS.