Governing Body

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INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LABOUR STUDIES	INS.B.XXXIX/ 3 Thirty-ninth Session
BOARD	Geneva, November 1997

THIRD ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Programme and Budget for 1998-99

Introduction

1. The Institute performs three major functions for the ILO.

• A strategic function, to identify emerging policy issues of potential relevance for the ILO. A catalyst for future ILO programme development, it sets up conceptual frameworks to explore the issues involved, organizes research networks within those frameworks, and assists ILO departments as appropriate in developing new approaches. This function requires the Institute to have a rolling programme horizon, with evolving programme priorities.
• An outreach function to project the concerns and values of the ILO to the external world, by promoting systematic exchanges between ILO constituents and staff, academics and other opinion and policy-makers.
• A support function, to assist ILO constituents in developing their national institutional capacities for labour policy formulation and analysis. The Institute's international internship courses introduce future policy-makers from governments, trade unions and employer organizations to the ILO and to tripartism and provide an international perspective for national policy formulation.

2. The autonomy and flexibility of action given to the Institute by the Governing Body enables it to be both a catalyst for change and to project the ILO's concerns to the external world of academic and other opinion-makers. The cost of these services to the ILO is approximately 1 per cent of its budget.

3. The Institute's means of action include research networking, publications, educational programmes, public lectures and social policy fora. A characteristic of its programme is collaboration between practitioners and academics in setting research goals and in assessing the results. This provides constituents with an informal means of participating in future ILO programme development and ensures that research is guided by the priorities of practitioners.

4. The central theme addressed by the Institute is the relationship between labour institutions, economic growth and social equity. It explores ways in which technological, economic and social change affect this relationship and the implications for future ILO policies. In recent years, programmes have focused on two aspects of this theme. The first is the changes caused by globalization in the international organization of production. The second is the effects of change on social coherence, and policies to overcome social exclusion and poverty. Details of work in these areas are contained in the Report on Activities.

5. A striking feature of the last few years has been the growing awareness of the social and political complexities of globalization. Tensions arising out of rapid change have drawn attention to the social dynamics of growth. Public debate, initially focused on the transition from the State to the market, is now turning to the relationship between markets and civil society.

6. The empowerment of the individual, as a result of increasing literacy and unprecedented advances in communications technology, has had an impact on markets and on society. People view themselves as individuals with multiple roles in society, rather than as members of a social class with a role uniquely determined by the industrial system. Social actors are no longer defined solely in terms of work: they are also increasingly vehicles for voice, interest and identity.

7. Social change and the new individualism is transforming both political processes and social institutions. It is changing the institutional environment of trade unions, employers' organizations and the State. Social change is altering the content of tripartism itself.

8. This is an issue of central importance for the ILO, which the Institute proposes to address in the next biennium. In 1998-99 two programmes will examine the changing relationships between labour and society, and between business and society. At a subsequent stage, and in the light of these reviews, it is proposed to take up the changing role of government in social policy. Steps will be taken to establish appropriate linkages between the programmes and to identify areas of interaction. Taken together, these programmes aim at placing tripartism in the contemporary perspective of globalization and social change.

9. The programmes will enhance public awareness of the importance of trade union and employer organizations as major actors in civil society, provide a picture of the ways in which they are responding to changes over the last decade in different parts of the world, identify potential opportunities for their future growth, and orient ILO programmes to support that growth. They will be carried out in close cooperation with trade unions and employers' organizations and with ILO departments, particularly ACTRAV and ACT/EMP.

10. The following features of the programme and budget may be noted:

• the intention is to align the programmes more specifically to the needs of ILO constituents and ILO departments. The programmes on "Labour and society" and "Business and society" relate directly to ILO constituents. They are also designed to contribute to several ILO programmes, particularly workers' and employers' activities, employment, industrial relations, enterprise development and conditions of work;
• programme implementation will be carried out in close collaboration with ILO constituents. Institute research has always been driven by practitioners' concerns. In the next biennium, given the nature of the programme, collaboration between practitioners and academics will be indispensable;
• as globalization is rapidly taking on regional or subregional profiles, the programme will be designed to reflect regional priorities and requirements;
• the programme and budget proposals respond to demands from ILO constituents and departments for increased activities in the Educational and intersectoral activities programme. The international internship programmes will be revised and expanded in line with requests from constituents. ILO departments have also found it useful to have systematic interaction with external academics and policy-makers. It is therefore proposed to increase the number of special seminars and panel discussions, to stimulate thinking on future Institute and ILO programmes which could add considerable value to ILO activities;
• the Institute is starting new programmes. Existing staff resources will be both redeployed and strengthened in the light of the expertise required, and the need to have a minimum critical mass to launch new initiatives. The additional Professional post required will be financed from available resources.

Budget

I. Total proposed budget level

11. The Programme and Budget proposals for 1998-99, valued at the 1996-97 budget rate of exchange of Sw.frs.1.16 to the US dollar, including a programme increase of $338,688, amount to $7,518,688.

12. The adjustment in prices and the budget exchange rate between 1996-97 and 1998-99 are summarized as follows:

 

		US$
1996-97 approved programme and budget, excluding activities to be financed from extra-budgetary funds, at an exchange rate of Sw.frs.1.16 to the dollar		7 180 000
Proposed programme increase in 1998-99		338 688
1998-99 programme and budget proposals at 1996-97 prices and exchange rate of Sw.frs.1.16 to the dollar		7 518 688
1998-99 cost increases and adjustment to an exchange rate of Sw.frs.1.46 to the dollar		(1 278 688)
1998-99 programme and budget proposals		6 240 000

13. The exchange rates of Sw.frs.1.16 and 1.46 to the US dollar are those used by the ILO for the Programme and Budget for 1996-97 and that for 1998-99 respectively.

14. The standard cost factors for all the Professional category staff and for the General Service category staff at headquarters included in the 1998-99 programme and budget proposals are the same as those of the ILO. These amount to $148,332 per work-year for the Professional category ($169,344 in 1996-97) and $89,244 per work-year for the General Service category ($114,720 in 1996-97).

15. The level of the proposed 1998-99 budget is estimated at $6,240,000. The budgetary contribution of the ILO to the Institute has been reduced by $238,000 by comparison with 1996-97. Several steps have been taken to improve utilization of existing resources. It has been decided to maintain half of the interest income earned by the Endowment Fund in the Fund, which can be drawn upon later as necessary. This will optimize the use of these resources and build up the Endowment Fund for the future. Furthermore, savings from the current biennium will be utilized to meet the requirements of the programme in the biennium 1998-99.

II. Summary of reasonably assured income and
proposed expenditure for 1998-99, compared
with those budgeted and forecast for the
period 1996-97

16. According to projections, the total funds available for the 1998-99 programme and budget will be $6,600,000. The expenditure budget for the biennium being $6,240,000, the amount which is expected to be carried forward to 2000-2001 is estimated at $360,000. The details of the budgeted income and expenditure for the 1998-99 biennium are shown below.

Summary of 1998-99 proposed income and expenditure budget and
comparison with 1996-97

				1996-97				1998-99
				Approved budget (US$)		Forecasted income and expenditure (US$)		Programmeand budget proposals (US$)
A.		Funds brought forward from previous period		1 353 000		1 789 636		1 320 000
B.		Income
		Endowment Fund		400 000		350 000		175 000
		Contribution from ILO regular budget		6 021 750		6 021 750		5 079 930
		Sales of publications and miscellaneous receipts		20 000		25 000		25 070
		Total income		6 441 750		6 396 750		5 280 000
C.		Total funds available		7 794 750		8 186 386		6 600 000
D.		Expenditure		7 180 000		6 866 386		6 240 000
E.		Funds to be carried forward to the next period		614 750		1 320 000		360 000
		Other sources
		Estimated resources		100 000		100 000

17. In 1996-97, forecast funds available are expected to amount to some $8.1 million. This excess over budget arises largely from a higher than budgeted carry- forward at the end of 1995, resulting from a lower level of expenditure than originally envisaged. This arose from the uncertainties regarding the future of the Institute, including its possible termination, which affected programme implementation.

18. The Institute's proposed expenditure budget for 1998-99 is presented in two main sections: the substantive programmes (Labour and society, Business and society, and Educational and intersectoral activities programmes) and the Management and Programme support programme.

19. The tables below summarize the 1998-99 proposals and detail the expenditure by programme. As a result of a reorganization of the work between the different units, staff resources have been increased by $338,688 in real terms to cover the creation of a new Professional post in the Educational and intersectoral activities programme. The cost of the new post for the 1998-99 budget will be met from available resources.

Summary of proposed 1998-99 expenditure budget by programme

Programme			Work-years/months				Cost in US dollars
			Professional		General Service		Staff costs		Other costs		Total resources
A.	Substantive programmes
	Labour and society		4/00		4/00		950 304		446 030		1 396 334
	Business and society		6/00		4/00		1 246 968		446 030		1 692 998
	Educational and  intersectoral activities		4/00		4/00		950 304		597 000		1 547 304
			14/00		12/00		3 147 576		1 489 060		4 636 63
B.	Programme and management support		4/00		6/00		1 256 853		346 511		1 603 364
C.	Total 1998-99 proposals		18/00		18/00		4 404 429		1 835 571		6 240 000
D.	1996-97 approved budget		16/00		18/00		4 946 087		2 233 913		7 180 000
	E. Other sources
	1998-99 estimates		-		-		-		-		-
	1996-97 budget		-		-		-		100 000		100 000

Substantive programmes

I. Labour and society

		Work-years/months				Cost in US dollars
		Professional		General Service		Staff costs		Other costs		Total resources
1998-99 proposals		4/00		4/00		950 304		446 030		1 396 334
1998-99 other sources		-		-		-		-		-
1996-97 approved budget		4/00		2/00		906 816		521 700		1 428 516
1996-97 other sources		-		-		-		25 000		25 000

20. The last decade has seen an acceleration of cumulative change which is transforming the position of labour in society. For most of this century organized labour has operated within a stable paradigm: a powerful State; a significant public sector; organized social actors; stable employment relationships; and shared values. This paradigm has significantly changed. The traditional equations between labour, business and the State have altered. Economic outcomes are more a function of market mechanisms and less the result of mediation by labour through collective bargaining or legislative change. Globalization has moved capital and product markets out of alignment with labour markets, and increased the vulnerability of labour as the least mobile factor of production. It has segmented the labour force, bringing both increased prosperity and deepening inequality. The diffusion of power to a multiplicity of actors and locations has eroded established structures for social dialogue. Social justice is increasingly perceived in terms of equal access to knowledge and skills, rather than as the equitable distribution of material assets. These changes are of profound significance for workers everywhere, and for the ILO as a whole.

21. This programme will examine the outlook for labour at the beginning of the new millennium in the light of changes at the workplace and in society at large. In 1998-99 the focus will be on organized labour. The programme will seek to identify approaches and strategies appropriate to the changed environment that would enhance the profile of labour as a major actor in civil society and as a contributor to dynamic and equitable growth.

22. The programme will be undertaken in close collaboration with international and national trade union organizations, international trade secretariats, and ILO technical departments, notably the Bureau for Workers' Activities. It will utilize surveys, case-studies and bibliographical reviews, and will be implemented through networks consisting of trade union practitioners, academics, research institutes and other policy-makers. These networks, both international and regional, will also be a means of disseminating research outcomes to a wider audience.

23. The programme will address three major issues.

(i) The changing environment of labour and unions. Several aspects of the changing environment have already been extensively discussed, such as the deregulation of markets, technological change, and the decentralization of collective bargaining. However, their relative importance for trade unions and their differential impact on trade unions in various regions of the world have not been adequately assessed. Neither has there been a systematic examination of the impact on trade unions of such developments as regional trade and production systems, the growth of the informal sector, the emergence of community-based organizations, or the relationship between trade unions, the academic community and other opinion-makers.

(ii) Trade union responses to the changing environment of the 1990s. The decade has seen a variety of trade union responses to liberalization and social change in different parts of the world. An understanding of these responses could lead to a more informed assessment of the future role of trade unions. The range and variety of recent initiatives indicate their inherent potential. Some unions have turned to programmes of social partnership with governments and employers to promote employment, productivity and skill development, underpinned by minimum standards. Others have reoriented their strategies away from lobbying governments and legislatures, towards a more direct involvement in electoral processes and increased emphasis on organizational and representational strategies within industries. Steps have been taken to promote consultative mechanisms within trade and regional economic arrangements on labour and social policies. Trade unions have undertaken active gender policies, and new initiatives have been taken to organize potential constituents, including immigrants and minorities. Many now provide services including training, health, social insurance, legal assistance and credit to their constituents. The programme will document such initiatives, make them better known, and assess their potential for the future.

(iii) Future perspectives. In the light of these developments, the review will highlight promising approaches for trade unions in civil society and the global economy in future. It could also suggest the type of policy and institutional environment required for the growth of free and effective trade unions.

24. The programme will, in particular, explore three areas relevant to the relationship between trade unions and society.

• Trade unions as vehicles for the broader concerns of civil society. Can strategic alliances be forged with other actors, such as women's groups, human rights bodies, community-based organizations and cooperatives, to benefit workers across the board? This involves difficult issues of representativity, accountability and conflicting constituent interests. What are the pros and cons of such alliances? Are they feasible? Can they be enduring?
• The potential for a new partnership with business and government, to achieve growth with equity and social cohesion. Can such partnerships spell out the common ground between business and labour in the workplace and in the economy? What supporting institutional and policy measures are called for?
• Trade unions and human rights. Concern with human rights is a striking feature worldwide, arising from a deeper awareness of individual identity among people everywhere. Human rights are at the centre of trade union concerns and labour rights, and unions have traditionally been at the forefront of the struggle for democratic freedoms. Increasing media interest and the multiplication of civic groups dealing with a variety of human rights, many of which impinge directly on labour concerns, raise important questions of the relationship between labour rights and other human rights, as well as of labour's future role in the promotion and monitoring of these rights.
• Trade unions as development partners. Development agencies and bilateral programmes are increasingly turning to actors in civil society to promote sustainable development and participative democracy. Community-based organizations and NGOs are now directly involved in development programmes as partners rather than as recipients. Trade unions, as the largest organized group in civil society, can also bring a unique contribution to the development community. They are directly involved with economic systems of production and distribution; they are representative and accountable; they have considerable experience in organizing the more vulnerable sections of society; and they have the experience and standing required to access national legal systems and public facilities. The possibilities of associating trade unions with major development programmes will be explored with funding agencies, governments and other development partners.

25. The programme will examine the outlook for trade unions in various geographical regions, taking into account the different market environments of developed, developing, newly industrializing and transitional economies. In addition, and as far as possible, the studies will attempt to capture the diversity of the labour environment in different economic sectors and industry groups. The results of research networking and studies will be taken up for discussion and assessment at regional meetings. Four to six meetings are planned during the biennium, which would provide an overview of national and regional trade union perspectives, and prepare the ground for a major conference on "Unions in the 21st Century" in the 2000-01 biennium.

II. Business and society

		Work-years/months				Cost in US dollars
		Professional		General Service		Staff costs		Other costs		Total resources
1998-99 proposals		6/00		4/00		1 246 968		446 030		1 692 998
1998-99 other sources		--		--		--		--		--
1996-97 approved budget		4/00		2/00		906 816		521 700		1 428 516
1996-97 other sources		--		--		--		25 000		25 000

26. The business environment has also changed radically in the 1990s. Deregulation and the withdrawal of the State from the market have meant an expanded role for business in both national and global governance. Foreign direct investment has become the preferred vehicle for capital transfer and for the diffusion of technology and skills. As a result, business is seen as a locomotive for growth everywhere. However, this has also led to an escalation of public expectations, and to public demands for greater corporate involvement in various fields as varied as employment security, community benefits, child labour, environmental standards, and for transparency in business transactions. What is new and significant is that public demands are now being directly translated into market signals through consumer demand, trade and business regulations, and media exposure affecting corporate reputations and share prices. Within the corporation, the attitudes and views of employees are emerging as an important element in corporate management. Managers themselves now function in multicultural settings, with multinational staff and shareholders. They require more effective systems to test public opinion and to balance conflicting interests.

27. Corporate strategy and business policy face new dilemmas in reconciling global competitive pressures with social transformation. They call for new strategies, the promotion of mediating institutions that can link business with society, and the creation of a more favourable policy environment to optimize and distribute the fruits of investment and growth.

28. The Institute's programme on "Business and society" addresses these issues. It will comprise two projects. The first is on social transformation and enterprise performance. This will attempt to identify business strategies that are competitive in terms of market share and sustainable profits, and which reconcile competitiveness with social benefit. Special attention will be paid to the experience of multinational corporations operating in emerging markets and in economies in transition. The second project will focus on employers' organizations as the major mediating institution between business and society. It will review the perspectives opened by social change for employers' organizations to facilitate communication between business and societal networks, and to serve as a conduit for best practice and innovative strategies in the economy at large.

29. The programme will be guided by the following principles.

(i) It will concentrate on new areas of relevance to the ILO. Many related issues are being publicly discussed in different fora. They include regulatory or normative measures for trade and investment, corporate social responsibility and business ethics, and alternative forms of corporate governance. It is not intended to echo such debates. The Institute's programme will focus specifically on social change in terms of market imperatives and on employers' organizations. These are areas where little is currently being done elsewhere and they respond to a growing need of the ILO and its constituents.

(ii) The programme recognizes that there are limits to the extent to which social demands can be met through market mechanisms. Social needs cannot, and should not, be met by business alone and are essentially issues for public consensus and action by civil society and the State.

(iii) The programme is based on the premise that voluntary partnership and innovative forms of cooperation between enterprises and civil society are an essential complement, both to regulatory and normative structures, and to individual corporate social initiatives. The programme aims to promote the development of such dialogue and partnership.

1. The Social Transformation and Enterprise
Performance (STEP) project

30. As indicated above, major transformations in society and in individual values are creating a new business environment. Social concerns have an impact on markets through consumer demand, corporate regulation and investment flows. This calls for new business responses. Traditional sources of competitive advantage might no longer guarantee sustainable business success. Superior enterprise performance increasingly depends on the capacity to anticipate and adjust, not only to competition and technological change, but also to changes in the attitudes of workers, consumers and society at large.

31. Current theories of business strategy and competitive advantage are based on concepts such as market positioning, product development, core competences, and organizational design. Social change, on the other hand, is not a variable that is incorporated into business strategy in a systematic or coherent manner. The STEP project will explore the possibility of developing new corporate strategies that integrate social demand with market imperatives. The objective is to influence current thinking on strategic enterprise behaviour, and to operationalize the concept of social change as the new market frontier. In this connection, the project will also review industry experiences, with particular reference to operational practices and incentive structures within enterprises which enable managers to reconcile commercial and social commitments.

32. The project will also explore new ways of promoting dialogue and voluntary partnership between the enterprise and social actors. The aim is to create a policy environment conducive to reconciling business and social concerns, and joint action to optimize the impact of business initiatives. It includes the role of employers' organizations in bridging the gap between business and society, supportive policies by local authorities and governments, collaboration at the workplace with unions, and the diffusion of quality standards to suppliers and subcontractors. There is no "one best model" for such frameworks, which have to reflect the specificities both of national cultures and of different industries.

33. This project opens new ground, and calls for expertise not currently available within the ILO. Its initial development will be demanding in terms of staff time, and will call for new networks with business schools and corporate strategic planners.

34. The project will be implemented through research networks. Business schools will be a key partner as they are in the forefront of developing concepts of business strategy and influence corporate thinking upstream. Existing Institute contacts with the Harvard Business School, INSEAD and Wharton, for example, will be further developed. Other network partners will include organizations representing employers and business, such as the International Organization of Employers, the Conference Board, the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum, and the World Business Academy. It will also involve individual business leaders, corporate strategic planners, and representatives of international organizations, particularly the EC, World Bank and UNIDO. Working groups will examine different aspects of the theme, and an International Workshop will be held during the biennium to evaluate the preliminary results. The Workshop will set the ground for a major international conference on STEP planned for the biennium 2000-2001.

35. The project will be carried out in close cooperation with ENTREPRISE and other ILO departments doing relevant work in this area.

2. Employers' organizations in the changing environment

36. Employers' organizations interface business and society. They play a major role in building networks and mediating relationships between business and public purpose associations, as well as in shaping the policy environment in which business operates. The aim of the project is to develop an analytical and conceptual perspective for programmes which seek to reinforce their contribution to civil society and the economy.

37. The project will:

(i) review the changing environment of employers' organizations. Globalization faces employers' organizations with a series of new challenges including the decentralization of industrial relations, the fragmentation of business policy-making, and increasing competition in providing basic services to their constituents;

(ii) provide an overview of the way in which employers' organizations have met these challenges in different parts of the world. This could illustrate how employers' organizations can influence the quality of the business environment and bridge the gap between business and society;

(iii) explore future perspectives in terms of economic development and social policy. Employers' organizations have an important role to play in promoting regional and subregional integration in the areas of education, training and legislative frameworks. They can help bridge the gap between small and large businesses and between the formal and informal sectors. They can make an important contribution to employment policy formulation and to efforts to shape the future of industrial relations and labour market policies. They can disseminate innovative strategies, best practices and higher standards among the business community and in the economy as a whole.

38. The project will be carried out in close collaboration with employers' organizations, at both the international and national levels, and in close cooperation with ACT/EMP. Two regional workshops are planned in the course of the biennium. The outcome of the project will provide a substantive and analytical contribution to the international meeting on the future of employers' organizations, which ACT/EMP is planning for the end of the biennium.

III. Educational and intersectoral programme

		Work-years/months				Cost in US dollars
		Professional		General Service		Staff costs		Other costs		Total resources
1998-99 proposals		4/00		4/00		950 304		597 000		1 547 304
1998-99 other sources		-		-		-		-		-
1996-97 approved budget		4/00		8/00		1 595 136		673 300		2 268 436
1996-97 other sources		-		-		-		50 000		50 000

39. The objectives of this programme are: (i) to stimulate the identification of future Institute or ILO programme areas; (ii) to contribute to the institutional capacity of ILO constituents for social policy research and analysis; (iii) to project the concerns of the ILO to the international student community; (iv) to promote a systematic exchange of ideas and opinions between academic personalities, ILO constituents and ILO staff; and (v) to disseminate the outcome of research and other activities of the Institute.

40. These objectives are pursued through three subprogrammes: educational activities, intersectoral activities and publications. Their means of action include: annual internship courses, fellowships and study visits; seminars and social policy fora; and programmes for graduate students and visiting scholars.

1. Educational activities

41. The Institute's educational programme complements the ILO's training activities. The international internship courses, seminars and fellowships are intended to provide future policy-makers from governments, employers' organizations and trade unions with an international comparative perspective on social policy, to introduce them to the ILO and its tripartite programmes and means of action, and to develop their capacity for social policy research and analysis.

42. In 1998-99 the Institute will organize two international internship courses on active labour policy development. The courses will be held in Spanish in 1998 and English in 1999. The courses are intended for middle-level officials of ministries of labour and employers' and workers' organizations who are expected to rise to positions of greater responsibility in the future. In the next biennium, the content of each course will be revised to address specific concerns of the regions from which participants are drawn, while incorporating themes of particular relevance at the global level. These will include tripartism, labour standards, employment creation, labour-management relations and working conditions. In the next biennium, it is also proposed to extend the course to permit participants to attend the International Labour Conference.

43. The Institute will continue to organize fellowships for officials from labour research and educational institutes, particularly those attached to ministries of labour and employers' and workers' organizations. Programmes will be tailored to meet individual needs. The increasing number of requests received in the last two biennia suggests that this is viewed as a useful service by constituents. As in the past, fellowships will be subject to the availability of funds from extra-budgetary sources, including sponsorship by ILO field offices and other institutions.

44. In view of its usefulness in providing assistance to the Institute's programmes in the current biennium, the Institute's Student internship programme will be continued in the 1998-99 biennium. Graduate students working on labour issues will be accepted for short periods to work as research assistants on those aspects of the Institute's programmes most relevant to their own fields of interest.

45. Under the Visiting scholar programme, senior academics in the labour field, on sabbatical leave from their universities, will be offered office space, facilities and access to ILO documentation services in exchange for their advice and assistance in formulating and implementing the Institute's work programmes. Where appropriate, they will be invited to give staff seminars on their research work and to participate as teaching staff in the internship courses. The Visiting scholar programmes serve to encourage academics to see their future work in terms of the priorities and concerns of the ILO.

46. The fourth ILO International Social Policy Lectures will be held in 1999. Endowed by the ILO's Nobel Peace Prize, these lectures are held in major universities in different regions of the world to encourage interest in the ILO and its work among student and academic communities.

2. Intersectoral activities

47. The Intersectoral activities programme encourages discussion of new issues relevant to future ILO programmes, and provides a neutral platform for discussion between ILO staff, ILO constituents, and the external academic and practitioner communities. It has been widely appreciated, as it permits a wider and more informal debate than would otherwise be possible. It is therefore proposed to strengthen these activities in the next biennium. They include:

• public lectures by eminent personalities on social policy, organized on an ad hoc basis;
• short panel discussions at which academic specialists, labour practitioners and ILO staff will be invited to debate emerging issues of potential relevance to the future work of the Institute and of the ILO. Discussions will be based on presentations by the academic specialists and by commentators from practitioner circles. In the interest of flexibility and topicality, themes for the panels will be identified in the course of the biennium. Four panels are foreseen for the biennium, including one on the emerging role of the State in social policy in the era of globalization and liberalization;
• staff seminars which will bring the authors of ground-breaking theories or new research to Geneva for discussion with ILO staff and constituents; selected visiting scholars will also be invited to give such seminars on the basis of their current research projects;
• an international forum of topical policy relevance is scheduled for the biennium: Planning for a new millennium: Women as agents of change. This will form part of ILO follow-up on the Fourth World Conference on Women. The forum will identify changes in markets and social institutions being brought about by the increase in numbers of working women; examine the new perspectives that women themselves are bringing to work and jobs; and identify the most effective strategies and alliances they are putting into place to make the best of the new opportunities provided by the global economy and to overcome its constraints. The forum will be a contribution to the ILO's programme on More and better jobs for women, and will be organized in consultation with the Office of the Special Adviser for Women Workers' Questions.

3. Publications

48. The outcome of the Institute's research, educational programmes and social policy fora will be disseminated through its publications. Particular emphasis will be given to fully utilizing the potential of the Internet to disseminate information on the Institute and its activities, and to advertise its publications. In addition, the feasibility of the electronic publishing of selected texts will be explored.

IV. Management and programme support

		Work-years/months				Cost in US dollars
		Professional		General Service		Staff costs		Other costs		Total resources
1998-99 proposals		4/00		6/00		1 256 853		346 511		1 603 364
1996-97 approved budget		4/00		6/00		1 537 319		517 213		2 054 532

49. This programme provides general management support and programme direction to each of the three substantive programmes, and ensures their common interface. It should be noted that in addition to general management, the Director of the Institute is directly involved in research activities, in particular, in the conceptual development of each substantive programme and their interrelationships, and in ensuring networking between practitioners and academics in overall programme implementation.

50. Programme support includes programming, personnel, financial, administrative and information services. It covers the preparation of programme and budget proposals, the maintenance of financial data for the overall management of the Institute's resources, and the administration of purchases, records and communications. It is responsible for personnel administration, and undertakes the financial and administrative preparation of round tables, seminars, symposia, training courses, meetings and sessions of the Board.

* * *

51. On the basis of the above proposals and in accordance with article II, paragraph 6, of the Regulations of the Institute, the Board may wish to adopt the Programme and Budget for the International Institute for Labour Studies for 1998-99 and to transmit the programme to the Governing Body of the ILO for endorsement, and the budget for final approval.

Geneva, 3 October 1997.

Point for decision: Paragraph 51.

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