GB.270/PFA/10 - Governing Body

1. This preliminary report represents a key component in the implementation of the reform of the ILO's strategic planning process as agreed by the Governing Body.

2. It is useful to recall the circumstances surrounding the preparation and adoption of the Programme and Budget for 1996-97 and their influence on its implementation. The preparatory phase had benefited from the discussions involving all the ILO's constituents on the occasion of the events marking the Organization's 75th anniversary, especially the 81st Session of the International Labour Conference. In addition, the World Summit for Social Development in March 1995 accorded the ILO a major role in the follow-up to its conclusions in matters relating to fundamental workers' rights as well as employment and the fight against poverty.

3. Circumstances were less auspicious when the programme and budget was examined by the International Labour Conference in June 1995, mainly because of the changes in exchange rates. Although the Conference approved a budget of US$579,500,000, it also invited the Director-General to put forward proposals for savings. In November 1995, the Governing Body decided to reduce the Organization's expenditure budget by US$21,704,950. Two other factors overshadowed the initial implementation of the programme for 1996-97. The first was the budget deficit for 1994-95 resulting from arrears in contributions which had to be offset. The second factor was the continuing uncertainty regarding the payment of contributions in 1996-97. In these circumstances, the Director-General took precautionary measures from early 1996 onwards regarding implementation of the Organization's activities in order to safeguard its financial position; this naturally resulted in delays -- the repercussions of which are still being felt.

4. The Organization had set itself three major objectives: the promotion of democracy and human rights; the fight against poverty and unemployment; and the protection of working people.

5. The most notable aspect of activities to promote democracy and human rights, was the success of the campaign for the ratification of the seven Conventions concerning fundamental workers' rights which led to over 60 new ratifications. New instruments were adopted at the three sessions of the Conference which took place during the biennium. The Governing Body's Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards made considerable headway towards modernization of the ILO's standard-setting activity. Its work made it possible for the Conference to adopt a constitutional amendment empowering it to abrogate obsolete Conventions. The discussions during the 1997 Session will define the tasks that will need to be carried out in this area during the next budget period. Work on the social dimensions of the liberalization of international trade, especially the prospect of adopting a formal declaration on the subject in 1998, have given rise to fruitful discussions which are having an influence far beyond the confines of the Organization itself.

6. The introduction of new methods for assessing the working of labour administrations has enabled a number of States to improve the efficiency of their services. Many countries have revised their national legislation or passed new laws, thanks in particular to assistance provided by the Office. A major report on Industrial relations, democracy and social stability will be published in November 1997. In a number of countries, social dialogue is becoming institutionalized in places where it was once rare or non-existent.

7. The fight against poverty and unemployment is a major objective to which the highest priority was given in the programme for 1996-97, in view of the role conferred upon the Organization by the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development. The ILO chaired the task force set up by the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) to deal with these issues and carried out a series of country employment reviews. It also considerably strengthened its dialogue with the Bretton Woods institutions. The World Employment report was another contribution in this area. The Organization's role in the area of employment was recognized -- as was made clear by its invitation to participate in the G7 meetings held in Lille and Kobé. The promotion of equality for women represented the third major element for the Office of the Copenhagen Programme of Action. The importance of these issues was highlighted by the Beijing Conference, for which there have been numerous follow-up activities both within the technical departments and in conjunction with the constituents in the member States. Among the most notable of these activities is the preparatory work for the launch in early 1998 of an interregional programme on More and Better Jobs for Women, which has been very well received in the regions and among a number of multi- and bilateral donors.

8. Important advisory and analytical work was done to assist governments and the social partners in formulating and evaluating their employment policies and strategies. Other work was carried out to raise awareness of the importance of political consensus on programmes of reform and structural adjustment. Advisory services and technical cooperation projects contributed to the creation of viable enterprises, in particular through support given to organizations and institutions able to provide services directly to enterprises. The first ILO Enterprise Forum was another major event. The informal sector benefited from advisory services which, among other things, helped to mobilize credit for micro-enterprises. As part of activities relating to the major objective protection of working people, the Office was particularly active in the area of health and safety. The publication in April 1998 of the fourth edition of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety will be an event of great significance. Work done in the field of working conditions concerning specifically the protection of workers' personal data has attracted the interest not only of the social partners but also of governments in a number of countries wishing to emulate it. The programmes for the elimination of child labour are having an undeniable impact at national and international levels. National programmes are being implemented in all the regions. The importance of this issue was highlighted at the conferences recently organized by the Governments of Colombia, Norway and the Netherlands. The Office contributed significantly to the preparations for those meetings. Seminars and other meetings on child labour took place in the regions. The Governing Body also decided to undertake preparatory work on a new Convention on intolerable forms of child labour. There has been considerable activity involving not only research and development but also consultation with the constituents and technical cooperation, concerning matters of the reform, improved management and actuarial assessment of social security systems. Also of note were the activities on the protection of migrant workers and persons with disabilities and those activities which, under the major programme of Sectoral activities, help to bring about improvements in working conditions in the major sectors of the economy.

9. The action programmes were another major innovation in the programme for 1996-97. A review of the status of implementation of these action programmes shows that they have been approached on an integrated basis incorporating both research and analysis, and operational activities, with a view to identifying solutions which the constituents can apply and use. The process of consulting constituents during the implementation of some of these action programmes appears to have been an important factor in improving their relevance.

10. The ILO began to implement the technical cooperation strategy adopted by the Governing Body, a strategy which gives the constituents a decisive role in the definition of priority objectives and in any activities carried out for their benefit. This strategy is based on the consolidation of the Active Partnership Policy which has just been the subject of an evaluation by the Governing Body and on the search for new, extra-budgetary sources of finance. The significant reduction in the resources for technical cooperation that has been a regular feature of recent years has given a false impression of the interest of many donors in the ILO's programmes -- an interest clearly shown by the significant increase in multi- and bilateral funds earmarked for technical cooperation programmes. The overall reduction appears at the moment to have come to a halt and there are signs of an upturn. The explanation for this lies in the interest of investors in major cooperation programmes such as the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and the quality of the technical advisory services available to constituents in the member States.

11. The creation of an Internet site at the beginning of the biennial period was a major innovation which has considerably enhanced the Organization's visibility, as the 400,000 visits to the site every month show. In the coming months, the improvements in efficiency and productivity brought about by this innovation will become even more evident, to the Office itself, to the members of the Organization's policy-making bodies and to the general public.

12. Media coverage of the Organization's activities has been boosted throughout the biennial period as a result of the intrinsic interest of the subjects discussed by the Organization at its meetings and in its major publications.

13. With regard to personnel policy, there have been intensive negotiations with staff representatives. Simpler and fairer procedures have been introduced, in particular in the areas of recruitment and selection and classification of posts. A new training strategy has been promulgated and implemented.

14. Efforts made during the biennium to reduce costs, especially the costs of support service activities, have met with considerable success in that the expenditure reductions agreed by the Governing Body in November 1995 have been adhered to and will be consolidated during the next budget period. A major effort was made to improve the efficiency of the Conference and Regional Meetings and to reduce their costs.

15. The Governing Body may wish to assess the progress made during the first three six-month periods of the biennial period, to gauge the repercussions of this on the implementation of the Programme and Budget for 1998-99 and to draw the appropriate conclusions for the preliminary consultations on the Organization's programme for the 2000-01 biennium which will take place in March 1998.

II. Highlights of the work of the technical departments

16. The priority objectives which inspired the activities of the Organization during the biennium remained those outlined in the programme and budget, namely: the promotion of democracy and human rights; the alleviation of unemployment and poverty; and the protection of working people. This paper briefly summarizes the highlights of ILO activities in pursuit of those objectives. More detailed information will be provided in the Director-General's Report on Activities of the ILO in the 1996-97 biennium, which will be submitted to the Conference in June 1998.

Promoting democracy and human rights

Standards

17. The fundamental standards on workers' rights are particularly relevant to the promotion of democracy and human rights. The campaign launched by the Director-General in May 1995 to increase ratifications of the seven core ILO Conventions on freedom of association, non-discrimination and forced and child labour continued during the biennium. Nearly 70 additional ratifications of these Conventions have been registered. The Office has provided assistance directly to member States considering the ratification of these instruments, for example by means of national tripartite seminars in Viet Nam, China, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, and by a subregional tripartite seminar in Africa. The discussions on workers' fundamental rights in the Governing Body and at the 85th Session of the Conference also required extensive preparatory work by the Office.

The following new standards were adopted by the Conference during the biennium:

Home Work Convention (No. 177) and Recommendation (No. 184), 1996.
Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention (No. 180) and Recommendation (No. 187), 1996.
Labour Inspection (Seafarers) Convention (No. 178) and Recommendation (No. 185), 1996.
Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (No. 179) and Recommendation (No. 186), 1996.

Protocol of 1996 to the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147).
Private Employment Agencies Convention (No. 181) and Recommendation (No. 188), 1997.

18. The importance of standards to the continued relevance of the Organization is underlined by the work which has been undertaken by the Working Party on the Revision of Standards. Servicing this Working Party has entailed extensive research work by the Office in order to prepare substantial documents, work not fully foreseen when the programme and budget for the biennium was adopted. The recommendations of the Working Party, which were accepted by the Governing Body, relate to the revision of over ten Conventions, activities to promote the ratification of revised Conventions and the shelving of over 25 Conventions. On the recommendation of the Governing Body, the 85th Session of the International Labour Conference in 1997 adopted an amendment to the Constitution of the ILO which, when ratified, will allow for the abrogation of a Convention "if it appears that the Convention has lost its purpose or that it no longer makes a useful contribution to attaining the objectives of the Organization".

19. Considerable progress was made during the biennium to make information on standards more accessible. The Office's two main legislative databases, ILOLEX and NATLEX, were made accessible on the Internet. They are currently the most popular technical sections on the ILO site. Each month ILOLEX receives an average of 13,500 hits, and NATLEX an average of 10,500.

20. An extensive training programme has been carried out to raise awareness of these new information tools and to familiarize officials in ministries of labour and in employers' and workers' organizations with their use. This included seminars in Africa, Asia and Latin America, at the Turin Centre, in Brussels (for the European institutions) and at Cornell University in the United States, as well as technical assistance missions in various countries.

21. These information activities were supplemented by a number of publications during the biennium. These included a new compilation of international labour Conventions and Recommendations, published in English, which includes the revised Handbook of procedures relating to international labour Conventions and Recommendations, which was published separately and widely circulated in seven languages. The updated Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee was published in English, French and Spanish, and prepared for publication in Arabic, Portuguese and Russian. ILO Law on Freedom of Association, originally published in English in 1995, was issued in French in 1996, with versions also being prepared in Arabic, Chinese, German, Portuguese and Russian.

22. Activities carried out by the Bureau for Workers' Activities at headquarters in collaboration with specialists in the MDTs reinforced the role of workers' organizations in promoting international labour standards with regard to ratification, application and monitoring. Special attention was devoted to the fundamental human rights standards, to support the ratification campaign launched by the Director-General. Information and/or training on international labour standards have been included as a permanent element in practically all programmes for workers. In addition, a number of specific activities have been implemented, including a technical cooperation project aimed at promoting basic international labour standards for rural workers' organizations in Latin America and a training project for South African trade union representatives.

Labour administration

23. As the administrative arm of governments for the implementation of labour policy, the labour administration systems in member States have to cope with the many rapid changes that are taking place in the world of work. This task is particularly difficult in countries undergoing structural adjustment and in transition countries, in which the transformation to a market economy and economic democratization is in progress. The objective of ILO activities in this respect is the strengthening of the capacity of labour administrations to design and implement effective policies for the protection of workers and the efficient functioning of labour markets.

24. To attain this objective, a more global approach was adopted in ILO activities relating to labour administration in order to improve the effectiveness of labour inspection and employment services. This approach, which has been carried out in close collaboration with the concerned specialists in the MDTs, is based on audits of labour administrations. The first phase of this work will be completed in December 1997 with a meeting of headquarters and MDT representatives in Africa following the conclusion of audits in five countries in the region. The recommendations arising as a result of these audits covered a number of aspects of the operation of labour administration systems, including the need for regular consultation with the social partners; ways in which the organization of the human and material resources of each labour administration may be improved; the provision of better information to officials working outside the capital city; the establishment of better coordination between ministries (especially the ministries concerned with social development and training); and the design and implementation of a realistic employment policy. The audits also identified areas in which the ILO is able to provide direct assistance to strengthen the labour administrations concerned.

25. Finally, given the importance and diversity of activities and functioning of labour administrations in the European Union, as well as the continuing period of transition in the countries of Central Europe, a tripartite seminar will be organized in November 1997 on "Labour administration, vector of development", in which more than 20 countries will participate. The seminar will examine differences in the labour administration systems of European Union countries, taking account of factors specific to country circumstances, such as the relative strength of the social partners and of tripartite consultation machinery. Participants' attention will also be drawn to the ways in which labour administration systems can equip the social partners and individual jobseekers to take a proactive approach to the employment issue by means of open dialogue. It also means encouraging the development of a more positive attitude among jobseekers.

26. The assistance provided to the Baltic States and Slovakia during the biennium produced encouraging results. With support from the ILO, a working environment department was established within the Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia to deal with policy issues and labour legislation. A tripartite advisory council on the work environment was also created. In Lithuania, the Tripartite Commission on Labour Protection discussed a proposed national policy on labour protection, which had been developed with the technical assistance of the ILO. A workplace information management system was set up in Latvia with ILO technical assistance. Finally, a department of labour protection was set up within the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Family of Slovakia, and the legislation determining the functions of the labour administration system was revised.

Industrial relations and labour legislation

27. Labour legislation remains a vital mechanism guaranteeing democracy in many countries undergoing political and economic transformation. The ILO's objective in this context is the development of labour legislation that is adapted to the new environment, is conducive to economic efficiency and is equitable. One of the principal means of achieving this objective is the provision of technical assistance in response to requests from governments for help in the revision of legislation or the development of new laws. Assistance of this type was provided to over 35 countries during the biennium, and in many cases led to the adoption of new or revised legislation.

28. A new issue of the World Labour Report, entitled Industrial relations, democracy and social stability is to be published in November 1997. The aim of the publication is to discuss and provide evidence of current trends in industrial relations and to draw conclusions for the future regarding the positive approach that the social partners may adopt in this situation.

29. There is growing recognition that the changes introduced to equip national economies for the new competitive globalized markets can only be successful if they are backed by consensus support, particularly from the social partners. This has been encouraged by the ILO through technical advisory services and technical cooperation activities. As a result, a growing number of countries in all regions of the world have been experimenting with different mechanisms for negotiation and consultation on socio-economic policy between the government and employers' and workers' organizations.

30. ILO activities in this field seek to promote social dialogue and the maintenance and enhanced vitality of collective bargaining in globalized economies by providing information and training in the basic principles of social dialogue to constituents. During the biennium, tripartite seminars were held in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and a regional seminar on social dialogue was organized in Cyprus with the participation of nine Central and Eastern European countries. Technical support was also provided to promote social dialogue in El Salvador and five Andean countries. In many cases, this assistance has led to the establishment of new or revitalized tripartite consultation machinery and the conclusion of tripartite agreements on social and economic policy issues.

Examples of improved social dialogue in several Latin American countries include —

Venezuela, where a tripartite agreement on the revision of the Labour Code makes special reference to the assistance provided by the ILO;

Ecuador, where a partial revision of the Labour Code, particularly as regards its provisions on freedom of association, was the product of extensive tripartite consultation carried out with the support of the ILO;

Bolivia, where after an unsure start a process of tripartite consultation, assisted by the ILO, has recommenced and is focusing on the revision of labour legislation.

31. One of the fundamental concerns of the social partners, particularly in collective bargaining processes, is remuneration. The objective of ILO action in this respect is the formulation and effective application of sound wage policies and systems that are conducive to both greater social equity and economic efficiency. One key concern of constituents in this connection is to strike a balance between the aspects of pay determination that are best left to employers and workers, and those that would benefit from government initiatives. The assistance provided to constituents to help them achieve this objective included training courses at the Turin Centre and the International Institute for Labour Studies, as well as activities at the national and subregional levels. These activities included, to mention a few examples: assisting Cuba in the revision of the old centralized pay determination system, and establishment of a tripartite national task force on wage reform; advising constituents and parliamentarians in Brazil on profit-sharing and financial participation, with particular reference to their legal regulation; a seminar in Senegal for hotel and tourism sector negotiators to explore ways of revising the job, grade and pay structure set out in the collective agreement covering the sector; national tripartite meetings on minimum wage fixing in Nepal and Thailand; assisting the social partners in Madagascar to adjust minimum wages through a collective agreement for the first time.

32. The work of the Bureau for Employers' Activities addressed the concerns of employers' organizations in relation to industrial relations issues, particularly with regard to the impact of the competitive and increasingly globalized environment on industrial relations; the need to develop a strategic perspective on industrial relations; the link between industrial relations and productivity, quality and competitiveness; and the increasing attention paid to industrial relations at the enterprise level. The impact of regional integration on labour law was also stressed, for example, at an employers' regional seminar in Mexico (1996). The Bureau's technical cooperation programme responded to these needs through advisory services and programmes with employers' organizations on a range of issues, including information on wages and salaries and criteria for their determination within regions and subregions; the introduction of pay systems linked to performance and skills criteria (covered by a regional workshop and six national workshops in the Asia and Pacific region); and improving employment relations through workplace cooperation mechanisms, better two-way communications and dispute prevention systems.

33. The Bureau for Workers' Activities continued to assist workers' organizations to develop among their members the necessary skills for the basic functioning of workers' groups at various levels. Training events continued to be organized on collective bargaining, grievance handling and organizational techniques. In particular, teams of union negotiators were trained to become operational in a wide range of countries where market-oriented economic systems have been recently introduced.

34. As regards multinational enterprises, the sixth survey on the effect given to the Tripartite Declaration was prepared and discussed by the Governing Body's Subcommittee on Multinational Enterprises in March 1997. Several activities were carried out at the national level with a view to securing national agreements on how to apply the Tripartite Declaration. One striking example was the Memorandum of Social Understanding on the application of the Declaration adopted in Manila by a tripartite meeting, and it is hoped to replicate this successful experience in other developing countries: in Indonesia the three social partners have requested ILO assistance for the conclusion of similar instruments, and ILO help in this area is also being sought by the Government of Viet Nam and by the Asian trade union movement. In addition, an action programme on social and labour issues in EPZs identified factors that contribute to the success of EPZs, and particularly the role of social and labour issues in determining their performance (see the account of progress under the action programme on labour and social issues in export processing zones later in this chapter).

The fight against poverty and unemployment

Employment strategies

35. A major concern of ILO constituents in both industrialized and developing countries is the promotion of higher levels of employment and the elimination of poverty. The Social Summit called on the ILO to play a major role in efforts to fight poverty and unemployment, and an account of the work undertaken in response to the Summit is contained in a later section in this chapter.

Labour market policies

36. In addressing the problem of unemployment and social exclusion, an especially challenging task of governments and the social partners is to undertake the analyses needed in order to design and evaluate policies to improve the efficiency and equity of labour markets. The objective of the ILO's work on labour market policies is to enhance the capacity of governments and the social partners to carry out this specific task more effectively.

37. The development of labour market indicators is an activity developed in response to the resolution concerning employment in a global context, adopted by the 83rd Session (1996) of the Conference. The 15 labour market indicators selected for this project concern the labour force and its skill level, employment, unemployment, manufacturing wages and labour productivity. Work on these indicators will strengthen the capacity of the ILO to disseminate statistics on employment and labour market trends to member States during the next biennium.

Statistics

38. Labour statistics provide the basic link between economic and social statistics. The field covers employment, unemployment and underemployment, wages, labour costs and hours of work, consumer prices and family incomes, occupational classifications, occupational injuries and industrial disputes. In an increasingly numerate and globalized world, establishing sound statistical systems based on internationally accepted concepts and methods is becoming more and more essential. The ILO's statistical activities are therefore aimed at developing international standards for labour statistics, helping countries to apply these standards and providing users all over the world with the most important labour statistics for as many countries as possible. An account of progress in implementing the action programmes on statistics on underemployment and income from employment is to be found later in this chapter.

The development of statistics on child labour continued to be a priority. Estimates of child labour were produced for the first time in 1996 at the regional and global levels. The estimates have received international recognition and have been widely quoted as official ILO figures. Refinements were brought to the innovative statistical techniques developed in the preceding two biennia, and were used in the conduct of new national surveys in several countries. The main results of the activities were consolidated in a report entitled Methodological Child Labour Surveys and Statistics — ILO's Work in Brief. In collaboration with IPEC, a new project was formulated aiming at conducting child labour surveys in 40 countries during the next five years.

39. An activity with considerable potential impact on the design and implementation of structural adjustment programmes at the national level has been the development of two courses, which are to be given in 1998, on the economic and social effects of adjustment and reform policies in cooperation with the ILO Turin Centre and the UN Staff College. The first of these courses is aimed at top-level international civil servants, the second at middle managers in governmental institutions, employers' and workers' organizations, and international organizations.

40. Structural adjustment was also the subject of a tripartite subregional seminar for eastern and southern African countries held in Kampala (September 1996) on how to achieve policy consensus on economic reform programmes. The discussions in the seminar emphasized the importance of the political process of decision-making, as opposed to the technocratic process for adjustment programmes.

41. During the biennium the ILO assisted several governments to create an enabling policy environment at the macro and sectoral levels for poverty alleviation through employment-intensive growth. For example, the ILO assisted the Government of Uzbekistan in working out the policy framework for the establishment of a Social Transformation Fund, towards which the World Bank has pledged $10 million. The ILO also helped the Government of Egypt to revise its employment and unemployment estimates through labour force surveys, and to adopt a policy framework for job-creation measures to absorb 500,000 to 600,000 new labour market entrants each year.

42. The ILO's Employment Intensive Programmes (EIPs) approach is unique in the sense that it links employment promotion, private sector development and poverty alleviation on the one hand, with social progress and empowerment on the other. As such, it provides a concrete contribution to the ILO's two other priority objectives: the protection of workers and democratization through the enhancement of popular participation. The EIP constitutes an important ILO instrument to implement the Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social Development. The wider application of this approach can raise incomes and promote local enterprises while encouraging the maintenance practices so dramatically lacking in many developing countries.

ILO-supported Employment Intensive Programmes expanded in Ethiopia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zambia, and major new project approvals were obtained for programmes in Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Zambia. Nevertheless, political upheavals created difficulties with employment-intensive technical cooperation projects in Cambodia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

43. The integration of employment policy into investment policy is a key to employment-intensive growth, and this is increasingly recognized by governments, donor institutions (e.g. the World Bank and Nordic countries) and the social partners. Broader acceptance of the EIP approach is demonstrated by the continued cooperation with the World Bank, which resulted in the publication of a World Bank technical paper concerning the application of employment-intensive approaches to road works and the establishment of collaboration agreements in the fields of rural travel and transport.

Training

44. Globalization is forcing countries, enterprises and individuals to rely on knowledge, innovation and technical capability in order to raise their competitiveness and adapt to changing demands. At the same time, growing unemployment and the erosion of employment security call for more and better investment in skills development to enhance the employability of all workers throughout their working lives. Countries are therefore compelled to make their training systems more effective, sustainable and equitable in order to cope with the dual challenge of fostering economic growth and bridging the equality gap.

45. A major research project was undertaken as a joint venture with the World Bank to document the recent experience of a wide range of developing and transition economies in reforming their training systems. This research will be of particular interest to policy-makers. Seventeen case-studies were completed and have been synthesized in a draft report which will appear as a joint World Bank/ILO publication. The main messages emerging from the review are: the importance of targeting those most likely to benefit from training; the important role of governments in providing information on the availability and effectiveness of training programmes; the feasibility of encouraging private training providers to come forward; and the importance of political will, as well as institutional capacity, as a key to successful reform.

Enterprise development

46. Enterprise development has a key role to play in the generation of employment opportunities, and thus in the alleviation of poverty through long-term economic growth. ILO activities in this field are based on the recognition that most new jobs are created in the private sector, particularly by small and medium-sized enterprises. The advisory services and technical cooperation projects undertaken focused on facilitating the creation of viable, productive and competitive enterprises through the removal of regulatory and legal barriers to enterprise creation, and by support to organizations and institutions providing business development services.

The first ILO Enterprise Forum was organized in November 1996. The Forum brought together some 600 entrepreneurs, employers' and workers' representatives, as well as government and NGO officials from 97 countries to discuss the theme "promoting social progress and enterprise competitiveness in a global economy". The discussions increased awareness of the importance of enterprises for employment creation and other fundamental ILO concerns. Overall, the discussions highlighted the need for the social partners to work together to achieve the twin objectives of economic efficiency and social protection at the enterprise level. A second Enterprise Forum is planned to be held in 1999.

47. A major event during the biennium was the first discussion on "General conditions to stimulate job creation in small and medium-sized enterprises" at the 1997 Conference. It is likely that a Recommendation on the subject will be adopted at the 1998 Conference.

48. Small enterprises often require support in such areas as credit, basic business management training, preparation of business plans, market access and opportunities, technology and legal issues. Such support may be provided through employers' organizations, specialized small enterprise development organizations, community development organizations and private entrepreneurs such as consultants and accountants. The ILO worked closely with more than 100 such intermediary organizations to increase their capacity and thus indirectly help to improve the productivity and competitiveness of small enterprises, creating the conditions for further job creation.

49. The ILO also played an active role in the Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development, which brings together some 50 donors, including the World Bank, regional development banks and most bilateral donors. In recognition of its wide and long experience in this area the ILO was asked by this Committee to lead a working group to identify best practices and the major lessons learned to date in the field of small business development services.

50. An account of progress in implementing the important action programme on privatization, restructuring and economic democracy is given below.

Cooperatives

51. ILO activities in this field aim at the creation and strengthening of democratically organized and managed cooperative enterprises, which provide income and employment to their members and also take account of the needs of the communities in which they operate. Activities to assist member States focused on the following issues: the creation of a legal and regulatory environment in which genuine cooperatives can become competitive and grow; cooperative human resource development; and poverty alleviation and social service cooperatives.

52. In the field of cooperative reform, the ILO assisted some 20 countries in Africa and Asia to formulate cooperative legislation in tune with local needs and circumstances. This work was carried out in consultation with those directly affected, thus contributing to the process of democratization and the strengthening of the autonomy of cooperative movements.

53. The ILO developed the capabilities of cooperatives in some 30 countries through the provision of information, advice and consultancy services, as well as the organization of regional and national workshops. It was able to mobilize additional input for its work from other development partners such as the Cooperative and Raiffeisen Union (Germany), the German Development Foundation, the Histadrut International Institute (Israel) and the Swedish Cooperative Centre.

Informal sector

54. Informal sector enterprises constitute an important segment of the private sector in many developing countries; the number of working people in the informal sector often exceeding in number the employees of the larger formal enterprises. Their contribution to employment and GNP is significant and the sector often softens the negative employment effect of structural adjustment programmes and constitutes the main source of income for disadvantaged groups.

55. The ILO continued to support informal sector enterprises in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama through the PROMICRO project. This project works with national agencies responsible for informal sector policy and programmes, with national associations of informal sector operators, and with NGOs, Chambers of Commerce, municipalities and local level associations. The project has set up a Web site -- Information System for the Promotion of Micro-enterprises -- which offers a wide range of information on bibliographical references, major events (seminars and workshops), ongoing projects, economic data and consulting services. It also allows enterprises to negotiate contracts with other members. The bibliographical part of the site in 1997 received the Latin Business Award, recognizing it as the best site dedicated exclusively to informal sector enterprises in Latin America. This experience has clearly shown that informal sector enterprises can use the most advanced information technology to access the information they need and to conduct business.

56. The ILO's experience in the informal sector experience is recognized by many institutions worldwide. For example, the ILO is a member of the UN Task Force on the Informal Sector in Africa, which adopted the ILO's participatory approach to support informal sector self-help organizations, thus multiplying the impact of the ILO's approach to the informal sector. The ILO contributed a report, The Future of Urban Employment, to the Second United Nations Conference on Urban Settlements (Habitat II) held in Istanbul in June 1996.⁽¹⁾ This report was widely quoted in the international press and was the subject of an active debate involving ILO social partners, community-based organizations and international organizations. The ILO report and the report of Habitat II have captured the imagination of urban policy-makers around the world. In consequence, the ILO has been invited to provide advice on urban employment to European regional meetings as well as to the ILO field structure in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The Habitat Agenda adopted in Istanbul in June 1996 highlights the links between urbanization, shelter and employment, and the role of international labour standards vis-à-vis the informal sector.

The ILO has also been instrumental in mobilizing credit for informal sector enterprises. In Honduras, for example, it advised on the establishment of a credit line of $6 million, funded from a World Bank loan and by the Netherlands. Since 1992 this fund has granted more than 30,000 loans, of which some 60 per cent went to women. Most loans were accompanied by business development services.

The protection of working people

Occupational safety and health

57. The protection of working people remains a fundamental objective of ILO activities. In the field of safety and health the ILO played a leading role in the preparation and realization of the XIVth World Congress on OSH (Madrid, April 1996). The ILO's statements and statistical figures on occupational accidents and other work-related problems were widely quoted in the international media and in specialized periodicals, as was the ILO's contribution to the Congress of the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH) in Stockholm.

58. The first two volumes of the new, fourth edition of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, one of the ILO's flagship publications, have been printed. The complete four volumes and the corresponding CD-ROM will be available for sale as of April 1998. The translation of Volumes I and II into French has been initiated. The Chemical Safety CD-ROM and information recently put on the Internet have attracted new users to OSH information, and more than 20,000 hits are registered each year.

59. ILO activities relating to the environment focused on chemical safety. As regards chemical risk assessment, the ILO has continued to manage the internationally peer-reviewed production and dissemination of the International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs), aided by a new computer programme for the automatic translation and preparation of the ICSCs. These cards are used by enterprises, often the safety representatives or officers, to develop guidelines for the safe use and handling of chemical substances. As regards the harmonization of existing systems for the classification and labelling of chemicals, a set of proposed classification criteria and tests of 14 hazard categories is to be completed by the end of 1997. This work will make it possible to develop practical and comprehensible ways of communicating chemical hazard information to workers and users in different countries. An account of related work under the action programme on safety in the use of chemicals at work is given below.

Working conditions

60. With the globalization of many industries and services, and the consequent increase in competitive pressure, the ILO's programme on improving working conditions is becoming more important than ever. Working conditions and work organization are central elements in the process of raising and sustaining competitiveness.

61. One of the major activities of the biennium in the field of working conditions was the Meeting of Experts on Workers' Privacy, held in October 1996 (originally scheduled for 1995).⁽²⁾ As modern technology opens up new possibilities for collecting, using and transferring workers' personal data and monitoring and surveillance in the workplace, threats to workers' privacy remain a continuing concern. In response to this situation, the Meeting adopted a Code of practice on the protection of workers' personal data. Since its publication earlier this year (1997), the Code of practice has attracted widespread interest: it was covered in the press; Argentina has recently submitted a draft law based on the Code; the Code was reproduced in the publication Privacy Law and Practice (New Zealand) and in the journal I-WAYS, Digest of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, DC); it was translated into Finnish by the tripartite Finnish National ILO Committee set up by the Council of Ministers, and a request for a German translation has been received; and it was used as background material for the annual "Privacy Issues Forum" held in New Zealand.

Child labour

62. As regards child labour, the ILO's campaigns and activities at the national and international levels have made a significant contribution to increasing awareness of the problem of child labour, and particularly of the need to advance towards the immediate elimination of its most intolerable forms. A law and practice report entitled Child labour: Targeting the intolerable was submitted to the International Labour Conference in 1997 as a first step towards the formulation of a new Convention on child labour. Various publications dealing with child labour issues were published, including: Trade unions and child labour: A guide to action; Children at work: Health and safety risks; and Labelling child labour products: A preliminary study.

63. The elimination of child labour is now high on the agenda for action of individual countries and the international community. In the 1996-97 biennium the ILO directed considerable resources to regional activities and seminars requested by constituents, and actively participated in the organization of several international conferences on child labour, including the Amsterdam Child Labour Conference in February 1997, the first Latin American meeting on child labour, held in Cartagena in May 1997 and the International Conference on Child Labour held in Oslo in October 1997. In addition, activities were pursued with the business community, for example, concerning the elimination of child labour in the manufacture of footballs in Sialkot (Pakistan).

64. During 1996-97 an increasing number of countries sought assistance from IPEC, which is now operational in over 40 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, while preparatory activities have also been carried out in countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Arab States. Some 29 countries have now signed a memorandum of understanding with the ILO to implement national programmes of action against child labour (compared with 11 up to 1995). Funds in support of IPEC are now provided by 14 donors, and negotiations are continuing with other potential new donors.

Social security

65. The ILO's activities in the field of social security relate closely to the alleviation of unemployment and poverty and the protection of working people. In addition, the objective of promoting democracy lies behind the ILO's efforts to foster the greater involvement in the supervision of social security schemes of representatives of those directly affected: the principle of tripartism is echoed in the administration and financing of most social security schemes.

The development of social security schemes is a long- term process which is subject to many external and internal factors. Nevertheless, a pattern of development can be seen, to which the ILO has clearly contributed: in Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania ILO assistance over the last five years has resulted in legislation to establish national pension schemes; in Thailand the social security scheme established under an ILO project in 1990 is operating satisfactorily and steps are now being taken to extend the range of benefits. New projects are commencing in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Philippines and Namibia which reflect a commitment by those governments to reform based on earlier ILO guidance.

66. During the biennium, the ILO undertook or organized technical cooperation projects in over 40 countries, among them major projects which aimed at advising the government on the almost complete restructuring of major parts of its national social protection systems (Turkey) or an emergency rehabilitation of its social security schemes (Congo). The Office has also maintained its place in the international debate on the guiding principles of social security, the development of new policy options and strategies and the financing of social protection, through more than 30 analytical papers. Thus the ILO is becoming a major force in national and international discussions on the future of social protection policies.

67. An account is given below of the progress achieved in implementing the three action programmes on social security, namely: the reform and development of systems of social protection; social security programmes -- the improvement of governance, management, administration and operation; and social safety nets, social assistance and poverty prevention.

Migrant workers

68. Migration for employment offers many workers an opportunity to escape poverty and unemployment or otherwise improve their employment situation and income. However, it also raises many issues, such as access to labour markets, equality of treatment, social protection, the role and responsibilities of private employment agencies, the role of workers' organizations, and arrangements for returning migrants in both labour-sending and receiving countries.

69. During the biennium the ILO continued to promote more widespread acceptance and implementation of the principle of equality of treatment for migrant workers and the elimination of discrimination against them. In April 1997 the Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Future ILO Activities in the Field of Migration developed guidelines for national and international action on two major issues which are not adequately covered by existing Conventions, namely: (1) the protection of workers engaged under temporary migration schemes; and (2) the protection of workers from one country recruited by private agents for employment in another country. The report of this Meeting is before the Governing Body at its current session.⁽³⁾

70. The research project on combating discrimination against migrants and ethnic minorities and improving their integration in the labour market, which started in 1993 and now involves eight Western European countries, the United States and Canada, was completed during the biennium. Research findings have convincingly shown that discrimination in the world of work is widespread and persistent, and have highlighted the limitations of legislative action and the weak impact of voluntary measures such as training on equal opportunity and treatment. The project findings will be disseminated through national and international seminars in which recommendations will be formulated on concrete action to prevent such discrimination.

71. Largely on account of this work, the ILO has gained recognition as one of the lead agencies in fighting discrimination against immigrant and ethnic minority workers. The ILO also contributed to the work that led to the Joint Declaration on the Prevention of Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia and the Promotion of Equal Treatment at the Workplace, adopted by the representatives of the European social partners. This Declaration became a major input to the 1997 European Year Against Racism.

Persons with disabilities

72. Vulnerable categories of the population are experiencing greater difficulty in finding and keeping employment. These categories include people with disabilities, and individuals with drug and alcohol problems. ILO action in favour of persons with disabilities contributes to promoting employment and social equity and protecting the rights of disabled workers through international standards and research activities. It also seeks to increase the capacity of governments and the social partners in developing countries to attack the poverty in which most disabled individuals and their families find themselves. This is done principally through national and regional technical cooperation projects aimed at creating integrated vocational skills training and work opportunities for disabled young people and adults, especially disabled women. Projects implemented by the ILO during the biennium included policy and training support for the integration of disabled trainees into vocational training institutions in 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries, and projects to support government efforts to establish community-based rehabilitation programmes and economic integration programmes for people with disabilities.

The Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET), initiated by the Office in 1995, is an information network comprising 100 social policy research institutes, universities and various governmental and non-governmental organizations. In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the network, GLADNET became an independent entity in June 1997, with the creation of the GLADNET Association. Together with 12 GLADNET partner organizations, the ILO maintains the GLADNET Infobase, an on-line international text repository of current legislation, state-of-the-art research reports, journal articles and unpublished information. The GLADNET Internet Web site and Infobase have become recognized as a leading on-line source consulted regularly by researchers and policy-makers, as well as by ILO MDT specialists in the field.

73. It is estimated that over 50 million people throughout the world are disabled by drug and alcohol abuse, which has become a cause of major concern in most countries. As part of a broader international strategy to reduce demand for drugs and alcohol, the objectives of ILO action in this field consist of a dual strategy of prevention at the workplace and rehabilitation in the community. The policy and conceptual framework for the ILO's work is set out in the ILO Code of practice on the management of alcohol- and drug-related issues in the workplace, which was published in 1996. The activities to achieve this objective included policy formulation seminars, staff training courses, enterprise programmes and research covering over 40 countries. With the ILO's assistance, over 100 enterprises developed prevention and assistance programmes for their workforce during the biennium.

74. The ILO's recognized expertise in this field meant that it played a higher profile role at the international level. In addition to collaborating closely with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and other international organizations, the ILO acted as the task force manager for the United Nations Plan of Action on Drug Abuse Prevention in the Workplace, which forms part of the System-Wide Action Plan on Drug Abuse Control. The ILO also participated in the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction. The Declaration will be submitted for endorsement to a special session of the General Assembly in June 1998 devoted to the fight against the illicit production, sale, demand, trafficking and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and related activities.

Sectoral activities

75. The reforms to the Sectoral Activities Programme that were decided by the Governing Body in 1995, following two years of discussion, took effect in 1996. The main features of these reforms were: (a) the identification of the 22 sectors to which attention would regularly be given; (b) a streamlining of the programme of tripartite meetings, featuring more focused topics, shorter duration, flexibility in composition and structure, a smaller number of agenda items, the elimination of the questionnaires and procedures assessing the effect given to past recommendations, and the introduction of panel discussions; (c) a relative shift of emphasis and resources from meetings to a more determined follow-up effort to link meetings to other means of action and to the activities of other departments.

76. Ten of the new-format meetings will have been held by the end of 1997. The efforts over several biennia to increase the relevance of the Sectoral Activities Programme for ILO constituents and to improve the quality of output has clearly borne fruit in 1996-97. A briefing kit has been produced to familiarize field offices and sectoral constituents with ILO sectoral work, and work is proceeding on the use of the Internet for information exchange along sectoral lines. Sectoral meetings, the reports prepared for them and other publications from the department have received wide media coverage. This has strengthened the credibility of the ILO's sectoral activities in the eyes of ILO constituents, other organizations and the general public.

The 1996 Maritime Session of the Conference adopted a Protocol to the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147). The importance of Convention No. 147 internationally is underpinned by the fact that nearly all regional agreements between maritime authorities on harmonizing the inspection of foreign registered ships include this Convention together with the relevant IMO instruments. In addition, for the European region the maritime authorities carried out a concentrated inspection campaign during the last part of 1997 of all ships entering European ports, based on material prepared by the Office on certain aspects of Convention No. 147. The Office has provided guidance to inspectors in different regions and it has also prepared a training package on Convention No. 147 and inspection.

Follow-up on the World Summit for
Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995

77. The Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social Development were of profound significance for the ILO. The Declaration included ten priority commitments in relation to a wide range of issues in social development. The key goals of concern to the ILO emerging from the Declaration and the accompanying Programme of Action include

the promotion of full employment, and the elimination of poverty;
the need for the full application of ILO Conventions, especially those regarding basic workers' rights, including the prohibition of forced and child labour, freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively;
equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and non-discrimination in employment.

78. The Programme of Action also recognizes the leading role of the ILO within the UN system in relation to employment and social development, and emphasizes that structural adjustment programmes should take account of social development goals and the need to accelerate the economic and social development of Africa and the least developed countries.

79. In response to the Declaration adopted by the World Summit, the Director-General launched a major campaign to promote the wider observance of basic workers' rights, in particular through the ratification of the core international labour standards concerning freedom of association, non-discrimination and forced labour. This campaign and its results were briefly summarized at the beginning of this section under the heading Promoting democracy and human rights and are the subject of a detailed document submitted to the present session of the Governing Body.⁽⁴⁾ A later section of the chapter gives details of the ILO's activities relating to equality for women, in response to the conclusions arising from both the World Summit and the Beijing Conference. The paragraphs which follow address the other field of primary ILO concern, for which the World Summit designated the ILO as the lead agency within the UN system, the promotion of full employment and the alleviation of poverty.

80. Taking account of the decision of the World Summit to designate the ILO as the lead agency on the employment issue, the ILO has undertaken a wide range of activities in the biennium in order to intensify its dialogue with the Bretton Woods institutions in relation to employment policy and to social development issues in general. This dialogue has related both to policy questions and to the development of practical cooperation at the country level. These activities have been the subject of a series of reports to the Committee on Employment and Social Policy of the Governing Body, including a paper at the present session.⁽⁵⁾ In particular, in March 1997 a group of senior ILO officials discussed with World Bank officials how to enhance the ILO/World Bank partnership, with emphasis on the promotion of core international labour standards and on ways of promoting the elimination of child labour. Agreement was reached to initiate a structured staff dialogue to explore the possibilities for the Bank to incorporate concern for core workers' rights in its own operations. One example of the increased dialogue between the ILO and the Bank are the consultations undertaken by the two organizations with the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers with a view to ensuring that ILO core standards are observed in World Bank procurement contracts. The Bank is also taking some important practical steps in relation to child labour and the ILO, the World Bank and UNDP are collaborating in the design and implementation of social development funds, labour law reform, and labour-intensive works projects. In confirmation of this steady development of the dialogue with the Bank, the International Labour Conference was addressed by its President, Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, in June 1997.⁽⁶⁾

81. The dialogue with the IMF on policy issues continues to be strengthened by improved country-level contacts, joint initiatives, and the exchange of comments on drafts of the IMF's World Economic Outlook and the ILO's World Employment report. However, differences of approach remain: in some cases ILO staff advocate that, depending on specific economic conditions, consideration may need to be given to increasing wages so as to stimulate domestic demand, whereas IMF staff have mostly urged wage restraint to meet macroeconomic objectives. Six countries have been selected for enhanced cooperation between the ILO and the IMF (including Côte d'Ivoire, India, Indonesia, Peru, Uganda and Ukraine). Ukraine is a particularly good example of the rapidly developing cooperation between the ILO and the Bretton Woods institutions: in 1996 the ILO, in cooperation with the IMF, organized a tripartite seminar to address the very serious problems of wage policy and wage arrears in that country. The ILO, UNDP and the World Bank also joined together in supporting the Government in developing a social expenditure budget for the country.

82. The ILO chaired the Task Force on Employment and Sustainable Livelihoods set up by the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination. Through this Task Force arrangements were made for a series of country reviews of policies for employment and sustainable livelihoods. The ILO was directly responsible for leading three of the seven country studies (Chile, Hungary and Nepal) and actively contributed to the others. These reviews examined some major national issues of concern, including the quality of employment and better jobs for the poor (Chile); encouraging higher levels of enterprise productivity (Hungary); and integrating the rural poor into development (Nepal). Further country employment policy reviews are foreseen for Brazil and Ukraine (in 1997) and several others will be undertaken in the next biennium. Reviews for two or three European countries are also planned. This series of country reviews is the subject of papers being submitted to the Committee on Employment and Social Policy.⁽⁷⁾

83. One important task for the ILO is to monitor, analyse and document global developments and trends in employment. The second issue of the new series of ILO global reports on employment, entitled World Employment 1996-97: National policies in a global context, was published in November 1996. It examined the implications of globalization for employment policies, discussed the desirability and feasibility of the objective of full employment, and reviewed employment trends and priority policy issues for improving employment performance in industrialized, transition and developing economies. A shorter, advance version was submitted to the Conference in June 1996, and the full version was discussed in the Governing Body's Committee on Employment and Social Policy in March 1997.

84. World Employment received extensive media coverage when it was launched. Since then it has continued to receive steady interest, reflected in stories in magazines and specialized journals, requests to reproduce excerpts, review articles, and invitations to present it at various policy and academic seminars at the international and national levels. In addition, several invited articles based on the report have been published in outside journals. The report also provided the basis for ILO contributions to the G7 Employment Conferences in Lille (April 1996) and Kobé (November 1997), and to the UN Commission on Social Development, which met in February 1997.

85. The wide impact of the second issue of World Employment, together with the generally favourable comments on its technical quality and pertinence, has helped to consolidate the ILO's role as the lead agency on employment issues, especially in follow-up on the 1995 World Summit for Social Development.

86. The main emphasis of the ILO's policy dialogue with the Bretton Woods institutions is the labour market and employment aspects of structural adjustment measures. To an increasing extent structural adjustment programmes supported by these institutions take into account issues of concern to the ILO -- such as the reform of labour legislation, social security and pension reform, social safety nets, and labour market policy -- in their policy advice, lending activities and research. The ILO is increasingly encouraging its own national constituents to express their views on structural adjustment measures proposed by the World Bank, and advising them on how to formulate such views. A brief account of the practical advisory work of the ILO on structural adjustment measures is given above under the heading The fight against unemployment and poverty, and many related activities at the country level are mentioned in section III concerning ILO work in the regions.

Follow-up on the Fourth World Conference
on Women, Beijing, 1995

87. ILO activities to follow up on the Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women focused on the objectives of ensuring the integration of gender issues into ILO programmes and projects and of promoting equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in the world of work. The ILO interregional programme on More and Better Jobs for Women was launched earlier this year to promote progress towards these objectives and on the gender-related conclusions of the World Summit for Social Development. The programme aims to enhance national capacity, strengthen legal and institutional frameworks, increase international concern for women's employment issues and promote a comprehensive and integrated approach to improving employment for women.

88. The programme has now begun to assist a selected number of countries to formulate national action plans and to set up institutional structures for their implementation. These plans take into account national priorities and concerns focusing on women's employment issues and containing a range of components including awareness-raising, legislative reform, institutional strengthening, group mobilization, the creation of social support structures and policies to help women cope with family responsibilities. They also include measures that target vulnerable groups.

89. A training programme was implemented for ILO staff and constituents to raise awareness of gender issues and to enhance their capacity to carry out gender analysis and planning. Training courses were organized for staff at headquarters and in the field. A comprehensive interregional project on awareness-raising and the promotion of equality and women workers' rights was initiated in nine countries. The project aims to promote equal opportunity and treatment of women workers by disseminating information on women workers' rights embodied in ILO Conventions. Training courses were designed to enhance the capacity of officials from government, employers' and workers' organizations and women's non-governmental organizations to organize training on women workers' rights.

90. A series of guidelines, manuals and training packages to promote and support gender awareness and equal opportunity policies has been developed during the biennium, mostly as a result of the ILO seminars. They are being used in training workshops and technical cooperation projects to sensitize and build the capacity of officials from government, employers' and workers' organizations and cooperatives. These materials concern many issues, including sexual harassment at the workplace, working conditions in the garment industry, rural women in micro-enterprise development, women workers in export processing zones, gender equality bargaining, and women's employment assistance.

91. The Office has energetically promoted the universal application of fundamental ILO Conventions⁽⁸⁾ through technical assistance activities and a series of national tripartite seminars in Asia (China, Mauritius, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam). A subregional tripartite seminar on equal opportunity and treatment in employment was also held in Africa.

92. The seminar in China focused on the application of the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100). It also launched a project for the promotion of women. In adjusting its legal framework to the requirements of a market-oriented economy, Viet Nam has been addressing all of the fundamental ILO Conventions within the framework of another ILO technical assistance project. Workshops in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands led to recommendations for the ratification of, notably, the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) and the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). A seminar for Arab States on equality of opportunity and treatment for women workers is also planned.

93. The ILO recently completed the implementation of a programme in Asia promoting women's entrepreneurship in small and cottage industries. Another programme in progress concerns the innovative approaches to improving the performance of women in micro- and small enterprises.

94. In addressing the need for a gender perspective in structural adjustment programmes and economic reform policies, the ILO carried out research studies and surveys in India and Sri Lanka on the impact of structural adjustment on women's employment. National tripartite workshops are planned for the end of the biennium in the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe to discuss this issue.

95. Studies were also carried out by the ILO in Latin America, Asia, Western and Eastern Europe to highlight the regional differences in women's representation in management. In December 1997, the findings will be presented to a tripartite meeting which will examine ways of increasing career opportunities for professional and managerial women.

96. During the biennium, the ILO has implemented several technical cooperation programmes to promote the social protection of homeworkers, piece workers and disadvantaged women workers: a project focusing on homeworkers in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand developed pioneering approaches to promoting employment opportunities and social protection for atypical workers.

97. Within the UN system, the Office played an active role in the revision of the UN System-Wide Medium-Term Plan for the Advancement of Women (1996-2001). The Office also participated in regional conferences for Europe and the Arab States to follow up on the Beijing Conference, and attended related meetings organized by the Commission on the Status of Women and the Division for the Advancement of Women on the implementation of the Beijing Platform.

Progress in the implementation of
action programmes: A brief summary

98. The Programme and Budget for 1996-97 was the first to include provision for action programmes, defined as special projects on subjects of topical importance designed to achieve specific objectives and to produce useful outputs within a given time-frame. The paragraphs which follow give brief accounts of the objectives and anticipated output of each action programme, as well as its status of implementation.

99. These brief summaries highlight differences in the level of achievement of the various action programmes. Some have produced more outputs than was previously expected and have stimulated wider interest among ILO constituents. Others have been held back, often by the need for country studies to collect information on experience at the national level, so that tangible outputs will be available at the end of the present biennium, or in 1998.

Major programme 60. Employment
Action programme: Youth unemployment

100. Objectives: The principal objectives of this action programme are

better awareness of the problem and its consequences;
improved understanding of the available policy and programme options;
enhanced capacity of member States in policy formulation and programme implementation.

101. Planned outputs: The planned outputs of this action programme are the following:

(a) a series of studies of the policies adopted in a cross-section of countries;
(b) a comparative report on youth unemployment, addressing the causes of the high level of youth unemployment and evaluating labour market policies designed to promote more employment possibilities for young people;
(c) a manual describing the policy options and their costs and benefits, covering several key policy areas such as the macroeconomic context, the role of employment services, education and training, wage policy, labour market regulations, and information systems for monitoring the impact of specific measures for vulnerable groups.

102. Status: The studies mentioned under (a) above are in progress in four IMEC countries, two transition countries, and two to three countries in each of the developing regions. The comparative report and the manual will be ready for publication in the first few months of 1998. The findings of the action programme will be disseminated in the course of 1998 through the two publications, seminars at the country level, and technical cooperation projects.

Major programme 65. Enterprise and
cooperative development

Action programme: Privatization, restructuring
and economic democracy

103. Objective: The objective of the action programme is enhanced capacity of constituents to adopt a participative approach to enterprise restructuring and privatization, which takes into account both social considerations and the need for enterprises to be competitive.

104. Planned outputs: The planned outputs of this action programme are the following:

(a) enterprise-level analyses of cases in which workers and managers have been actively involved in the privatization process and in which effective responses have been identified to issues such as restructuring, downsizing, retrenchment, retraining and redeployment, participative ownership, representation on boards and other labour-management relations issues;

(b) enterprise and other surveys on the social consequences of privatization, and particularly its effects on women workers;

(c) an integrated local economic development strategy promoted to address the specific problems of so-called "company towns" and the reconversion of specific industries;

(d) a study of the advantages and disadvantages of "bottom-up" privatization options, such as management and worker buy-outs and employee stock option plans;

(e) a manual containing guidelines on the participative approach to privatization for use by government officials, employers' and workers' organizations, consultants and the ILO's MDTs.

105. Status: Output in group (a) above includes two studies: (i) "Employment, training and other policies and measures for adoption at national and enterprise levels in response to retrenchment and redundancies brought about by privatization and restructuring" (to be ready by December 1997); (ii) "Mall enterprise creation and development as a response to retrenchment and redundancies brought about by privatization" (completed in July 1997).

106. The studies in group (b) are in progress. The country studies in respect of Poland, Hungary and Germany were delivered in June 1997, and the synthesis will be finalized by mid-December 1997.

107. The five case-studies in group (c) (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary) were completed in May 1997 and the policy recommendations adopted by a workshop held in Budapest on this subject are being summarized for publication by November 1997.

108. In group (d), the Polish experience with employee buy-outs was analysed in a study completed in January 1997; and another study on "Policy recommendations: Workers' shared ownership and economic democracy in the privatization process" will be finished by the end of October 1997.

109. Group (e) -- the development of the manual -- synthesizes the main findings and recommendations of the outputs in groups (a) to (d). The manual is expected to be published in early 1998.

110. The action programme has generated a wider understanding, especially through the six workshops organized in Africa, Central Europe and Latin America, of the development of the ILO's position with regard to the social implications of enterprise restructuring. The guidelines will help users to pursue participatory approaches in decisions regarding enterprise restructuring and privatization.

111. In summary, this action programme has made considerable progress. It delivered an impressive number of working papers, studies and reviews (22), many of which are results of interdepartmental cooperation.

Major programme 70. Training

Action programme: Skills and entrepreneurship training
for countries emerging from armed conflict

112. Objectives: The objectives of this action programme are to enhance the capacity in member States to make possible the rapid and effective reintegration of war-affected groups through training and employment promotion programmes and measures.

113. Planned outputs: The planned outputs of this action programme are the following:

(a) studies will be undertaken to assess the experience of governments, non-governmental organizations and communities in selected African, Asian and Central American countries; these studies will identify problems, successful initiatives and the support needed for the social and economic reintegration of displaced persons;

(b) guidelines will be prepared for programme planners on the design and implementation of programmes to promote the employment and self-employment of war-affected groups and communities; this work will cover the issues of training, entrepreneurship development, labour-intensive reconstruction programmes, the special needs of women, counselling and referral services and workers' initiatives, and the guidelines will be used in training courses for key planners and implementers of reintegration programmes and as a basis for the provision of advisory services on the design and management of such programmes;

(c) reports and other outputs arising from missions to furnish advisory services will include government institutions, non-governmental organizations, private agencies, employers' and workers' organizations, and bilateral and United Nations agencies;

(d) guidelines for the planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes for the employment or self-employment of war-affected groups and communities; training materials and courses designed to build institutional capacity at the national and community levels to plan and implement appropriate programmes.

114. Status: Country studies have been carried out in some 20 countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon and Uganda. The studies focused on small-scale enterprise promotion, credit schemes, vocational training, the role of trade unions in reconstruction and development, the effects of conflict on women, child soldiers, the other effects of conflict on youth and the disabled and increased drug abuse.

115. The programme's key products include a draft Framework for an ILO policy on training and employment promotion for sustainable peace (July 1997); Jobs for peace: Draft guidelines for employment promotion and skills training in conflict-affected countries (September, 1997); and a compendium of relevant reintegration programmes and institutions (October 1997). In addition, 18 working papers have been prepared reflecting the country studies.

116. A national seminar in Ethiopia in October 1997, which was attended by observers from Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and Uganda, examined experience in different countries in tackling the problems of skills training and employment promotion in areas emerging from armed conflict. A tripartite interregional seminar on the reintegration of conflict-affected groups through skills training and employment promotion is to be held at the Turin Centre in November 1997, and will bring together representatives from 11 of the ILO's conflict-affected member States.

117. A consultative meeting organized in June 1997 for Workers' delegates from 40 conflict-affected countries during the Conference revealed the extent of the difficulties faced by trade unions suffering in conflict-affected countries. The participants requested ILO guidance on their roles in the conflict-affected context and in providing technical and political support to unions in distress. Follow-up on the outcome of these meetings is awaited from the ILO by the constituents.

118. In summary, this action programme has increased awareness of the critical need for skills training and employment promotion in the reconstruction of war-torn societies, and the need for action by the ILO and its constituents in this field. It has also generated a number of requests, such as those from trade unions in some of the conflict-affected countries, for ILO technical assistance and guidance regarding the roles they could play in peace negotiations, social reconstruction and development.

Major programme 80. Industrial relations and
labour administration

Action programme: Labour and social issues relating
to export processing zones (EPZs)

119. Objectives: The objectives of this action programme are the following:

to identify the factors that contribute to success in EPZs;
to assess properly the role of social and labour issues in determining outcomes;
to make evaluative information available to ILO constituents on innovative and successful practices implemented by government agencies, employers and workers.

120. Planned outputs: The following outputs are planned:

(a) working papers on labour relations in EPZs, including the improvement of the situation of women workers in the zones and a review of core labour standards and codes of conduct;

(b) a book on innovations in social and labour relations in EPZs;

(c) a training package on "How to Improve Labour Relations in EPZs" aimed at zone authorities and organizations of workers and employers;

(d) a "Guide to action to improve the situation of women workers in EPZs", for use by government bodies, and employers' and workers' organizations;

(e) a Workers' Education Study Guide on the "Protection of Workers' Rights in EPZs";

(f) a series of subregional tripartite meetings organized by MDTs will discuss the findings and lead to an international tripartite meeting;

(g) an Internet site to serve as an information source and clearing-house.

121. Status: The working papers, training package, guide and workers' education study guide and Internet page will be ready before the end of 1997. The book will be ready for publication early in 1998 and the technical report in April 1998. The training package on labour relations should be tested in zones and enterprises in five different countries in the first half of 1998 before being made generally available. Tripartite meetings in the Caribbean and Central America are scheduled for October-November 1997. Discussions are in progress with other MDTs on the possibility of holding similar meetings in Africa and Asia.

122. Government agencies, investors and workers' organizations wishing to improve the performance of EPZs have asked the ILO to draw on its global comparative base of information in order to supply them with the best practice examples from other countries. The home page and the written outputs will augment ILO services to constituents in this direction. In addition, these outputs will highlight emerging trends and make recommendations for action. The international Tripartite Meeting of Export Processing Zones -- Operating Countries to be hosted by the ILO 1998 is expected to adopt conclusions or guidelines that will serve to improve conditions in and around zones.

123. The action programme will enable the ILO to become the best informed source of expertise on EPZs in the world. This base of information is a resource that should now be exploited in the form of printed output made accessible to interested parties, and also by means of a systematic programme of policy advice and capacity building related to the social and labour issues in EPZs.

Action programme: Labour inspection and
equality of rights of women

124. Objectives: The ultimate aim of this action programme is to make available to national labour administrations a set of recommendations concerning policies and practical measures for ensuring equality of rights and opportunity for women in the workplace.

125. Planned outputs: The planned outputs of this action programme are the following:

(a) national monographs on Chile, China, France and Romania. Each case-study will analyse the nature and scope of existing inequalities, the existing structure of labour administration and the role played by the key actors, including policy-makers and administrations, employers' and workers' organizations, NGOs and other agents of civil society; it will also assess the results of specific measures applied to promote equality of opportunity between men and women workers;

(b) a consolidated document based on an analytical synthesis of the above country case-studies.

126.Status: All the national monographs have been prepared. A draft methodological guide on the national experiences has also been prepared for a technical meeting of the national experts concerned, scheduled for December 1997. The final publication is expected to be ready for March 1998.

127.Initially conceived to deal only with questions of labour inspection, the scope of the action programme has been enlarged to cover all policy areas of labour administration. The outputs are intended to support national initiatives for sensitizing and mobilizing labour administrations, and the main social partners, to advance further in the application of policies in favour of women workers. The impact of this work will be felt through programmes at the country level.

Major programme 90. Working conditions and environment

Action programme: Manual on action planning for the
progressive elimination of child labour

128. Objectives: The objective of this programme is to enhance the capacity of governments and of employers' and workers' organizations to design a phased comprehensive national programme for solving the child labour problem.

129. Planned outputs: The planned output consists in a manual containing a package of tested tools to design a phased and comprehensive national programme for solving the child labour problem.

130. Status: Work on this important manual has proceeded less rapidly than hoped, owing to various factors, including the pressure of work in the fast-growing IPEC programme of operational activities. However, a publication is expected to be finalized by the end of 1997, and distribution to interested constituents will follow soon thereafter.

131.The main users of the manual will be the government agencies concerned, workers' and employers' organizations, research institutions and other non-governmental organizations. The elimination of child labour having been put high on the agenda for action in many individual countries, the manual will provide detailed prescriptions on what to do in response to the needs of specific situations based on best practices.

Action programme: Safety in the use of chemicals at work

132. Objectives: The objectives of this action programme are to strengthen national capacity, including that of workers' and employers' organizations, to design and implement national programmes for the environmentally sound management of hazardous chemicals and their waste disposal.

133. Planned outputs: The planned outputs are technical documents and other training materials for use in national and regional workshops involving the ILO's constituents.

134. Status: The action programme will be completed by the end of 1997. The following outputs have been prepared, or are near completion:

(a) a guide on chemical risk assessment and occupational hygiene in small enterprises (November 1997);

(b) a textbook for secondary school education on safety in the use of chemicals (November 1997);

(d) a report containing a comparative analysis on ILO, OECD and UNEP/FAO chemical safety activities (October 1997);

(e) a series of national training seminars to be held in Lebanon, Bangladesh, Mauritius and Bahrain;

(f) a report on "Chemical safety in Asia: Law and practice" (February 1998).

135. The importance of chemical safety (chemicals constitute 80 per cent of industrial hazards) is not fully appreciated by ILO constituents in many countries. Hopefully the action programme will prove instrumental in mobilizing action at the national level and creating changes in the attitude of constituents towards chemical safety. The finished products of the action programme in the form of textbooks and guidelines should clarify concepts and contribute to policy formulation and implementation. The development and dissemination of the Chemical Safety Page series (which will eventually be made available through the Internet) is expected to contribute towards day-to-day safety in the use of chemicals. This will benefit workers and assist the work of all supervisors in industrial sectors who are concerned with occupational safety and health.

Major programme 110. Social security

Action programme: Reforming and developing systems of
social protection: A framework for planning

136. Objective: To ensure that the member States, that is, the governments and social partners, have available to them the technical competencies needed for planning reforms of their social protection systems and have access to information on reforms carried out in other countries and the results of those reforms.

137. Planned outputs:

(a) a series of country reports presenting detailed analyses of the reform process, its content and results;

(b) a synthesis document to assess the country experiences and establish a general framework for reform policies.

138. Status: This programme has been implemented together with the action programme "Improvement of the strategic orientation, management, administration and functioning of social security programmes".

139. The outputs will take the form of a series of analytical reports on different aspects of planning reform of social protection systems and serve as a basis for discussion at a series of six seminars held in the different regions. Each seminar will also be the subject of a report which in turn will form part of the framework document on planning reform of social protection.

140. The syntheses document will be available as a first draft towards the end of 1997.

141. This action programme, thanks to its outputs but also and above all thanks to the process of consulting the constituents in different regions of the world, helps to maintain the Organization's reputation as a credible interlocutor in matters of social protection at both national and international level. This process of research and consultation helps to identify viable options for the revision of national social protection policies. The results of this work will in future be exploitable directly within the framework of the technical cooperation projects.

142. This action programme will make a major contribution to the action programme "An operational framework for pension reform" which is included in the Programme and Budget for 1998-99.

Action programme: Improving the governance,
management, administration and operating of
social security programmes

143. Objective: To ensure that the social partners and senior managers of social security agencies have access to reliable practical data for planning and monitoring changes to institutions, management and administration, and to improve the strategic management of existing social security systems.

144. Planned outputs: Two manuals of good practice, one concerning institutional mechanisms and the role of the social partners, the other analysing the major problems encountered in the administration of social security systems and providing practical guidelines for solving them.

145. Status: This programme is also benefiting from the wide-ranging consultation process initiated in most of the regions. The first manual will be available as a draft towards the end of October 1997 and the other should appear towards the end of 1997, also in draft form.

146. The consultation process has shown the importance of the issues addressed in these manuals for achieving better management (governance) of social security and confirmed that these manuals are relevant to current needs.

Action programme: Social safety nets, social assistance
and the prevention of poverty

147. Objective: To ensure that the constituents in the member States have a solid basis for the examination, formulation and implementation of policies and practical measures aimed at providing social protection for those population groups which currently enjoy little or no such protection.

148. Planned outputs: Monographs analysing the current and potential role in five or six countries of tax-based systems of provision for old age, unemployment and other contingencies; a monograph on the current and possible future role of tax-based health-care services for all; monographs on family- or community-based social protection mechanisms.

149. Status: This programme has led to an interregional project document on social security in the informal sector, supplemented by a series of feasibility studies covering four countries in Africa, Central America and Asia. Two other monographs have been produced on social protection for workers in the informal sector including one on health-care provisions.

150. The planned outputs are progressing but will probably not be finished before the end of the biennium. On the other hand, the derived outputs (formulation of technical cooperation programmes and projects) are in great demand by the developing countries and valued by prospective investors.

Major programme 120. Statistics

Action programme: Setting standards for statistics
on income from employment

151.Objective: The aim of this action programme is that ILO member States will have at their disposal internationally agreed standards, definitions and methodology enabling them to better measure income from employment.

152. Planned outputs: The following outputs are planned:

(a) existing guidelines on statistics of wages will be modified to provide guidance in the compilation and production of statistics on income from self-employment;

(b) studies of the most important issues in a number of industrialized and developing countries, as well as in countries undergoing the transition to a market economy, will be commissioned from national experts.

153.Status: Research has been carried out to develop a framework for the measurement of all forms of income from paid and self-employment. National practices in some 70 countries have been reviewed. Three studies by national experts, which have provided essential inputs to this research concern: (i) income from employment in India; (ii) the use of household surveys in Latin America as source data on income from employment; and (iii) measuring income from paid and self-employment in household surveys in Africa (experience in Ghana).

154. A report, Income from employment: Concept and measurement submitted to the tripartite Meeting of Experts on Labour Statistics held in Geneva in October 1997, incorporates the results of this work. It sets out the framework for the measurement of income from employment, examines selected aspects of income from paid employment and that from self-employment, and analyses various measurement issues. It also includes a draft resolution on the measurement of income from employment which, as amended by the Meeting of Experts, will be submitted to the Sixteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, to be held in 1998. Following discussion at that Conference, it is expected that the proposed guidelines will assist member States to produce statistics that better measure the income accruing to the whole working population, including the self-employed and employees with non-regular patterns of work.

Action programme: Setting standards for
statistics of underemployment

155. Objective: The objective of this action programme is that member States will have at their disposal internationally agreed standards, definitions and methodology enabling them to improve the measurement and comparison of underemployment.

156. Planned outputs: The planned output is to develop revised standards, based on an alternative approach covering both visible and invisible underemployment and using conventional methods of data collection.

157. Status: A report entitled: Underemployment: Concept and measurement was prepared for discussion at the tripartite Meeting of Experts held in October 1997. The report includes proposals for a draft resolution concerning the measurement of underemployment. Following discussion at the Meeting, statistical offices in member States will begin to apply the guidelines and standards. It is expected that the application of the new methodology will lead to improved measurement of both visible underemployment and a broader measure of underemployment, and thus to better international comparisons. Developing countries will probably benefit the most from the statistical recommendations on the broader measure of underemployment. European Union countries will most probably be the first countries to apply the statistical recommendations on visible underemployment.

Major programme 125. Development policies

Action programme: Economic reform and structural
change promoting women's employment and
participation in social funds

158. Objectives: The objectives of this action programme are

(a) to influence national and international development agenda for a better integration of the gender perspective in the conception and functioning of social funds and safety nets;

(b) to provide ILO constituents, including policy-makers, programme designers and managers, and evaluators, with practical guidelines to fully integrate the gender perspective in the design of safety net programmes addressing issues of unemployment, underemployment, poverty and vulnerability, in the context of adjustment and reform programmes.

159. Planned outputs: The end-products of the action programme will consist in a set of practical guidelines on approaches and measures for the effective participation of women in the design and implementation of social fund programmes. The guidelines will include concrete proposals and tools to strengthen programmes for promoting employment and income within the framework of social funds. These guidelines will be tested in operational activities in one region in the next biennium.

160. Status: Seven case-studies have been completed in Africa and Latin America, with the objective of collecting data and information on how the gender dimension is addressed in the management of social funds. The gender dimension was analysed from the perspective of participation in decision-making processes as well as in terms of benefits such as access to employment and social services. Emphasis was placed on the analysis of the gender sensitivity or otherwise of the processes involved with a view to drawing lessons for the guidelines.

161. The practical guidelines will be available for publication in November 1997, and the synthesis will appear as an ILO publication in early 1998. The audience for these publications will be: (a) policy-makers in national and international institutions concerned with poverty alleviation strategies, and targeted social safety net programmes; (b) programme managers and evaluators of social fund and safety net schemes; (c) the donor community including the World Bank, regional development banks, and bilateral aid agencies funding social fund programmes; and (d) academics and scholars concerned with research and debate on poverty and poverty alleviation strategies.

162. A major workshop held in late September 1997 brought together people and institutions with expertise in social funds from different angles, including the World Bank, regional banks and donors; researchers and evaluators; social fund managers and directors of programmes; consultants of case-studies and social partners; and ILO technical staff from MDTs in Africa and in Latin America. This workshop stimulated an exchange of views and experiences on the themes of employment and gender, discussed the content of the practical guidelines, and defined follow-up action with the World Bank and with individual fund schemes.

163. The conduct of the case-studies served to provoke dialogue in the countries concerned on the need to improve the performance of existing social funds with respect to the gender dimension, and on how to achieve this objective. Many social funds, realizing their limited performance in the past, have adopted the objective of improving the gender impact in the second phase of operations.

164. The implementation of the action programme provided a unique opportunity for the ILO to influence the future international agenda also. Close collaboration with the World Bank was initiated and maintained throughout the implementation of the in-depth case-studies. As a result of these efforts, in the International Workshop on Social Funds, organized by the World Bank in Washington in May 1997, the ILO was invited to play a prominent role, both with respect to sponsoring the organization of the workshop, and on the substance, by providing its own perspective on social funds as instruments of social policy.

165. Two levels of follow-up action are planned: (a) joint collaboration with the World Bank in defining "impact" criteria and possibly undertaking one or two joint impact evaluation exercises; (b) in response to requests by selected social funds, a series of technical cooperation and capacity-building activities aimed at strengthening the gender sensitivity of these programmes.

III. Operational and regional activities, 1996-97

166. The regional services encompass the major programme Promotion of active partnership and technical cooperation (PROPAR/TEC) and the five field programmes responsible for ILO activities in the regions which are jointly implementing the Active Partnership Policy.

Active Partnership Policy and technical cooperation

167. This major programme, which results from the merger of two units in November 1995, is responsible for the effective implementation of the Active Partnership Policy (APP), and the design and coordination of the ILO's technical cooperation strategy and programme.

168. Activities carried out in 1996-97 included the preparation of comprehensive reports on the implementation of the Active Partnership Policy and technical cooperation prepared for the Governing Body, and the organization of consultations between the regions and headquarters, culminating in an internal workshop on active partnership, known as Turin III. The purpose of this workshop was to discuss ways to improve the APP on the basis of the ongoing experiences. It included a staff seminar on approaches and methods of delivery of technical cooperation, and several training workshops on the design, monitoring and evaluation of ILO programmes and projects. Other outputs included guidelines for the ILO's contribution to the UNDP's Sixth Programming Cycle, and a document on resource mobilization strategy that is before the Governing Body at its present session.⁽⁹⁾ Negotiations were also undertaken with the ILO's donors to secure approvals for new technical cooperation activities.

169. There were clear signs of progress in the implementation of the Active Partnership Policy during the 1996-97 biennium.⁽¹⁰⁾ For example, the process of consultation between the ILO and its constituents was intensified during the preparation or revision of country objectives documents. These exercises encourage tripartism in a number of countries where it is not necessarily accepted practice.

170. In addition, the implementation of the Active Partnership Policy has enhanced services provided to constituents during 1996-97 by the technical advisers in the Multidisciplinary Advisory Teams (MDTs) and improved the range of services available (training, technical advice, technical references and information, support for cooperation projects). In each region, more employers' and workers' organizations have benefited from advisory services over and above those traditionally provided by former regional advisers in these fields. Tripartite workshops have been organized in the different regions in a more systematic way than in the past.

171. Implementation of the Programme and Budget for 1996-97 in the regions has encountered a number of obstacles, partly as a result of measures adopted at the start of the biennium to deal with the financial uncertainties prevailing at that time. As a result, there have been delays in filling vacant posts, a slow-down in the implementation of RBTC (technical cooperation funded by the regular budget) projects and a reduction in the frequency of field missions. When these conservative measures were suspended in mid-1996, efforts were made to speed up the implementation of the programme and make up for the time lost. In September 1997, the number of RBTC activities and projects implemented in each of the major regions had reached a level comparable to that of previous biennia.

172. In 1996 the reduction in technical cooperation that had been recorded for a number of years continued. Expenditure on cooperation activities was about 13 per cent less in 1996 than it had been in 1995. By contrast, 1997 was a year of positive developments. Expenditure between January and September 1997 grew by 26.4 per cent over the same period in 1996 as a result of a series of decisive measures adopted by the ILO to relaunch collaboration with the UNDP. The increased number of UNDP projects approved in 1997 compared to 1996 is another sign of the improvement and will help with the implementation of country objectives.

173. The network of 14 Multidisciplinary Advisory Teams (MDTs) is now fully operational. Technical expertise that had been unavailable owing to vacant posts was found by calling on external collaborators and the technical support of headquarters departments.

174. Many services and outputs were provided by the ILO in the regions in collaboration with its partners (governments, employers and workers). There is clear evidence that those services are valued by the constituents. It is not the purpose of this document to present an exhaustive analysis of these services, but rather to highlight certain characteristic features indicative of the progress made towards achieving the objectives as a result of the activities of the MDTs in particular.

Field programmes in Africa

175. The programme of activities implemented by the five Africa MDTs with the support of the Regional Office, area offices and headquarters departments encompasses all three of the Organization's major objectives, although employment and poverty alleviation are of course given the highest priority.

176. Most countries in the region are becoming more aware of the need to take into account the effect of investment choices on employment. This has come about largely as a result of surveys conducted by the ILO in the countries of the region, discussions during the two Tripartite Seminars on the Socio-Economic Implications of the Devaluation of the CFA Franc (Dakar, 1994; Yaoundé, 1997), and consultations with the countries and investors (at Antananarivo and Dakar). These consultations have led to the establishment of specific support programmes.

177. Regional initiatives on child labour in collaboration with UNICEF, the OAU and African employers' and workers' organizations have brought about a significant change in attitudes towards this problem in the countries and among the social partners.

East Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

178. This team, based in Addis Ababa, works in an area where a number of countries are still suffering the consequences of major conflicts. Despite the difficult conditions, encouraging progress is being made. For example, the advisory services provided in the field of employment have enabled countries such as the United Republic of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda to formulate employment policy guidelines which are currently being considered in those countries.

179. The Addis Ababa MDT has also played an active part in the preparations for the tripartite seminar of employment planners and its planned output documents. This seminar provided the opportunity for representatives from a number of countries, including representatives of employers' and workers' organizations, to mobilize and commit themselves to implementing the regional programme "Jobs for Africa".

180. The work done by this team in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania has helped governments and the social partners to reach a consensus on the nature of the problems which impair the effectiveness of training systems and on the reforms needed.

181. Policies promoting equal opportunities for women were formulated in six countries, as were development programmes for women entrepreneurs.

182. Among the technical cooperation programmes developed in 1996-97, mention should be made of the programmes for reintegrating demobilized soldiers and of the development of training for small and micro-enterprises. Workshops were organized in a number of countries to make workers' and employers' organizations and government services more aware and better informed on occupational safety and health and the programmes for eliminating child labour.

Central and West Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

183. This team is based in Abidjan and has carried out country objectives exercises in 14 countries in consultation with the constituents. This has resulted in a final document together with an action plan in six countries.

184. Technical recommendations were made and training documents drawn up in the fields of promotion of the private sector, reform of training systems, development of small and micro-enterprises and cooperatives, and employment.

185. The capabilities of countries in the subregion to evaluate and plan the overall development of social protection systems have been improved. A number of social security funds have been reviewed and this has led to reforms or measures intended to optimize social benefits within the framework of the existing machinery, but also and above all to ensure that the needs of the majority of workers outside the formal sector are better taken into account.

186. Ten countries updated their labour legislation relating to occupational safety and health following consultations with the ILO. Employers and trade union representatives and selected staff from employment ministries were given training on health and accident prevention at work.

North-West Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

187. In 1996-97 this team, which is based in Dakar, carried out country objectives exercises in six countries in collaboration with the constituents. Preliminary analysis was carried out in six other countries.

188. The promotion of employment has been one of the key elements of the team's activities. The assistance it provides is aimed above all at meeting the countries' needs by improving the capability of constituents to formulate and implement an active employment policy. Favourable results have been obtained in Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, for example, in the area of mechanisms for monitoring and assessing the labour market based on the methodology of employment observatories. Strategies for promoting small and micro-enterprises were proposed to the tripartite partners in Gambia and Cape Verde.

189. The Dakar MDT has produced, in collaboration with the Bureau for Employers' Activities (ACT/EMP), a guide to strategic adjustment for employers' organizations which is intended to help those organizations participate fully in the social reform process.

190. Actions have been initiated in the fields of tripartism and social dialogue and child labour. In the field of social security, the MDT and the ACOPAM project based in Dakar conducted trials in the Sahel countries of mutual health-care associations set up within cooperatives.

191. With regard to labour standards and democracy, training activities were carried out and advisory services provided to most of the countries in the area. In Guinea, the Government initiated the process of formulating a national occupational safety and health policy. Regulations governing health, hygiene and safety in enterprises were discussed in Cape Verde by workers' and employers' representatives.

Southern Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

192. The process of formulating country objectives was initiated with the tripartite partners and is currently under way in all the countries served by this team based in Harare.

193. Most of the countries in this area have benefited from ILO assistance in gathering and analysing labour market data. A general survey of employment prospects was conducted in Malawi and should lead to the adoption in late 1997 of specific measures aimed at creating productive jobs. Employment-intensive programmes for promoting employment and raising incomes in rural areas have been supported by specialists from the team. Advisory services were provided in Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe on improving training systems and adapting them to market needs. In the field of safety and health, a regional Code of practice on safety in the use of chemical products was proposed to the SADCC countries, as well as a regional Code of practice on HIV/AIDS. With regard to social security, progress was made in Botswana and Zambia, for example, where proposals for a full restructuring of existing systems were studied.

194. With regard to international labour standards, 20 ratifications were registered by the ILO in the subregion between January 1996 and August 1997. Eleven of these ratifications were of core Conventions. The ILO's Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations noted the progress made in Namibia and Zimbabwe in the application of the core Conventions. Significant progress was also made, with the ILO's assistance, in resolving difficulties encountered in this area in Swaziland. During the biennium, following on from the Beijing Conference, the constituents developed their capability to integrate the issue of equal opportunities more systematically in their activities thanks to the advisory and training services provided to the authorities and employers' organizations (in Lesotho and Swaziland) and workers' organizations (in Zambia and Zimbabwe).

North Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

195. This team drew up a country objectives document for the Sudan, and a similar document drawn up in 1995 for Egypt is undergoing revision. Emphasis was placed during the biennium on freedom of association, collective bargaining and the improvement of working conditions. In Egypt, national policies and programmes for combating child labour were developed based on the advice and support provided by the ILO. The team's main contribution, however, lay in helping to draft a new Egyptian Labour Code which was submitted to the National Assembly. Also in Egypt, the system of labour inspection and occupational safety and health was the subject of an in-depth study. Action was taken to encourage social dialogue and the application of the Conventions concerning freedom of association (in particular in Sudan), the minimum age and labour inspection.

Field programmes in the Americas

196. Sixteen country objectives exercises have been conducted through intensive consultations with the constituents. In addition, four other such exercises are in preparation. At the regional level the ILO has participated, and in many cases supported, the integration processes of NAFTA, MERCOSUR and CARICOM (for the Caribbean). The main features of the ILO's technical work in Latin America are presented below.

Southern America Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

197. Policy advice and training activities have been provided in response to the priority needs identified in the country objective documents formulated with the constituents by the Santiago MDT in the field of tripartite dialogue and collective bargaining, the strengthening of the social partners, employment promotion, the promotion of ILO standards, social exclusion, and social protection. Furthermore, the MDT has provided technical support to a number of countries in relation to the development of human resources, productivity and technological change, small enterprise promotion and the development of the informal sector, and equality of opportunity. To mention but one example, a policy advisory document has been prepared and submitted to the Government of Chile on "Employment and sustainable means of living". This document addresses concrete technical issues, provides alternative solutions and recommendations on employment policies in a multidisciplinary approach.

Central America Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

198. The work carried out by the San José MDT is based on the country objectives documents formulated in 1995 for Panama, and for Mexico and the Dominican Republic in 1996, and on the priority objectives outlined in the programme and budget. One example of a major achievement in relation to poverty alleviation and employment promotion is the vocational training programme for youth employment which was implemented, through a technical cooperation project (POCET) in Honduras and resulted in an improved level of income-generating activities for young people in the areas covered by the project. The lessons of this experience will be disseminated to other countries, including Guatemala and El Salvador.

199. ILO specialists participated in the peace negotiations in Guatemala and provided policy advice based on Convention No. 169. In key ILO fields such as employment and training, vocational rehabilitation, occupational safety and health, social security and social dialogue, the MDT has developed technical cooperation projects funded by multi-bilateral donors with resources amounting to some $11 million. Labour migration issues will require further action in the future, including technical cooperation projects, taking account of the magnitude of the problem in Central America.

Andean Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

200. Country objectives have been formulated in each of the five countries under the MDT-Lima jurisdiction (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). In Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela national training systems have been reformed with the technical support of the MDT. Policy advice documents were provided to the Government of Colombia on active employment policies, using contributions from the interdepartmental project on the informal sector.

201. In the field of employment promotion and job creation, technical advisory services were provided to the Government of Venezuela on labour retraining, particularly by promoting the creation of new micro-enterprises and by assessing the impact of active employment programmes within the structural adjustment framework. In Peru, the MDT was called upon to advise the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on the implementation of a training component for the introduction of 160,000 young people into the labour market.

202. Through the establishment of national committees on child labour in the Andean countries, great interest was shown by constituents in becoming involved in the formulation and implementation of national action plans within the framework of the IPEC programme. Progress was also made in the area of safety and health by the Andean countries through a regional project funded by Spain.

Caribbean Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

203. Four country objectives documents have been completed by the Port-of- Spain MDT and approved by the constituents (Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Grenada and Jamaica). Two other such documents (Guyana and Barbados) are in preparation. However, activities have been implemented in all the countries covered by the MDT.

204. Progress has been made in upgrading the capacity of the Ministry of Labour of Trinidad and Tobago to deal with issues related to labour legislation and standards. Workshops were also organized for governments, employers and workers, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis, on the ILO's social values and standard-setting activities. These training activities have contributed to an improved and better understanding of the rights and responsibilities of ILO constituents. Other training activities were organized for labour and safety inspectors and on industrial relations (Trinidad and Tobago).

205. A policy document on promoting productive employment and training for poverty eradication has been discussed at the ministerial level in the regional meeting on poverty eradication held in Trinidad and Tobago (1996). Advisory services, workshops and fellowships had been provided to a number of countries in the areas of vocational training, employment policies and labour statistics. Employers' and workers' organizations took an active part in these activities, opening the way for tripartite social dialogue between the social partners. Further action needs to be initiated in relation to labour standards issues and labour market information systems.

Field programmes in the Arab States

206. With the return of the Regional Office for Arab States to Beirut, there has been a clear improvement in the capability for implementing the programme and in the quality of services provided to the constituents in this region. The priorities defined in the Programme and Budget for 1996-97 are: employment promotion and poverty alleviation; equality of opportunity and treatment for women; extending social protection; enhancing social dialogue; vocational training and vocational rehabilitation; and enhancing the capacity of the Palestinian Authority on social and labour issues. There has been a significant increase in extra-budgetary resources for this technical cooperation programme (nearly 7 per cent in 1996), although it is not as high as might have been hoped after the peace agreements.

Arab States Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

207. The achievements of the Beirut MDT's programme include the rehabilitation and reintegration of former prisoners and demobilized soldiers, promotion of the employment of women (in Oman, Yemen and Jordan), and the assessment of vocational training systems and the provision of advisory services to help with their reform (in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates). The institutional capacity of the Palestinian Authority was strengthened through technical cooperation projects in the fields of employment services, labour market information, social security and labour legislation.

208. With regard to social dialogue, initiatives for training and informing the national authorities and employers' and workers' organizations have led to significant improvements in Jordan and Yemen, for example, where mechanisms for tripartite dialogue are developing rapidly.

Field programmes in Asia and the Pacific

209. The objectives for Asia and the Pacific as set out in the Programme and Budget for 1996-97 are as follows: employment promotion and poverty alleviation; support for the privatization process; the fight against social exclusion of disadvantaged groups; the elimination of child labour; social protection; the improvement of working conditions; the promotion of tripartism and social dialogue; the improvement of industrial relations; strengthening employers' and workers' organizations; and the promotion of international labour standards. The country objectives formulated or revised for this region during the biennium reflected the relevance and high priority of these programme and budget objectives. The activities in this region were affected by the financial uncertainty at the start of the biennium.

East Asia Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

210. Significant progress was made by the countries of East Asia served by the Bangkok team⁽¹¹⁾ in the fields of employment and the fight against poverty. For example, the team contributed to the Five-year Development Plan in Cambodia and significantly influenced the adoption of comprehensive employment policies in a number of countries in East Asia including China, Viet Nam and Thailand (as part of the United Nations ten-point strategy for alleviating poverty). A number of cooperation projects are leading to improvements in the national institutional capacity in various fields such as micro-enterprises, labour intensive technologies, labour market information, employment services, the employment of women and working conditions.

211. In the field of promoting democracy and human rights, the team made crucial contributions in the form of assistance for reforming labour codes or drafting new labour legislation opening the way to tripartism, collective bargaining and labour inspection in a number of transition countries (Mongolia, Cambodia, China and Viet Nam). A number of countries expressed their intention to ratify the core Conventions or an interest in doing so.

212. The team published a large number of manuals and technical reference documents such as guides to collective bargaining and conciliation and a guide to occupational safety and health programmes for employers' organizations. Most of these output documents will undoubtedly also be of use to the other multidisciplinary advisory teams.

South-East Asia and Pacific Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

213. In the field of employment, the Manilla team formulated guidelines for the authorities which led in most of the countries concerned to the adoption or modification of national policies on the elimination of poverty and social exclusion. The methodology developed as part of the training programme for improving both productivity and conditions of work in small enterprises (the WISE programme) was widely disseminated and appears to have been a factor in solving a number of problems regarding working conditions encountered by employers and workers in South-East Asia. By the same token, the team's activities led to the adoption in Fiji in 1996 of a law on occupational safety and health with the support of employers' and workers' organizations. In the Philippines, the ILO's proposals for reforming social security are being examined by a national tripartite coordinating committee.

214. There are still major difficulties in this subregion in the field of social dialogue, freedom of association and tripartite relations. Nevertheless, considerable efforts were made in 1996-97 to inform and raise the awareness of the authorities and social partners on these matters and to help solve the problems that exist through better promotion and implementation of standards. For example, significant progress was noted in the Philippines, Fiji and Solomon Islands.

South Asia Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

215. The activities of this team, which is based in New Delhi, focused on the problems of poverty in a series of macroeconomic surveys and through advisory services provided to governments (in particular Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India), thus enabling them to formulate and discuss action plans and poverty alleviation strategies and incorporate them in their development plans. These activities also led to increased cooperation between the ILO, UNDP and the World Bank. Advisory services were provided for promoting entrepreneurship and the development of income-generating activities for women within the framework of technical cooperation projects. Employers' and workers' organizations were able to take advantage of many training activities in the field of industrial relations, workers' protection and tripartite consultation.

216. The ratification of the Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) by Nepal and Sri Lanka during the present biennium is the direct result of awareness-raising efforts made as part of a technical cooperation programme financed by Norway. The team also helped with the drafting or revision of labour legislation (in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), thereby helping the countries concerned to adapt their labour policies to the requirements of globalization and the liberalization of trade. With regard to child labour, a number of programmes were implemented with the assistance of the IPEC in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan and have helped to strengthen the resolve and ability of local authorities, as well as employers and workers' organizations and NGOs, to work effectively towards the elimination of child labour.

Field programmes in Europe and Central Asia

217. The Programme and Budget for 1996-97 for Europe emphasizes six principal objectives, namely: reforming labour legislation; strengthening labour administration; promotion of tripartism; reform of labour market policies; reform of social protection; and improving employment statistics. This work programme was implemented by the Budapest Multidisciplinary Advisory Team⁽¹²⁾ with the active assistance of headquarters technical departments. Activities during 1996-97 covered most of the requirements and objectives identified in the programme and budget as well as those that emerged during consultations with constituents, particularly in Eastern Europe and in Central Asia during country objectives exercises.

Central and Eastern Europe Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

218. Among the activities which helped to bring about the greatest progress in this area, mention should be made of: the support provided by the Budapest MDT in 1996-97 in the area of international labour standards, which led to the ratification of 112 Conventions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; the revision of a number of labour codes (in Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Romania and Ukraine); and the drafting of new labour legislation more in keeping with ILO standards and European Union Directives. In the area of tripartism, constituents' needs have been met through a series of training activities, awareness-raising campaigns, the dissemination of guides and manuals and of advice on means of action, all of which contributed to solving the practical and institutional problems which impede the creation and efficient functioning of social consultation mechanisms.

219. With the financial assistance of the European Union and other bodies, several technical cooperation projects were formulated and implemented, in particular in the fields of wages policies and support to employers' and workers' organizations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Advisory services are planned between now and the end of the biennium in the fields of labour statistics, active employment policies and social protection. Activities in the field of labour administration in this region will need to be intensified in view of the scale of the requirements.

IV. Work of the service and support sector
of the Office, 1996-97

220. The programme reductions decided by the Governing Body in November 1995 implied that the service and support departments were called upon to reduce their 1996-97 budgets by $14.7 million (out of a total of $21.7 million). They were also requested to provide more cost-effective and focused services. They were asked to search out and institute long-lasting productivity gains without the benefit of the resources needed to invest in new technology, and to identify and implement new strategies. At the same time these services have to ensure that support services are maintained in order to allow the technical services to deliver their services to the constituents. For example, the requests of the Governing Body for additional information on the Programme and Budget proposals for 1998-99 and programme implementation resulted in a significant increase in workload in the Bureau of Programming and Management and in the Financial Services Department, which were also having to manage with reduced staffing levels.

221. Despite the reduced resource levels, the service and support major programmes achieved various productivity gains during the biennium that significantly improved the services rendered to constituents, as well as the services rendered to internal departments.

The introduction and expansion of Internet services

222. The development of the Internet has had a major impact on the provision of ILO information services to constituents and to the general public. In order to disseminate the ILO message more efficiently, the ILO "went on-line" at the start of the 1996-97 biennium. The development and preparation of materials for the site is the responsibility of departments at headquarters and in the regions. Most of them have designated officials who are to be responsible for preparing materials for the Web. These activities are financed out of the resources allocated to departments for the collection and dissemination of information.

223. The utility and effectiveness of the Internet technology in disseminating the work of the technical departments has been touched upon in earlier chapters. The areas covered by the ILO's Web site include: the ILO's mandate and Constitution; international labour standards (including access to ILOLEX and NATLEX); the purpose and composition of sectoral meetings, other technical meetings and seminars; the Reports of the Director-General to the Conference and to the Regional Meetings; Governing Body papers; child labour; employment development and training; and social security.

224. The effects of the Internet have been felt within the service and support departments. The Central Library and Documentation Bureau has made access possible through the Internet, in English, French and Spanish, to the ILIS (International Labour Information System) referral system that gives access to various ILO databases, offering various search functions. By the end of 1997, most of the major bibliographical databases produced at ILO headquarters will have been made accessible through the Internet. In addition, thanks to the use of the Internet, the ILO has joined the Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC), an international non-profit library cooperative with over 22,000 member libraries in more than 60 countries. Through its membership of OCLC, the ILO is making information about its publications and the holdings of the ILO library and field libraries and documentation centres available to a vast community of libraries, universities, scholars and researchers. The OCLC membership is expected to produce significant productivity gains, both within the Office and within constituent organizations.

225. The Publications Bureau has also taken advantage of the Internet technology to further expand the market for ILO publications. The Publications site includes a listing and short description of the ILO's most recently published books and periodicals, as well as abstracts of the articles appearing in recent issues of the International Labour Review, the ILO publications catalogues and an electronic form to order publications. The presence of the Bureau of Publications on the Internet has provided ILO constituents and the interested public with a better idea of the subjects covered by ILO publications, as well as offering a quick glance at the contents of most of the ILO's recent publications. For example, the complete text (in English, French and Spanish) of one article of each issue of the International Labour Review is made available on-line, thereby disseminating the ILO's policies and ideas much further than if the information appeared in printed form only. Indeed, as a result of this initiative, the number of requests received from outside researchers and publishers to cite the article as a source has increased substantially, and the number of subscriptions for the hard copy of this publication has also increased.

226. The Bureau for Public Information was also active during the biennium, making its materials available through the Internet. It is now possible to access recent ILO press releases, the Press Kits, the World of Work, the information leaflet, recent important speeches made by the directorate of the ILO, and some of the ILO's photographic collection. In consequence there has been an increase in the amount of information being provided. For example, the readership of the ILO's magazine, World of Work, has been considerably expanded by making it available on-line, and this has been done without increasing production costs. It should also be noted that the Web pages for the World of Work received an award for content and presentation.

227. Recent Governing Body documents, Conference reports and other official documents are now accessible on the Internet, including the programme and budget. By making these documents available to the public after consideration by the Governing Body, the ILO's visibility is being increased and information is being made available on the ILO's policies and discussions to people beyond the immediate circle of constituents. As most Governing Body members are aware, a password system was introduced to provide them with access to documents for the forthcoming Governing Body session, which are placed on-line as soon as they are approved. This means that members do not have to wait for the hard copy to arrive by conventional distribution methods. By having access to the documents sooner, Governing Body members are able to carry out necessary consultations well ahead of the convening of each session. While this new facility has increased the effectiveness of the Governing Body, it is not intended to replace the existing distribution service.

The reorganization of conferences and meetings

228. The decisions of the Governing Body in November 1995 had a major impact on the organization of the Conference and the regional conferences. In summary, it was decided that the plenary sittings of the Conference set aside for discussion of the Report of the Director-General should last only one week, that the Provisional Record would not be made available until after the Conference, and that the regional conferences would have a duration of only three days, with a more focused agenda. As a result of these decisions, a programme reduction amounting to some $2.1 million was made in the budget of the Conference and a reduction of some $2.8 million was made in the provision for major Regional Meetings.

229. In order to fully realize these programme reductions, the newly constituted Relations, meetings and documents major programme refined and introduced further innovations in the electronic voting and Conference computer systems, which greatly speeded up some procedures in the Conference. The electronic voting system clearly proved its worth, notably at the Maritime Session of the Conference, where seven instruments were voted in the space of one hour and the detailed results of all the votes were made available by the end of the sitting. Three new services were made available to assist delegates to follow the debate in plenary in the absence of the Provisional Record: an Internet service to put on screen the texts of speeches (in their original language); a photocopy service; and an audio service.

230. As regards the new organization of the Regional Meetings, it is still too early to report on their impact, as the first such meeting will be held only in December 1997.

231. In addition to the reforms made to the Conference and the Regional Meetings, the Governing Body decided that ten sectoral and five technical meetings would be held during the 1996-97 biennium (as opposed to the 16 sectoral and seven technical meetings provided for in the budget). In consequence the budget of the department responsible for the servicing of meetings (Relations and Meetings Department) could be reduced by almost $5 million. In addition, the Relations and Meetings Department was able to realize a number of productivity gains, due to the careful planning of interpretation resources and more efficient document processing. Almost all the productivity gains were made possible following the implementation of computer applications designed to improve the management and planning of documents. These productivity gains are fully reflected in the reduced resource levels for this department in the biennium 1998-99.

The reorganization of publications and document services

232. The beginning of the biennium was marked by a major organizational change, consisting in the merger within a single department of all services related to document production for meetings and conferences, and the creation of the Bureau of Publications. The merger of all activities related to the production of documents for meetings and conferences produced economies of scale and also resulted in the more efficient management of document production and distribution by integrating all aspects of the production line, within a single management structure. As noted earlier, the extensive use of computer applications and job tracking systems has resulted in improved production controls and a more refined identification of resource needs. In addition, measures were taken to reduce the overall volume of documents produced, increase staff productivity at every stage of production and reduce the distribution of documents and reports by traditional means (mailing).

233. Under the Bureau of Publications, emphasis was placed on improving the quality of ILO publications, increasing the visibility of the ILO and strengthening the ILO's image as a centre of excellence. In order to accomplish this, the functions of the Bureau were refocused following the Governing Body's discussion of the ILO's publications policy. The internal Publication Advisory Committee was established and given a mandate to review manuscripts, provide guidance as to how to improve the relevance and impact of the publications, decide on the appropriate form for the dissemination of the material and review ILO publication policies. The committee was established in the latter part of 1996 and will have met four times by the end of the biennium. One area of great importance, for which work began in 1997, is the establishment of ILO guidelines and policies for the dissemination of modern electronic products. Improvements have also been made in the International Labour Review, which started to appear as a quarterly journal in 1997. Delays in publication have now been overcome, and innovations of substance have been introduced. Sales of the International Labour Review have increased during the biennium.

Personnel issues

234. Programme implementation in the Personnel Department should be seen in the context of an office environment marked by changes and reforms and by constant demands for adjustments and increased staff movements due to financial uncertainties or emerging priorities. The work of the department necessarily involved extensive and often lengthy discussions and consultations with management, staff and the staff representatives.

235. In the area of personnel policy and practices, the introduction of new recruitment and selection procedures, on a trial basis, and a simplified and more equitable system of classification of posts should be considered as significant achievements. Both these changes required lengthy negotiations with staff representatives. Work has also commenced on a review of human resource planning and career development in full consultation with the staff.

236. Following the Governing Body's decisions in November 1995 to add resources ($500,000) for staff training, there has been a significant strengthening of the staff training programme. A training strategy has been developed within the framework of the Joint Staff Training Committee. Training plans have been established in each department, and a management and leadership programme has been initiated. New group training programmes have been implemented and a programme of upgrading technical skills/competencies has been introduced.

237. Within the Personnel Department, the financial uncertainties at the beginning of the biennium involved a considerable additional volume of work. This concerned the negotiation of separation agreements with many members of staff, coupled with in-depth reviews of the staffing situation in all departments so as to restrain recruitment while maintaining services to constituents as far as possible. Because of this unforeseen additional work the Personnel Department was not able to complete work on the reform of the performance appraisal system, which was one of the department's objectives. Negotiations are currently under way with the staff representatives on this issue.

Enhancing efficiency and reducing costs

238. A study was carried out on the opportunities for contracting out translation work, in particular to countries with lower costs than Switzerland. Considerable progress was made in developing a roster of well-qualified freelance translators, and this measure will make possible the proper functioning of the translation services in the biennium 1998-99, despite the substantial resource economy shown in the programme and budget.

239. Another cost reduction study concerned the renting out of Office space in the Geneva headquarters building. At the time of writing, a lease was being negotiated to rent the equivalent of one floor of the headquarters building, which will generate substantial revenue. A study is also in progress of the Office's printing and typing services. It is intended to rationalize these operations, taking advantage of new technology, and to reorganize work processes so as to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

240. Consultants were hired to advise the Office on how to decrease the administrative overhead costs of the Staff Health Insurance Fund. The most promising options identified by the consultants are under study by an internal working party. Independently of this, an internal study examined the ways of reducing the excessive delays in reimbursing claims submitted by members of the Fund, the result of which has been a substantial reduction in the time taken to reimburse claims without any additional cost to the Office.

241. Three major information technology projects are under way. One concerns the building of an Enterprise Network, to link all officials of the Office in Geneva and in the regions, permitting instantaneous communication by electronic means. In addition to the considerable advantage of speed of communications, it is expected that this system will result in lower phone, fax and mail costs. This network is also indispensable to the completion of a second major information project, that of financial decentralization to the regions.

242. The development of the four modules for the financial decentralization project is completed, considerable testing and training has been accomplished, and the project will be fully operational by mid-1998. When this is done, field office directors will take control of project and Office budget and financial management, eliminating current delays in obtaining approvals from headquarters to commit and spend funds. The system provides for the constant monitoring of field financial transactions.

243. PERSIS, the personnel management and payroll system, has been under development for several years and is at present scheduled to be completed by the end of 1999. The project is an adaptation of a system being developed by the UN called IMIS in which several UN organizations are participating. An internal review of this project has confirmed that the delays encountered in finishing this project were due to problems the UN had encountered in developing IMIS. This review also indicated that ILO personnel systems will not encounter any special problems in the year 2000.

244. One activity not foreseen in the Programme and Budget for 1996-97 concerns the "year 2000" problem. Most computer systems currently used in the ILO run on machines that will not recognize any dates after 31 December 1999. An in-depth analysis of this problem was launched in 1997, which will define the scope of the problem, the measures required and an estimate of the resources needed.

V. Conclusions

245. It would be presumptuous, after 18 months into the biennium, to take full stock of the situation, which will only be reflected in the report of activities for the entire biennium to be submitted to the Conference in June 1998. Nevertheless, it is clear that a great deal has been achieved in terms of the Organization's three major objectives, both at headquarters and in the regions. Positive achievements are being seen in the member States, such as the setting up of tripartite consultative mechanisms and the beginnings of social dialogue in countries where it was previously unknown. The ILO's role in the area of employment and the fight against poverty allows it to participate actively in national and international discussions. Collaboration with the financial institutions has grown significantly.

246. Much remains to be done with regard to the elimination of child labour. Nevertheless, positive signs can be seen every day. International public opinion has not only been sensitized to the problem but is pressing for further action; perhaps even more important is the fact that an increasing number of countries are implementing national programmes for the elimination of child labour. The number of donors and contributions to this ILO programme has increased significantly.

247. With regard to the ILO's major missions, the most notable successes have been the fact that access to the information and outputs of the Organization has been considerably extended; that a start has been made on modernizing standard-setting machinery; and lastly that in the opinion of many of the constituents themselves the services provided by the ILO are better matched to their requirements.

248. The initial experience of the action programmes bears witness to their relevance. Consideration should now be given to the exploitation of the outputs produced, that is, to promote the use of those products.

249. The implementation of the Active Partnership Policy has unquestionably improved confidence between constituents and the Organization. The Governing Body, which has launched an assessment of this policy, will no doubt identify the conclusions for the future to be drawn from this assessment.

250. While reforms in the strategic planning and management processes have increased the secretariat's workload, they have also helped to make the work of the Office more pertinent and transparent; and notable progress has also been made in terms of improved efficiency.

251. In general, progress in the implementation of the programme of work for the 1996-97 biennium confirms the relevance of the programme and budget adopted by the Conference in June 1996 for the 1998-99 biennium. With the biennium 2000-01 now approaching, it is clear that further innovations will be needed to take account in particular of the constant changes now occurring in the world of work.

252. The Director-General will be putting forward his proposals in the preliminary consultation document which he will submit to the Governing Body in March 1998. The preparation of that document will of course benefit from the comments of the Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee on this preliminary report as regards general policy, strategic objectives and guidelines for programme development; it will also benefit from any indications as to how it might constantly sustain the relevance of the Organization and identify new ways to improve its efficiency nationally and increase its influence internationally -- in short, to make the best possible use of its available resources.

Geneva, 21 October 1997.

1. GB.267/5.

2. GB.267/6.

3. GB.270/5.

4. GB.270/LILS/5.

5. GB.270/ESP/3.

6. See GB.270/ESP/3, appendix.

7. GB.270/ESP/1/1 and GB.270/ESP/1/2.

8. The following fundamental Conventions relate to women's issues: Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100); Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111); Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156); Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169).

9. GB.270/TC/2.

10. An assessment of the Active Partnership Policy is currently being carried out by a tripartite group of the Governing Body. Without anticipating the conclusions of that assessment, this report briefly addresses certain aspects of the implementation of that policy during 1996 and 1997.

11. Cambodia, China, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

12. A second team set up in Moscow is planned under the Programme and Budget for 1998-99. The process of setting up the team could begin towards the end of the present biennium.

Updated by VC. Approved by NdW. Last update: 26 January 2000.