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ILO-en-strap
Governing Body

GB.271/15 and Corr.
271st Session
Geneva, March 1998

FIFTEENTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Report of the Committee on Technical Cooperation

Contents

Introduction

I. Operational aspects of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)

II. Information on the development of new global programmes

III. Impact assessment/evaluation paper on ILO technical cooperation: Projects and programmes on the development of micro-enterprises, including cooperatives

IV. Status of the country objectives

V. Implementation of the resource mobilization strategy

VI. Report of the Working Party on the Evaluation of the Active Partnership Policy

Introduction

1. The Committee on Technical Cooperation met on 16, 17 and 19 March 1998. In the absence of the Chairperson, Ms. A.C. Diallo (Government, Senegal) the Committee was chaired at its first sitting by Mr. Hoff (Employer Vice-Chairperson) and by Mr. Mayaki (Worker Vice-Chairperson) at its second. Ms. Diallo chaired discussions on the first item on the agenda.

2. The Committee had the following agenda:

3. The representative of the Director-General (Ms. Chinery-Hesse, Deputy Director-General) briefly introduced the agenda items. She reassured the Committee that technical cooperation remained a major means of action in helping the Organization to fulfil its role in the war on want. Successive programmes and budgets had highlighted the importance of combating poverty, and technical cooperation activities had been in the vanguard of ILO action. She also referred to the importance of technical cooperation in ILO follow-up on the Social Summit.

4. The Committee had to deal with a packed agenda drawn up in close collaboration with the Officers of the Committee, taking into account requests made by members during previous meetings. She recalled that the Committee's terms of reference required it to give indications on priority setting, to explore the extent to which the social partners were involved in various aspects of technical cooperation and to ensure that the follow-up on Conference discussions was reflected in technical cooperation activities.

5. As regards the first item on the agenda, the Working Party on the Evaluation of the Active Partnership Policy (APP) had concluded its work. She looked forward to a lively exchange of ideas on the future implementation of the APP.

6. The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) was a flagship for the Organization. The Office paper contained a wealth of information on IPEC's operational activities. She pointed to several events of the past year which should inform the discussion on IPEC, and in particular the Oslo and Amsterdam conferences on child labour and the interest generated in the ILO's activities in this area of work in its core mandate. This interest had also been reflected in the expansion of the community of donors. The African regional meeting on child labour held in Kampala was another major event in this context. The Conference discussion on child labour would also be influenced by the IPEC experience. The operational aspects of IPEC illustrated the synergy between the normative work of the Organization and technical cooperation, which should be fully exploited.

7. Evaluation was a key tool in measuring the achievement of objectives and the impact of the use of the resources available to the Organization in improving the practical situation of constituents. The theme of the evaluation paper before the Committee was the development of micro-enterprises, including cooperatives, and she proposed that the Committee should indicate whether it considered that the Office was on the right track in this area.

8. The fifth item on the agenda was included in response to a request by the Committee for information on the country objectives. An overview was provided on page 3 of the Office paper, followed by more detailed information. She invited the Committee to suggest ways of improving the presentation of the information. Finally, the Office had provided a brief update on the resource mobilization situation. Since the last meeting, action had been taken on each of the major areas of the strategy, namely programme development, strengthening and expanding partnerships and the development of a marketing strategy. The year ahead would be extremely busy with respect to technical cooperation. The Committee's advice would be most useful in the preparations for the 1999 Conference discussion on technical cooperation, which would set the framework for the ILO's activities in this field and into the next millennium.

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I. Operational aspects of the International Programme
on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)

9. The representative of the Director-General (Mr. Bequele, Director, Working Conditions and Environment Department) introduced the new IPEC Programme Manager, Mr. Blenk, to the Committee and summarized key points in the Office paper. He recalled the origin of the programme, based on a generous contribution from the Government of Germany, which allowed IPEC to start implementing programmes in six countries in 1992. Within five years, the programme had expanded considerably: currently 29 countries participated in the programme, with preparatory work under way in another 21 countries.

10. As regards resource mobilization, the number of donors contributing to the IPEC programme had increased to 18. However, the contributions were uneven, with a heavy reliance on two major donor countries, Germany and Spain.

11. IPEC was increasingly focusing on the most vulnerable children, namely children under 12 years old and girls, and on the extreme forms of child labour. Two-thirds of IPEC activities concentrated on hazardous occupations and conditions. Although the programme's initial focus was largely on the urban and informal sectors, it now evenly implemented programmes in sectors such as agriculture, services and industry. From an initial focus on awareness raising, a more balanced distribution of activities covering the promotion of policy development, building institutional capacities of partner organizations, research, and implementing direct action programmes had been achieved.

12. He outlined the programme's achievements, including its contribution to the emergence of child labour as an important issue on the international agenda, the firm establishment of the ILO as the lead UN agency, ground-breaking research, increased national commitments to combat the problem and renewed interest on pertinent international labour standards, particularly Convention No. 138. He then highlighted IPEC's operational activities in relation to the target groups of children working in hazardous occupations and conditions, children under the age of 12 years, and girls. IPEC had a dual strategy: the promotion of a worldwide movement against child labour and the provision of support to strengthen national capacities to tackle the problem. IPEC was decentralized and largely country-led and constituent-driven, with local activities identified through the National Steering Committees. IPEC's International Steering Committee reviewed its policies, programmes and activities and provided advice. IPEC's work was anchored in ILO Convention No. 138 and Recommendation No. 146, which provided the framework and inspiration for its work. IPEC, in turn, helped to promote the ratification of Convention No. 138 by member States.

13. He stressed the important role played by workers' and employers' organizations, which were increasingly committed to and involved in IPEC's child labour initiatives and activities. IPEC activities with them had increased considerably, and currently account for 20 per cent of overall activities. In this connection, the pioneering work by employers in the Sialkot project was mentioned. Increasing attention was being paid to evaluation and impact assessment of the programme. In this context, he pointed out that an evaluation exercise was being conducted in seven programme countries.

14. With regard to future operation, he raised a number of issues. First, he noted that the phasing-out of activities in countries where the programme was at an advanced stage was a delicate exercise, especially at a time when countries were more committed and the social partners and NGOs more involved in the fight against child labour. A second problem being faced by the programme was how to reconcile the growing demand for its assistance with the concern for quality and impact. A third issue was that, as IPEC concentrated more on the extreme forms of child labour which were often hidden, there was a need to develop effective strategies to combat this problem. In this connection, identifying partners was also a concern, as few organizations were working in this area. The programme was largely decentralized, and financial and administrative procedures were going to be further streamlined. A major consideration was now to maintain the balance between the need for flexibility, and adherence to financial rules and accountability to donors. In this connection, advice and guidance from the Committee would be appreciated.

15. Mr. Mayaki (Worker Vice-Chairperson) congratulated the Office on the quality of the paper and particularly on the information made available. Only since the beginning of the 1990s had child labour become a major issue, and the trade union movement had contributed greatly to raising public awareness on this problem and to the global campaign against child labour. As regards programme resources, he noted that in addition to donor funding, resources should be clearly allocated to the ILO's regular budget. The objective of IPEC was the eradication of child labour, and not only its provisional reduction or the improvement of working conditions. He stressed the growing participation of workers' organizations in workers' activities carried out in other countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Benin and the Philippines. He underlined the approach of the Office in implementing the programme and the importance of IPEC's different components, and proposed that the MDTs should be fully involved in programme implementation and follow-up activities. In addition, the participation of workers' organizations should be strengthened, including in IPEC's International Steering Committee and the National Steering Committee. He welcomed the signature of an agreement with the International Olympic Committee on the eradication of child labour and the active involvement of Australian trade unions in the preparation and signature of an agreement between the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and the Sydney Paraplegic Organizing Committee. In order to promote a consensus among the social partners, he suggested using the resolution on child labour adopted by the International Labour Conference in 1996 as a reference document, and he expressed concern about the relatively low number of ratifications of Convention No. 138 among countries that had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO. He referred to the need for continuing evaluation exercises and for the reporting system to be reviewed. The new instruments, however, should not replace Conventions Nos. 29 and 138, but rather complement them. The ILO's programmes and projects would be strengthened by the full involvement of workers' organizations due to their political support. The education component should be integrated to the extent possible in IPEC programmes worldwide, as child labour was in fact the result of poverty and exclusion.

16. Mr. Anand (Employer member) speaking on behalf of the Employer members, also praised the quality of the report. IPEC was now well on track and therefore it was important to publicize its achievements. As regards programme development, he called for greater attention to be paid to population issues. Given the actual population trends in the developing countries, he considered it difficult to rely only on general or non-vocational educational opportunities for working children as an effective measure against child labour. Concerning resources, he suggested presenting a breakdown of the expenditure figures by economic sectors in future reports. He emphasized the importance of coordination with other agencies, such as UNICEF, while supporting all activities on the specific role of the ILO on the child labour issue in the workplace. He called for continuity in the coordination of the programme at the country level, and stressed the role of the National Steering Committees and of national programme coordinators in the implementation of the programme under the direct supervision of the area office directors. The International Steering Committee should, in the future, be composed of one Worker and one Employer member from each region in order to facilitate the exchange of experience. Similarly, the Steering Committee at headquarters needed more regional representation of the social partners. The activities in Sialkot were to be commended and the Pakistan Government to be congratulated. He also commended the excellent work done by the Pakistan trade unions in skill development, particularly among young girls. Finally, he suggested that the ILO should work with the World Bank, in particular to influence it to allocate resources for vocational training and education, especially for girls.

17. Other speakers also expressed their satisfaction with the Office paper. They felt that the high quality of the paper was reflected in its contents as well as in its presentation. In general, it was felt that this was in line with the positive work of IPEC. The speakers welcomed the new IPEC programme manager and wished him success and offered the Committee's support. The speakers welcomed the new IPEC programme manager and wished him success and offered the Committee's support. The previous IPEC managers, especially Mr. Blenk's predecessor, Mr. Gust, also received praise and recognition for their contribution to this major ILO programme.

18. The representative of the Government of Italy stated that his Government looked forward to the future evaluation of the programme. Child labour was at the forefront of the social agenda in Italy at all levels of government and employers' and workers' organizations.In that connection, he referred to an event planned for 16 April in Italy and to an initiative, mentioned in the Office paper, that had led Italian employers' and workers' organizations to have their members contribute one day's pay in support of a fund for joint UNICEF/ILO projects on child labour in Asia. Referring to paragraphs 71 to 75, he emphasized the need for close coordination with several UN bodies. He wondered whether it would be useful for the International Steering Committee to meet more than once a year.

19. The representative of the Government of Germany recalled that IPEC had started as a modest programme which, over the years, had expanded considerably. He thanked all donors, including those who had made modest contributions, and noted that more resources were needed for the further expansion of IPEC. Referring to paragraph 8, he requested further information on the ILO contribution to child labour activities, amounting to US$6.2 million from the ILO's regular budget for 1998-99. The information provided in paragraphs 32 to 37 was of great interest, particularly the implementation of IPEC through a decentralized management approach. In this context, he pointed out that one of the characteristics of IPEC was that projects were carried out with national NGOs, but that on occasion one sensed some competition from traditional ILO partners. Referring to paragraph 41, he sought clarification on the reference to the difficulty of reaching extreme forms of child labour. He stressed that the notion of competition between the social partners and NGOs was misconceived in this context. He referred to the Global March which was to culminate in Geneva in June 1998, organized by NGOs, and the support being provided for this event in Germany by a national alliance including workers and employers.

20. The paragraphs concerning the evaluation of IPEC (paragraph 57 onwards) were somewhat confusing: references were made to tripartite reviews and to independent evaluations carried out in recipient countries by national organizations. He asked to what extent donors had actually participated in these evaluation exercises. Referring to paragraph 67, an important question was how to measure the success of the programme, as it would lead to confusion if the number of children withdrawn from work was taken as the only parameter. Recognizing the difficulties involved in reporting, especially since there were differing donor requirements, he suggested that in future the Committee might receive draft reports prepared for the International Steering Committee, and make comments for incorporation in the final version.

21. The representative of the Government of Egypt stated that IPEC represented a new approach to technical cooperation. Its strong element of national execution was an important feature, and she strongly endorsed the use of national expertise and the strengthening of national institutions and mechanisms. Although the problem of child labour required international experience and coordination, it was to a large extent a national problem demanding national programmes. Poverty was at the root of child labour: therefore its abolition called for a practical and pragmatic approach which took into account the fact that overall economic growth was an essential element and which ensured a minimum level of social protection for children. Due to the success of the programme many countries wished to participate, and an increase in resources was necessary to facilitate this. Consequently, a clearly defined resource mobilization strategy was essential. In addition, the number of staff should be increased. She underlined the notion of extreme forms of child labour on which the Amsterdam and Oslo conferences had focused, and the importance of the international community taking a strong position on the exploitation of children. Concluding her statement, she highlighted the need to focus on the problem of the exploitation of girls, to which a specific part of the programme should be dedicated.

22. The representative of the Government of France felt that IPEC could serve as an example for other programmes. He particularly emphasized the importance of the programme being flexible and decentralized. Like other speakers he underlined the need for additional resources. France had quadrupled its contribution in 1997, and there would be a further increase in 1998. However, the ILO regular budget should also better reflect the importance and priority of combating child labour. In a programme of such magnitude the staffing needs were great, and the ILO had to ensure that the programme was equipped to operate effectively. He welcomed the establishment of an efficient system of evaluation, which would serve to increase the efficiency of the programme, and would also provide lessons which should be useful to other programmes.

23. The representative of the Government of Chile provided information on the IPEC programme in his country since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the ILO and the Chilean Government in 1996. The introduction of the programme had led to the establishment of a national commission for the eradication of child labour, comprising representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, trade unions, employers' organizations, the police and various NGOs working for the benefit of minors and women. A permanent executive national secretariat for the prevention of child labour had also been established. The procedures for the ratification of Convention No. 138 had recently been initiated. After ratification, national legislation would be amended to reflect an increase in the minimum age from 14 to 15 years. In conclusion, he observed that as a result of IPEC the problem of child labour had become widely known in Chile.

24. Mr. Beye (Employer member) commented on paragraph 28 of the paper, which stated that national programme coordinators were selected after consultations with participating countries' governments. He felt that such consultations should be tripartite. He supported the proposal in paragraph 34 to extend the reporting time from three to six months, provided that this would maintain the quality of the reporting. He emphasized that with regard to the section on IPEC's operational approach (paragraphs 77 to 81), IPEC should ensure that the programme lived up to its requirement of a critical mass of activities in each country in order to ensure effectiveness and to avoid spreading its activities too thinly. The generation of data on child labour (paragraph 81) was a difficult task, but it was nevertheless of crucial importance to assemble and analyse data, both qualitative and quantitative. Tripartism and the development of social alliances were fundamental as channels of communication and action in combating child labour.

25. Mr. Owuor (Employer member) joined other speakers in considering IPEC a success, as it was well conceived and flexibly executed by a competent team sensitive to the needs of recipient countries. Another reason for its success was the fact that it was anchored in Convention No. 138 and its accompanying Recommendation No. 146. He referred to paragraph 43 of the report, which illustrated the flexibility incorporated in the instruments. Poverty was the root cause, but legislation on its own was insufficient to eliminate child labour. He referred to situations in Africa and elsewhere where, despite the existence of legislation, a significant proportion of the workforce was made up of children. In dealing with the problem of child labour, the problem of extreme family poverty needed to be addressed through measures such as the promotion of productive employment, especially in small and micro-enterprises, the provision of education and training, and the strengthening of social security systems. The Office should devise a model, especially for those countries in which the programme was phasing out activities, to show what could be done to achieve sustainability as well as best practices for poverty alleviation.

26. Mr. Tabani (Employer member), commenting on the situation in Pakistan, described the operation of the National Steering Committee, which had moved to focus more closely on specific issues and sectors, such as sports goods and carpets, children in the informal sector, and skills training. There was collaboration with other organizations such as UNICEF, and a new initiative with the World Health Organization focusing on child health care.

27. Mr. Edström (Worker member) endorsed the comments by the representative of the Government of Germany on paragraph 67, which could give the misleading impression that IPEC was not focused on the removal of children from work. He also endorsed paragraph 53, which highlighted the role of workers' organizations in discovering and denouncing child labour abuses. However, he regretted that only 12 per cent of IPEC resources were allocated to trade union activities. In paragraph 48, the reference to the Conference discussion on a possible ILO Declaration of principles should include the follow-up action required to give effect to the Declaration. Linking the reference to the importance of establishing national programmes in paragraph 12 of the report to the proposed new Convention on child labour, he observed that the latter did not refer to the establishment of national programmes. He suggested that thought should be given to including this in the new Convention rather than in the Recommendation.

28. Mr. Trotman (Worker member), like his colleagues, also welcomed the increased level of cooperation between IPEC and trade unions at the national level. However, he also drew the Committee's attention to the important role of trade union organizations at the international level, in particular their role in initiating international campaigns targeted at child labour in certain industries. In this regard, he referred to the role of the international trade union organizations in concluding a code of labour practice with FIFA, which he felt had been instrumental in attracting international attention to the issue of child labour in football production in Sialkot. With the increased attention to child labour issues, he envisaged an increase in the number of international campaigns against child labour and referred to the role of ACTRAV in the campaign against child labour in the diamond industry launched by the ICFTU and UADW in 1997. He called for a closer dialogue between IPEC and international trade union organizations.

29. He commended the Italian initiative mentioned in paragraph 37 of the report, noting that the Italian trade union movement had been the driving force behind the campaign. Such initiatives should be encouraged in other countries. He strongly endorsed the Employers' call for greater involvement of the social partners in the programme. He was particularly concerned about the low level of trade union involvement in certain countries, and the Workers' group was prepared to assist IPEC in improving this situation. The role of Worker members in the IPEC National Steering Committee in promoting trade union involvement could also be enhanced.

30. The labour movement had expressed its willingness to work with NGOs, but the latter tended to shy away from revolutionary change, and he emphasized that the ILO's mandate focused on social transformation. The ILO's objective with respect to child labour was directed towards the eradication of child labour and not towards establishing better conditions of work. He congratulated India and Pakistan on their work towards this goal and urged other countries to follow their example.

31. The representative of the Government of India emphasized the magnitude of the problem of child labour in his country and observed that Convention No. 138 was not sufficient as an instrument to deal with it. He therefore welcomed the forthcoming discussions at the Conference in 1998 and 1999 aimed at adopting a Convention prohibiting the most exploitative forms of child labour. Referring to box 4 on page 19 in the document regarding the evaluation of IPEC in India carried out in May 1997, he felt that it should allow India to develop an even more efficient programme in the future. Regarding paragraph 78 of the paper on the programme's phase-in and phase-out strategy, he asked for more information and details, particularly since India had been one of the first countries to join IPEC. Given the magnitude of the problem of child labour in India, he requested the ILO to consider enhancing this support.

32. The representative of the Government of Sweden highlighted some key elements for successful programming and planning which had emerged from the Office report: (i) identifying and formulating clear objectives and indicators for the assessment of progress; (ii) having an implementation strategy based on a deep knowledge of local conditions, national acceptance and support for, and ideally national ownership of, the strategy by stakeholders in civil society, and, in this framework, she stressed the role of NGOs; (iii) flexibility in the choice of implementing and executing partners based on local circumstances; (iv) combining mutually supportive long- and short-term interventions; (v) recognizing the linkage between operational activities and the ILO's normative function; and (vi) having a clear understanding of the value and importance of monitoring and evaluation, together with an openness and responsiveness to the findings. She welcomed the development of a database on child labour, the utility of which could extend beyond IPEC. She also appreciated the more systematic approach to independent evaluations, the use of national expertise to carry out evaluations, and the general effort being made to strengthen national institutional capacity to conduct evaluations. She also highlighted the importance of refining the indicators of success, defining clearly IPEC's areas of comparative advantage, avoiding too thin a spread of activities and planning for the phasing out of the programme at the national level. To conclude, she expressed the hope that the lessons learned from IPEC would inspire other ongoing and future programmes.

33. Taking up the final point made by the representative of the Government of Sweden, the representative of the Government of Finland suggested that there should be regular discussions on IPEC, since the lessons learned could be usefully applied to other global programmes and activities. Turning to the issue of programme resources, she observed that, important as it was to respond to requests for assistance, the first priority was to ensure quality and impact by having a critical mass of activities if national and international support for IPEC was to be sustained. In this context, she noted with satisfaction the paper's focus on measures to improve quality, impact and sustainability as well as the staffing situation. She supported the project approach outlined in paragraphs 14 to 18, particularly the combination of short- and long-term measures and the mainstreaming strategy. She too was encouraged by the Office's effort to develop a more systematic approach to evaluation and the move to refine indicators of success. She appreciated the use of national expertise in conducting evaluations and stressed that national ownership of evaluations was critical to national capacity building. Finally, she expressed concern about the bias in favour of boys identified in national programmes in some countries, and urged the Office to pay special attention to the situation of girls, whose work was typically hidden, and suggested that NGOs might have an important role to play in reaching this target group.

34. The representative of the Government of the United Kingdom cautioned against the optimism contained in the Office report, as the ideal image presented was still some distance from being realized. Observing that resources would always be limited, notwithstanding the intention of some donors, including his Government, to increase their contributions, he stressed the importance of using the available resources effectively by setting clear objectives and ensuring sound monitoring and evaluation practices which would provide feedback into IPEC's strategic planning process. He felt that the Office paper had failed to document one of its major resources -- its existing staff, who were highly motivated and equipped to move forward on critical issues and to deal effectively with sensitive areas. In terms of strategy, the programme needed to be innovative and not blinkered by traditional approaches. With respect to IPEC's partners, NGOs were important partners which were still not used to the extent possible in the field. To illustrate the role of NGOs, he cited the Sialkot initiative involving NGOs, the private sector and government. He endorsed the view expressed by the representative of the Government of Egypt and others that poverty was a critical factor in child labour, and recommended that the ILO needed to work with partners such as the World Bank to deal with this dimension of the problem. Monitoring and evaluation activities were of great interest to all major aid partners, and IPEC could draw on their experience. He expressed his Government's willingness to work with the programme in this area.

35. The representative of the Government of Turkey noted that his Government had ratified Convention No. 138 in January 1998 and that the registration process had been initiated. Referring to paragraph 51 of the Office paper, which noted a drop in NGOs' share in the implementation of IPEC action programmes, he noted that this was then explained as the result of the increasing commitment of employers' and workers' organizations to the cause of working children. He felt that this gave an erroneous impression of competition between NGOs and the social partners in the programme's alliances in the fight against child labour, whereas NGOs should continue to play an important role together with governments and the social partners. He suggested that the use of international expertise should not be categorically excluded, particularly from the perspective of the comparative experience they could bring to bear on national programmes.

36. The representative of the Government of the United States noted the importance of documenting programme impact. Referring to its unique operational aspects, she considered that the social partners and NGOs had an important role to play. She supported the proposal made by the representative of the Government of Germany that the Committee might review the draft IPEC Steering Committee report, provided that the Steering Committee continued to play its established role. The lessons learned from IPEC could be instructive for other programmes.

37. The representative of the Government of Senegal felt that the elimination of child labour entailed an arduous fight against poverty based on ambitious, concrete programmes focused on the real needs of countries. Given the limited resources in relation to the demand for assistance, he highlighted the importance of successful resource mobilization, without which it might be regrettable but necessary to restrict activities so that impact would not be diminished as a result of spreading resources too thinly. He recommended pursuing a strategy that would involve equipping all ILO units with the necessary technical competence; working together with national authorities and social partners to find solutions; decentralizing responsibility; providing assistance in the field of education and training; achieving a gradual phasing out; and assisting in the training of labour inspectors who were denied access to NGOs. Finally, he requested information on the responsibilities involved and the financial implications for the technical cooperation programme of following up on the child labour aspects of the proposed Declaration on fundamental rights.

38. The representative of the Director-General (Mr. Bequele) thanked speakers for their expressions of support for the strategy and thrust of IPEC. This was extremely inspiring, reassuring and encouraging, and he welcomed the advice and guidance provided. His assessment of the situation was that there were no substantive issues at stake, but that the concerns expressed had more to do with issues of emphasis, nuance and presentation.

39. As regards the relationship between the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and the proposed new instrument on child labour with respect to the IPEC programme, he recalled in particular the concern expressed by the Worker Vice-Chairperson that the new instrument should not replace Convention No. 138. He stressed that this was not the intention, but acknowledged that it was important for the Office to reiterate its position and to be careful not to convey any misleading impressions. He emphasized that IPEC was anchored in Convention No. 138 and hoped that the new Convention would further inspire the work of the programme.

40. The organization of work in IPEC was an additional area of concern to the Committee. He reassured the representative of the Government of Germany that the flexible and decentralized management mentioned in the document was in fact already a reality. A unified administrative and financial structure was required to ensure accountability, but beyond this the operations were highly decentralized. Despite the significant organizational improvements achieved, there was still room for improvement. A financial and administrative officer was being recruited to streamline procedures and to facilitate work at the national level.

41. Speakers had also commented on the role of the ILO's constituents in the programme and relationships with other relevant organizations. Naturally, the role of workers' and employers' organizations should be enhanced, but he pointed to the constraints of inadequate capacity in the organizations and their lack of experience in this field. As the Office continued to work on this concern, experience was showing how the situation could be improved. He reassured the Committee that the participation of the social partners and NGOs was complementary and not antagonistic, and it was unintentional if the Office paper appeared to suggest otherwise. Where reference had been made to the difficulties of reaching children in extreme forms of child labour, the point intended was that these activities generally took place on the outer limits of the law and in areas rarely touched by formal organizations. However, it was recognized that important advocacy roles were being played by workers' and employers' organizations and the pressure exerted on enforcement agencies was a major contribution in the fight against these forms of child labour. With respect to collaboration with other organizations, he assured the Committee that the ILO was working with other agencies which had a legitimate role to play. In this regard, discussions had started with the World Bank and concrete proposals for joint action with UNICEF were being discussed.

42. As regards impact and evaluation issues, he explained the statement in paragraph 67 of the paper on the need to evaluate the programme on the basis of qualitative as well as quantitative indicators. He stressed that this was not meant to imply that IPEC was not concerned with the withdrawal of children from work, but that impact also needed to be assessed in terms of the programme's role in bringing about the policy changes and other measures that were essential for long-term sustainability after the phasing out of project support. He agreed with the suggestions by the representatives of the Governments of Finland and Germany that efforts should be made to include donor countries more systematically in independent evaluations.

43. As regards the phasing out of IPEC from certain countries, he welcomed the comprehension of the Office's difficulties in this regard, as expressed by the representative of the Government of India and Mr. Owuor. The Office would act on the useful suggestion that a phasing-out strategy should be developed.

44. As regards resource issues, one concern expressed was the need to use national and international human resources effectively. Although in his introductory remarks he had identified the maximum use of local expertise as one of IPEC's strengths, it did not mean that international expertise was sidelined. Using national expertise was seen to be an important means of strengthening national capacity in the long run, but international expertise was used strategically to complement and strengthen national inputs.

45. He acknowledged the importance of an effective resource mobilization effort to enable the programme to respond to demand effectively. He expressed the Office's appreciation for the pledges of increased support made by the representatives of the Governments of Italy and the United Kingdom. Concerning regular budget support to the programme, for the 1998-99 biennium, the regular budget support to IPEC activities amounting to $6.2 million to which reference had been made in the Office report included $4.9 million from regional budgets and the balance from the technical departments. The total figure would rise to about $10 million, at a conservative estimate, if contributions from the Bureaux for Workers' and Employers' Activities, the Bureau of Statistics and the International Labour Standards Department were included. Following a decision by the Director-General, the resources for the staffing of IPEC would be doubled, a measure that would considerably enhance its absorptive capacity and enhance its ability to address the concerns of constituents and donors more effectively.

46. To conclude, he responded to the comments made on the structure and functioning of the Steering Committee. The secretariat did not have the authority to make decisions concerning the expansion of Worker and Employer representation on the Committee, and such proposals should be brought to the Steering Committee's attention. Finally, with respect to the schedule of meetings, he considered that an annual Steering Committee meeting was adequate, but the Office was open to guidance on this matter.

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II. Information on the development of
new global programmes

47. The representative of the Director-General (Ms. Chinery-Hesse, Deputy Director-General) introduced the Office paper on this subject and highlighted the role of IPEC in influencing global programme development. Recalling the earlier discussion on IPEC, she stated that it had greatly enhanced the visibility of the ILO and that the value of visibility could not be overemphasized because of the very competitive environment in which the Organization had to operate. Accordingly, the Office could not ignore the great success of what had been described as "a bold and innovative initiative" as a model for future activities, and it had identified themes which lent themselves to a similar approach. The IPEC programme had five distinct characteristics to which its success could be attributed, characteristics which were not necessarily identified so clearly in the design of more classical technical cooperation activities. First, it was confronting an issue that was high on the international agenda, and as IPEC had undoubtedly played an important role in elevating the profile of child labour, the theme could be regarded as an idea whose time had come, taking into account the implications of this intolerable form of exploitation in the context of trade and globalization. There was a direct link with a core ILO Convention. The problem addressed was not limited to a single country or region of the world. In that sense, application of the programme would really be global. It was supported by sound technical backstopping from a headquarters department guaranteeing delivery of quality products. It pursued a decentralized strategy which was country-driven and constituency-led, aimed at strengthening national capacity to ensure sustainability. Such an approach had proved to be a winning formula, and considerable financing had been secured. The Committee had been informed in other documents, such as that on the resource mobilization strategy, that resource constraints had stunted the growth of the technical cooperation programme in recent years. The global programme approach described in the Office paper offered a window of opportunity to improve the resource base for ILO activities.

48. Referring to the appendix to the Office paper, which gave details of the four themes so far selected for development as global programmes, she assured the Committee that the approach chosen respected the IPEC characteristics earlier identified: global geographical coverage; a strong link to the normative agenda of the ILO; a focus on obligations of a global nature such as those resulting from the international summits; a comprehensive, integrated and multidimensional approach that was country-driven and constituency-led and characterized by a strong emphasis on evaluation; and finally a focus on effective resource mobilization strategies for each programme, including keeping donors informed of programme development. Since these programmes were just unfolding, the Office paper was essentially a statement of intentions. The international programme on More and Better Jobs for Women (WOM/EMP) and Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusion and Poverty (STEP) had already been launched. The International Small Enterprise Programme (ISEP) was to be launched in the near future and the Occupational Safety and Health and the Environment (OSHE) was in the pipeline.

49. She briefly gave some additional details on the two programmes already launched. The programme on More and Better Jobs for Women aimed to make a major impact in two critical areas of the ILO's work: employment promotion and equality of opportunity. It intended to give a major boost to the implementation of the Convention on Employment Policy (No. 122), as well as to the promotion of the ratification and implementation of fundamental labour standards relating to women workers, in particular Conventions Nos. 100 and 111. The programme was designed as the ILO's specific contribution to follow-up on the Fourth World Conference on Women and also to the gender dimension of the World Summit on Social Development. Some of the specific measures to be considered in participating countries included the gender sensitization of different groups in civil society, technical training of key policy-makers and planners, improvement of the legal framework and legal literacy, and strengthening of the information and information base for gender planning. In terms of the current status, national action plans had been completed for Estonia, Pakistan, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Similar plans were being formulated for Mexico and Burkina Faso. The Office was in the process of securing financial resources to implement these action plans. More and Better Jobs for Women would combine practical action at the national level with research and information dissemination at the global level. She drew attention to a joint initiative with IPEC to conduct research on the links between women's employment and child labour with a view to developing practical measures to ensure that More and Better Jobs for Women led to a reduction in child labour. In another interesting development, the programme had established links with the affirmative action agency of Australia to develop principles for equal opportunity companies, and to establish an international accreditation or awards system. The programme was also working with the ICFTU on a manual aimed at enhancing the role of trade unions in the promotion of gender equality. Other manuals on "good practices" were also being developed.

50. STEP represented a major effort to give concrete expression to the ILO's concerns in the area of social exclusion. It was intended to promote social integration and to tackle the challenge of extending social protection to the significant number of people excluded from formal schemes. This problem was exacerbated by the widespread contraction of social budgets as a result of structural adjustment programmes and the weakening or collapse of social security systems in economies in transition. STEP was to be an important instrument in assisting the weak and the marginalized in line with the ILO's constitutional mandate related to social justice. It would also aim to establish alliances with employers' and workers' organizations as key partners. Discussions would soon be completed with the field structure to determine how the programme might support national, regional and subregional objectives defined in consultation with constituents. Thereafter, the programme would proceed to develop operational activities in selected countries in collaboration with the field structure and headquarters units.

51. The dialogue with the Committee should serve to indicate whether members considered that the themes selected thus far were likely to contribute to improving the visibility of the ILO in the same manner as IPEC. She also invited the Committee to suggest other themes suitable for global programme development. The Office would also appreciate an indication from donor countries of whether the approach was likely to attract substantial additional resources. She also asked IPEC programme countries to bring to the Office's attention any pitfalls to be avoided, particularly with respect to the objective of building national capacity to ensure sustainability.

52. Mr. Hoff (Employer Vice-Chairperson) speaking on behalf of the Employer members, found it difficult to give an assessment of the global programmes at this juncture, as they were still at the stage of hopes and intentions. He appreciated the programme descriptions provided in the appendix, but requested information on the concrete results as soon as possible to assess the efficacy of the strategy. He acknowledged that it was a formidable challenge to implement the programmes as planned, and he hoped that the Committee would have some feedback before the 1999 International Labour Conference discussion on technical cooperation. While understanding the attraction of a global programme approach to both the ILO and donors, he was concerned that it would be difficult to monitor what was taking place in the specific projects to be executed under these umbrellas, and urged the Office to pay particular attention to this dimension. Finally, he expressed the hope that ACT/EMP and ACTRAV activities would be accommodated within these umbrella programmes but without loss of control of the services they provided direct to the social partners.

53. Mr. Sahbani, speaking on behalf of the Worker members, welcomed both the general and specific information on global programme development. These programmes originated in the new approach to technical cooperation being pursued by the Office and the global programmes had been influenced to a large extent by IPEC. While endorsing the strategy, he cautioned that the Office should not be too optimistic and expect these programmes to achieve a similar level of success as IPEC, which had very distinctive characteristics: it dealt with a subject that was humanitarian, emotional and sensitive and which bore the stamp of social injustice. The international indignation greatly facilitated resource mobilization. He felt that, with the possible exception of STEP, this did not apply to the new global programmes described.

54. One concern was that the global programmes would be competing for resources with other programmes which directly benefited the social partners. Therefore, he considered it essential for the social partners, through ACTRAV and ACT/EMP, to have a major influence on the formulation, implementation and monitoring of these programmes. The Workers' group would ensure that there was a major focus on workers' activities in the global programmes. In the light of the concerns expressed, his group would permanently monitor the implementation of the programmes and their future support would depend on the extent to which the considerations noted in paragraphs 10, 15 and 16 of the Office report were taken into account. They also requested information on the establishment of steering committees and advisory committees and the linkages established between the programmes and ACTRAV. He concluded by giving his group's support to the four programmes.

55. Mr. Anand (Employer member) focused on the programme on More and Better Jobs for Women (WOM/EMP). He referred to the linkages between social and economic progress and the importance of the latter in improving the situation of women. The programme should give particular importance to skill development through awareness campaigns and technical cooperation activities with the assistance of trade unions and chambers of commerce. He referred to the importance of steering committees in dealing with the need to improve and further develop these programmes.

56. Mr. Varela (Employer member) considered that the report could have been enriched by a more in-depth analysis of the link between the global programmes and the ILO's mandate and the ILO's values and priorities. He emphasized that relevant ACT/EMP and ACTRAV programmes should have close links with the global programmes for their mutual benefit and to maximize impact.

57. Mr. Trotman (Worker member) stressed the importance of the issues covered by the programme on occupational safety, health and the environment. He drew attention to the important loss of working time resulting from the lack of training on occupational safety and health questions. It was necessary, therefore, to mobilize resources for work in this field.

58. The representative of the Government of Poland welcomed the information provided by the Office. He was pleased with the articulation of the global programmes within the APP framework and with the tripartite approach adopted. He strongly supported the STEP programme, which he considered an important instrument in poverty alleviation, and looked forward to cooperating with the ILO on this theme. However, he asked the Office to avoid overlap with the UNDP, noting that the Human Development Report (1997) had focused on the reduction of social exclusion and poverty. Consequently, he urged that there should be close cooperation with the UNDP from the outset. He recommended that careful attention be paid to the STEP strategy and recommended the use of local expertise as a cost-effective means of implementation. With respect to WOM/EMP, he also highlighted the importance of paying attention to coherence between objectives and means of action.

59. The representative of the Government of Germany shared the scepticism about the global programmes' potential for success, particularly with respect to expectations that the IPEC experience could be replicated. He reiterated his view that a collection of activities to which the title "international" was attached would not automatically prompt donors to provide financing. Echoing Mr. Sahbani's observation, he indicated, without wishing to detract from the merit of the themes of the new global programmes, that they did not have the same impact on public opinion in donor countries as IPEC. Finally, with respect to the text on the objectives of STEP, he drew attention to an apparent repetition in the first two sentences.

60. The representative of the Government of Finland felt that the paper helped to clarify thinking on these programmes and should help to establish linkages between ILO technical cooperation activities. She was particularly supportive of the WOM/EMP programme, and recommended that it should be implemented without delay. She felt that the strategy reflected a good balance between research and practice, and she welcomed the clear link with IPEC.

61. The representative of the Government of Canada also welcomed the paper and the innovative approach to technical cooperation reflected in the development of the global programmes. Given the cross-cutting nature of the themes, she considered the overall strategy appropriate and that successful implementation would serve to enhance the ILO's credibility in the field of technical cooperation. However, she too warned the Office not to be naive and expect the same results as IPEC from these programmes. Nonetheless, she stressed the importance of applying to them the lessons learned from IPEC. She expressed her Government's support for WOM/EMP, which was of interest not only with respect to the situation of women but also from the broader perspective of poverty alleviation and the promotion of sustainable employment. It was important for the ILO to show that it could deal effectively with its responsibilities in follow-up on the Fourth World Conference on Women. She looked forward to the launching of the other programmes, which dealt with labour issues in an innovative and interesting way. One of the best ways of attracting resources was by making regular budget contributions to the programmes.

62. The representative of the Government of Sweden noted that it was too early to make a judgement on the effectiveness and operational content of the programmes. She drew attention to the link between this initiative and resource mobilization, since sound programme development was essential for success in the latter. In this regard, she also welcomed the application of lessons learned from IPEC to the new global programmes. She stressed the importance of establishing an appropriate evaluation framework for the global programmes, and indicated that the causal relationships which were the basis for developing the global programmes would need to be evaluated. She wondered whether there were prospects for other global programmes focusing on core labour standards in addition to IPEC and WOM/EMP.

63. The representative of the Government of the United Kingdom appreciated the fact that there was real substance to the concept of global programmes as presented in the Office paper. However, concrete results would be needed to justify financing. He endorsed the comments made by the representative of the Government of Sweden on the importance of evaluation. He referred to his Government's support for WOM/EMP, to which it had already made a commitment to provide personnel. He saw IPEC and WOM/EMP as complementary, and was therefore pleased to see that operational links had already been made. He was interested in any plans for further linkages.

64. The representative of the Government of the United States considered the proposals interesting and was encouraged by the attention paid to improving impact, quality, and visibility and to promoting greater interdepartmental and interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation. She commended the innovative approach and recommended continued flexibility in dealing with these and other themes of global significance. She looked forward to following the progress of the programmes through sound evaluations and monitoring.

65. The representative of the Government of Bangladesh was pleased that the lessons learned from IPEC had influenced these new programmes, and his country looked forward to benefiting from their implementation. He hoped that the increase in the number of global programmes would not result in a loss of focus. He referred to the importance of the resource mobilization effort required to make the programmes operational, and was satisfied to note that some commitments had already been made by donors. Finally, he noted that the capacity of the Office to cope with the ambitious programmes would need to be enhanced.

66. The representative of the Government of Belgium underlined the importance her Government attached to STEP. It gave high priority to providing social protection to the informal sector and eliminating social exclusion, and they had been attracted by the ILO's experience, including through the ACOPAM project (Cooperative Support for Grass-roots Development) which would allow it to pursue this goal effectively. Therefore, the Government of Belgium had committed $8 million for a five-year period and she called on other governments to support the programme.

67. The representative of the Director-General (Ms. Chinery-Hesse, Deputy Director-General) observed that the basic criterion of success for these programmes would ultimately be their impact on people. She expressed the Office's appreciation to those who supported the initiative and hoped that additional financial support from many donors would be forthcoming. She thanked the Government of Belgium for providing STEP with a good financial starting-point and urged potential donors to consider doing the same for WOM/EMP.

* * *

III. Impact assessment/evaluation paper on ILO technical cooperation:
Projects and programmes on the development
of micro-enterprises, including cooperatives

68. Introducing the paper, a representative of the Director-General (Mr. Brú) recalled that it represented a synthesis of evaluation results cutting across programmes and projects and focused on the strategies implemented by the projects under review, assessing primarily their relevance and effectiveness and the sustainability of project results. Relative successes and failures were explained and lessons were drawn for future programme and policy orientations. However, although it included a significant sample of experience from technical cooperation, the paper addressed only a proportion of the work of the Office promoting small and micro-enterprise development.

69. The Employer Vice-Chairperson emphasized the importance of small and micro-enterprises, their enormous potential for employment generation and their contribution to the economy as a whole. Efforts should be made to assist potential entrepreneurs to establish themselves and to strengthen their capacity, particularly through networking and basic management training. Group-based self-reliance schemes were considered to be the nucleus of small enterprise development. He emphasized the need to take into account the potential of women entrepreneurs.

70. Referring to the methodology of the evaluation exercise, Mr. Sahbani (Worker member) noted that trade unions played an important role in cooperatives, particularly in the context of mutual associations for savings and credit. Trade unions also had members who were entrepreneurs in need of management skills and knowledge, and the review should have examined these aspects after identifying examples. Referring to the issue of networking in the paper, he noted that there was no mention about the participation of workers' organizations, and pointed out that employers' and workers' organizations could provide support to such activities.

71. The representative of the Government of Poland welcomed any kind of technical assistance from the ILO for micro-enterprises in Central and Eastern European countries, where the greatest need was in the smaller cities and rural areas.

72. Mr. Beye (Employer member) considered that the paper should have highlighted the role of the informal sector in the economy as a whole. He emphasized the need for a balanced approach and encouraged the regrouping of micro-enterprise associations within wider federal structures. There was also a need to improve support from banks and other financial institutions and to establish more effective mechanisms for informal consultations. Micro-enterprises had the potential to improve job security and employers' organizations had a strong capacity to help them. He drew attention to similar problems faced by young and women entrepreneurs.

73. The representative of the Government of Finland noted the importance of women's equality in access to credit. She considered that more attention should have been paid to the participatory approach in the design and evaluation of the projects.

74. Speaking from the perspective of a donor country, the representative of the Government of Sweden indicated that it would have been useful to have an indication of how representative the sample of projects covered by the paper was of the micro-enterprise projects implemented by the ILO. She urged the Office to demonstrate the ILO's comparative advantage in this field in order to obtain donor support for such activities. She supported the paper's conclusion that a cost-benefit component should be incorporated into future evaluation exercises, and noted that the consistent use of the MERS throughout the Office should facilitate evaluation efforts.

75. Mr. Imoisili (Employer member) recalled a very successful project in West Africa, where 1,000 entrepreneurs had been trained and the employers' organizations' capacity had been developed and sustained.

76. Mr. Abou Abdallah (Employer member) noted the absence in the review of projects from North Africa. Although small entrepreneurs' associations in his country had been assisted by new legislation, the small entrepreneurs still faced great difficulties in accessing credit. NGOs had also adopted measures to support small and medium-sized undertakings. Illiteracy needed immediate attention, as in many cases it was a prerequisite for training activities. He proposed that the sustainability of the newly established enterprises should be one of the indicators of success used in evaluations, and encouraged the Office to cooperate on a more permanent basis with local organizations in order to take advantage of their research findings and experience.

77. The representative of the Director-General (Mr. Brú) thanked the Committee members for their suggestions and constructive comments. In particular, he referred to the best practices that had been put forward by several delegates from the Employers' group, who had emphasized the need to focus on promotional activities and the supportive role to be played by employers' organizations. He welcomed the appeal made by the Workers' group to make every effort in the future to ensure increased involvement of workers' organizations in support of micro-enterprises, particularly cooperatives and credit schemes. In reply to the question of how representative the sample of the project results under review was of ILO activities in the field, he assured the Committee that the technical programmes concerned consistently took into account the outcome of all ILO work when establishing priorities for programme development.

* * *

IV. Status of the country objectives

78. Mr. Hoff (Employer Vice-Chairperson) welcomed the overview provided in the Office paper on the status of the country objectives. It would be useful to all constituents, and he urged the Office to complete the exercise of preparing country objectives for all countries. He suggested that the Committee members should lend its support where possible to assist the Office in this task. In conclusion, he emphasized that the preparation of country objectives needed to be followed up immediately by the development of action plans to avoid losing momentum.

79. Mr. Sahbani, speaking on behalf of the Worker members, regretted the fact that the exercise had been completed in only 62 countries, which represented less than half of the total, and asked the Office to explain why work was not foreseen in the Republic of Korea, Myanmar or Singapore.

80. The representative of the Government of Algeria thanked the Office for the information provided. He stressed the importance of the APP in promoting tripartism and considered the country objectives to be a major component of the APP. Like the workers, he felt that it was unfortunate that a large number of exercises were still not completed. This was particularly serious in Africa, which had the largest number of least developed countries and where the impact of structural programmes was widespread. Consequently, he also urged the Office to complete the exercise as soon as possible.

81. The representative of the Government of Saudi Arabia congratulated the Office on the paper. He hoped that the country objectives would be completed in his region as soon as possible, since they would provide the basis for new technical cooperation activities. He urged the Office to continue and if possible to increase support for activities in the Occupied Territories, and stressed the need for regular budget allocations for this purpose.

82. The representative of the Director-General (Mr. Duysens, Chief, Bureau for the Promotion of Active Partnership and Technical Cooperation) observed that the Republic of Korea and Singapore were not among the countries most in need of technical assistance and were seen more as resource countries; there were regular contacts with constituents in those countries. With respect to Myanmar, the status might have more appropriately been given as "not foreseen for the time being".

* * *

V. Implementation of the resource mobilization strategy

83. Mr. Hoff (Employer Vice-Chairperson) asked the Office to adopt more of an accounting approach in the next update, providing figures on amounts mobilized, the sources of funding and programmes financed.

84. Mr. Sahbani, speaking on behalf of the Worker members, inquired about the status of the agreement with the European Union.

85. Mr. Beye (Employer member) congratulated the Office on the information provided in response to the Committee's concerns. He welcomed the increase in UNDP contributions and inquired about the status of the marketing efforts which had been mentioned during earlier discussions.

86. The representative of the Government of Germany also inquired about the status of the EU agreement. He was concerned that in another document before the Governing Body(1)  questions were raised which seemed to contradict the objectives of the resource mobilization strategy and which, moreover, might discourage donors from contributing to the technical cooperation programme.

87. The representative of the Director-General (Mr. Trémeaud, Assistant Director-General) replied that it was the Office's intention to report regularly on resource mobilization, including statistical information. With respect to the agreement with the European Union, he informed the Committee that there had been new and unforeseen developments. Although the ILO had been earlier informed that signature of the agreement was imminent, it was now expected that the European Commission would soon indicate that the same conditions for cooperation would be applied to all partners and that there would be no separate agreements with the UN and its agencies.

88. Concerning the marketing strategy, he advised the Committee that the Deputy Director-General responsible for relations with the UN system organizations and the Bretton Woods institutions had been assigned the responsibility for preparing an overall public relations strategy. The marketing strategy would be pursued within that framework. Finally, on the question regarding the overall resource mobilization strategy, he indicated that the Committee had expressed its view in November; the questions referred to in document GB.271/5 to which the representative of the Government of Germany had referred were to be considered by the Governing Body.

* * *

VI. Report of the Working Party on the Evaluation
of the Active Partnership Policy

89. The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms. A.C. Diallo (Government, Senegal), introducing the item, stressed its importance. She recalled that it was the result of the Governing Body's decision of March 1997.

90. In order to carry out the evaluation, the Working Party had examined a large number of documents and reports relating to the APP, had held meetings with ILO officials in Geneva and, most importantly, had undertaken field missions to ILO member States in four regions: Ethiopia and Côte d'Ivoire; Brazil and Peru; Pakistan and Thailand; Hungary and Ukraine. Each mission had comprised of three members of the Working Party.

91. In line with the terms of reference established by the Governing Body, the Working Party had focused on the following assessment issues:

(a) Has the Active Partnership Policy brought the ILO closer to its tripartite constituency in member States?
(b) Have the constituents been increasingly involved in joint action with the ILO?
(c) Have the coherence and quality of technical services provided to the constituents been enhanced?

92. After the mission, the members of the Working Party had met in Geneva during November 1997 and January 1998.

93. The Office had prepared regional reports which were sent to all the members of the Working Party for comment and observations. Following the format agreed in November 1997, and on the basis of comments received from members of the evaluation team, the Office had prepared for the January meeting a factual synthesis document with conclusions and observations provided by the members of the Working Party themselves.

94. In January 1998 the Employers' and Workers' groups had provided a paper as their contribution to the final report. Given the workload and the nature of the issues involved, it had not been possible for the Working Party to arrive at fully definitive conclusions to enable finalization of a report within the time allotted; the Office undertook to prepare the present report(2)  which attempted to capture a number of salient points for consideration by the Committee.

95. In order to facilitate the Committee's work, the following issues had been raised for further discussion:

1. Country objectives

2. Field structure

3. Increasing visibility of the ILO

4. Training

5. Review and evaluation of the APP

96. The Chairperson looked forward to a constructive discussion and hoped that the Committee would be able to guide the Working Party with recommendations on corrective or new measures that need to be adopted to ensure that this important ILO policy functioned smoothly, efficiently and effectively. It was also necessary to determine the direction for the future, as the Working Party had not quite completed its work.

97. The Employer Vice-Chairperson had found the evaluation exercise inspiring, interesting and a positive learning process on the practical aspects of the ILO's work. He thanked the Office and others concerned in facilitating the work of the Working Party both in the field and at headquarters. The evaluation exercise had been a difficult task considering the limited resources available and the tight time-frame.

98. He cautioned the Committee not to expect a scientific report, but rather some practical impressions on the implementation of the APP based on the terms of reference. The report represented issues, problems and successes in the implementation of the APP as observed by the Working Party. It presented a reasonably good picture of the present status and contained a good list of the main issues.

99. The Working Party had carried out its work enthusiastically. The Employers and Workers had been in an advantageous position, since they had more time than some Government members, and here he referred to the draft text in Appendix III, which represented both the Employers' and Workers' position. The paragraphs highlighted in italics could form the basis for discussions and should form the basis for a follow-up action plan.

100. The Working Party had found enthusiasm in the field for the APP among the social partners and ILO staff. Many of those interviewed felt that the ILO had done something different and positive in promoting ILO technical cooperation and bringing the ILO closer to the constituents. The Employers therefore felt that the APP was a positive and useful instrument. It provided the ILO with useful tools for initiating programmes which were demand-driven and in which the social partners were involved. The APP had contributed to a large extent to greater visibility for the ILO in places where it was already present with area offices, MDTs and regional offices. However, these were not found in all member States. Since the Working Party had not visited any of those countries, it could not determine the level or extent of the ILO's impact in such countries.

101. As the ILO faced a problem in terms of its capacity and resources to carry out its programmes and achieve the APP's objectives, he cautioned that it should not spread itself too thinly. He gave the example of a gender specialist in Abidjan who handled 53 countries, and wondered how she could be effective at the country level. The field management structure and its relation to headquarters was complex. In order to improve the management situation, the Office needed to streamline communications, contacts and relations between headquarters, the regional offices, area offices and MDTs. The field structures and staff seemed rather distant from headquarters, but strong support for the APP and motivation were observed among them. The Governing Body might establish a permanent role to ensure contact with the practical reality of the ILO's work.

102. Finally, he recommended that the Working Party's task force continue with consultations and dialogue with headquarters staff and that the final report of the Working Party be presented to the Committee at the Governing Body's session in November.

103. The Worker Vice-Chairperson associated himself with the comments and sentiments of the Employers and thanked all those in the field and headquarters who had facilitated the work of the Working Party. Paragraphs 1 to 5 were useful not only to understand the issues and background to the mandate given to the Working Party, but also to better appreciate Appendix III to the report, which represented the joint position of the Employer and Worker members.

104. He recognized the value of the evaluation exercise and suggested that the evaluation of ILO activities and in particular the APP should be a continuous process. The Workers' group believed that the APP was an essential vehicle for promoting tripartism and Convention No. 144, and that every effort should be made to implement the APP, particularly at the country level.

105. As regards the country objectives, the exercise had not yet been completed in a very large number of countries. He urged that the exercise continue and reflect the concerns of all the social partners, as highlighted in paragraph 2 of Appendix III.

106. The APP reflected the general and basic values of the ILO in areas of democracy and human rights, employment, workers' rights and poverty, and the ILO should accord greater attention to those values, as stated in paragraph 3 of Appendix III.

107. Despite the limited resources available, the ILO should ensure the equitable allocation of these resources to all ILO structures in order to meet the needs of constituents.

108. Due to the many constraints, the Working Party had been unable to complete its work and finalize the report, as required by the terms of reference set out in paragraph 7 of Appendix II. In order to provide a balanced analysis of the APP, the Working Party needed to have consultations at headquarters, after which a final report could be presented at the November session of the Governing Body. He hoped the comments and views of the Government members would support this position.

109. The representative of the Government of Mexico, on behalf of the Government members, fully supported the Working Party's work on the evaluation of the APP. He welcomed the opportunity to discuss the interim report of the Working Party prior to its finalization, and felt that it would strengthen the final report. In his view the final report should be based on the results of the discussions in the Committee. The issues were complex and required considerable time for reflection. While thanking the Workers' and Employers' groups for their contribution, he called for a consensus report reflecting the views and concerns of the governments and of the social partners. The report by the Office offered a very good basis addressing a number of important issues, especially those in Section C.

110. He emphasized that technical cooperation was extremely important to achieve the ILO's objectives; that the APP had been developed to make technical assistance more effective by decentralizing some technical capacity to the field and thus bringing the Organization and its services closer to constituents.

111. Issues such as programme development, the allocation of resources, administrative and other internal procedures should be addressed by other appropriate bodies. The Working Party should limit the scope of its action to the terms of reference provided by the Governing Body.

112. The Working Party should continue to contribute to improve the delivery of technical assistance to constituents, and he invited the Office to carry on evaluation exercises using appropriate methodology.

113. The representative of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran felt that the Office document correctly reflected the background and terms of reference of the evaluation exercise. However, paragraphs 8 and 9 of the report did not fully convey all the efforts made by the Working Party in conducting the interviews and drafting individual and regional group findings and written inputs for the final conclusions.

114. Section B of the Office report had drawn on various papers presented to the Working Party and had presented a remarkable list of findings. Although there had been some disagreements within the Working Party on some of the issues, the compilation and the report would facilitate the Committee's discussion. Further discussion in the Working Party was necessary, particularly on paragraphs 26 and 32. Section C and Appendix III also needed finalization through a tripartite sitting of the Working Party.

115. As for the future work of the Working Party, it could not be carried out unless clear directions were given by the Committee and progress was made on drafting the conclusions of the previous exercise. He hoped that the Working Party would be able to finalize a set of recommendations to be presented at the November session of the Governing Body. He thanked members of the regional and area offices and the social partners of Pakistan and Thailand for their support and interest and the cooperation that was extended to the Working Party during the field missions.

116. Mr. Anand (Employer member) congratulated the Office on the report, characterizing it as a valiant and genuine attempt to comply with their obligations, and reminded the Committee that the ultimate objective of the Working Party was to improve the APP. The field study done so far was almost exclusively confined to MDT and area office operations, without any opportunity for a conceptual review of the policy itself or analysis of headquarters support for the APP.

117. The MDTs in many cases would have no direct contact with the social partners on technical matters, and recruitment policies should be reviewed. He proposed that headquarters should play a greater role in promoting exchanges of experience and best practices and in strengthening the capacity of MDTs, and called for greater coordination between headquarters and the field structures in programme development and implementation. In this context, he stressed the importance of the ownership aspect of the programmes, and encouraged the Office to develop and implement workplans in consultation with constituents and to also involve ministries other than ministries of labour.

118. He emphasized the importance of resource mobilization for follow-up action programmes and of the equitable allocation of RBTC resources in the field. The emphasis on seminars in prestigious settings should be reduced in favour of more rural, informal or community educational institutions. He thanked the Bureaux for Employers' and Workers' Activities for their support to the joint draft contained in Appendix III; the Working Party should continue its work in order to arrive at commonly agreed conclusions. He expressed thanks to members of the Regional and Area Offices in Thailand and Pakistan for their support during the missions undertaken by the Working Party.

119. The representative of the Government of Canada expressed the interest of the governments of the Americas region in the evaluation process. Many factors, some of which were external to the ILO, affected the success of active partnership. The evaluation was a valuable contribution to its implementation, but was not a professional evaluation. A number of issues had been identified, but they were complex and required considerable analysis and reflection, and hence more time was required to reflect. More rigorous examination and professional evaluations were needed to explore those issues and to reach verifiable conclusions. Conclusions reached by the Working Party could thus only be of a tentative nature and identify areas for further investigation. It was tempting to comment on the APP as a whole, but the three specific areas of focus in the terms of reference for the Working Party were clear, and this should be borne in mind when preparing the final report.

120. She praised the quality and dedication of the field staff, who were committed to the APP and one of the key factors in its success. They were invaluable as a source of reference as to what was working and what the problems were, including practical suggestions for improvement. She expressed gratitude for their assistance, hospitality and substantive contributions to the deliberations. The ILO's constituents generally responded very favourably to the new policy, with greater consultation and involvement in the planning and implementation of technical services. The Active Partnership Policy was the right one for constituents.

121. The key question, and the most complex to answer, was whether the coherence and quality of technical services had been enhanced. That would require further evaluation, including a professional evaluation with recognized methodology and indicators. A number of key factors were outlined by the Working Party, including the country objectives, the relationship between the various field structures, and communications between headquarters and the field structure. Although the Working Party had had some insights, there was a need for continued examination. She stressed the importance of the country objectives as a process involving constituents and hence helping to achieve one of the objectives of the APP, and as a way of formulating a disciplined programming framework that was based on the global policies and values of the ILO, as well as the priority needs of constituents. The effort needed to improve this exercise was fully warranted, and a key element in contributing positively to the three questions posed in paragraph 7 of the Office paper. The Working Party would continue to work to raise the significant issues relating to the evaluation and to draw conclusions and make recommendations.

122. The representative of the Government of the United Kingdom welcomed the conclusion of the Working Party that the multidisciplinary approach to technical cooperation had become more relevant to the needs of its constituents. He suggested that the final report contain details of how constituents' needs had been assessed and how the multidisciplinary approach had affected the output of the MDTs. He also requested further information on the impact of the MDTs on the multidisciplinary planning process. He shared the doubts expressed regarding the terms of reference of the Working Party and the evaluation process adopted. Although the report highlighted a number of important issues, it did not allow for an unqualified endorsement of the Active Partnership Policy. The Office should devise clearer internal procedures for evaluation. Donors would be willing to assist in the establishment of a separate monitoring and evaluation unit for this purpose. He supported periodic reviews of the MDTs and of their objectives in relation to the needs of constituents, and the terms of reference of such reviews should be made available in advance.

123. The representative of the Government of Italy supported the statement by the representative of the Government of Mexico and appreciated the clarity of the report. He expressed similar appreciation for the draft report by the Workers' and Employers' groups, and emphasized that the Working Party had a difficult task as it was a first experiment. The immediate measures to be taken were the readjustment of the MDTs' workplans, their composition, and strengthening and redistribution of resources. Training was essential, and measures needed to be taken by headquarters to provide proper training for officials going to the field. Although he did not recommend a full-scale repetition of the tripartite evaluation missions, he urged continued, effective evaluation of the APP.

124. The representative of the Government of Austria had been rather sceptical when the Working Party was established. The most important institutions for the implementation of active partnership were those belonging to the Office. The APP was subject to the control and judgement of the Office, which would ensure its success, making available the necessary material and human resources as rapidly as possible. He was disturbed by the findings of the Working Party that available resources were not sufficient, that many MDT posts had not been filled and that adequate expertise was not always available. Contact between the central bodies left much to be desired. He appealed to the Office to concentrate on the smooth functioning of the MDTs, and suggested that periodic reviews by the Working Party would be appropriate.

125. The representative of the Government of Egypt stated that the Active Partnership Policy was extremely important, taking its principles from the origins of the Organization and its constituents. She attached great importance to the external evaluation of the policy. A key element of the policy was the country objectives, and the process should be completed in all countries. She urged the MDTs to take into account the objectives and needs of constituents. The regional offices were not sufficiently equipped to take into account all of the needs. Particular attention should be paid to the area office staff through the appointment of experienced staff. Periodic review of the MDTs should result in the redistribution and redeployment of team members, the filling of vacant posts and the use of local experts, particularly in the MDT responsible for North Africa and Sudan. Additional resources should be allocated from the regular budget to reinforce activities in the field. As there were problems in cooperation and communication between headquarters and the field, greater importance should be attached to consultations between the regional teams and headquarters, especially when implementing projects and programmes designed at headquarters. She encouraged the Working Party to set up an internal evaluation group which would complement the work of the Working Party through consultations with constituents. That group would report back to the Governing Body and could be a more efficient and less costly approach to future evaluations.

126. The representative of the Government of Finland expressed full support for the statement by the representative of the Government of Mexico. The APP was only 5 years old; it was necessary to wait for some more time before assessing its real impact. She quoted from the Governing Body paper concerning the preliminary consultation on the Programme and Budget proposals for 2000-2001, which stated that "while there appears to be a consensus that the APP has already brought about significant improvements in operational activities, sufficient experience has now been accumulated to adjust and streamline it for the future". The report before the Committee was very rich in its findings, providing a good basis for further work, and it was important to finalize the report and to give clear indications of what should be done in the future. The current exercise should be seen as a first step in a continuing evaluation process.

127. Consistency was required in the ILO's approach towards individual donor countries and a database was needed of funding proposals. Access to such a database by the field structure would be invaluable in their efforts to raise funds. She inquired whether the country objectives were disseminated to other international organizations working in the same countries. Referring to recent UN reforms, she remarked that enhanced coordination at the country level would make the technical cooperation programme more manageable for the recipient countries and improve the ILO's visibility.

128. Mr. Rampak (Worker member) criticized the Government group for continuously raising the terms of reference of the evaluation, as outlined in paragraph 7 of the document, instead of moving forward together with the Workers' and Employers' groups who, in spite of their differences, had reached a consensus on the report in Appendix III. Commenting on some of the central issues in Appendix III, he emphasized the importance of improved communication between the different entities in the field as well as between field units and headquarters.

129. Expressing concern at the fact that there were 16 vacancies in the MDTs, some of which had been vacant for several years, he remarked that if that was due to problems in moving staff from headquarters to the field, the ILO should consider recruiting local expertise to fill such vacancies. He also referred to cases where governments did not accept ILO officials of certain nationalities, and urged those States to lay aside this form of thinking and concentrate on the assistance the ILO offices could render them in supporting and promoting core labour standards. Although 60 per cent of the world's population lived in Asia there were fewer MDTs there compared with the other regions.

130. The representative of the Government of Poland associated himself fully with the Government group statement. The APP was the most useful tool for the implementation of the ILO's goals and principles in all member countries. He emphasized the urgent need to strengthen the field offices in Central and Eastern European countries in terms of professional and administrative staff as well as financial resources. That would improve the ILO's visibility as well as practical inputs in the region. This should be done by a transfer of resources from some of the existing branch offices to the newly created area offices in Central and Eastern Europe.

131. The representative of the Government of Peru expressed support for the Government group statement. His Government had welcomed the visit of the Working Party to Peru. The presence of the ILO, which had provided assistance in developing Peruvian labour legislation and labour relations in several areas, was highly appreciated.

132. The representative of the Government of Brazil associated herself with the statement by the Government group and referred to her country's positive experience of the APP. With respect to the MDT, however, she regretted that many contacts with the MDT members were only of a superficial nature and attributed that partly to the long distances between the MDTs and the field stations. She recommended the constant training and updating of team members in order to enable them to provide more profound advisory services. There was a need for a more concrete evaluation of the APP, rather than an evaluation of the general policy.

133. The representative of the Government of Germany stated that a number of constituents in Eastern European countries had not yet agreed to the formulation of country objectives as part of the overall APP. Taking into account the limited resources for technical cooperation, he wondered whether cooperation should not primarily be provided to countries that had demonstrated a clear will to work together with the ILO by setting priorities through the country objectives exercise.

134. The representative of the Government of the United States associated herself with the statement by the Government group, and felt that Appendix III still left open a number of questions. She explicitly supported the general idea of focusing the ILO's activities on the priorities reflected in the country objectives. There was a need for close relations with other international organizations, and in particular with the UNDP, as that would avoid duplication of activities at the field level. There was also a need for an ongoing examination and a more professional approach to evaluating the APP.

135. The representative of the Government of France associated herself with the statement by the Government group. As regards the composition of the MDTs, greater account should be taken of the outcome of the country objectives exercises and the specific requirements of the regions. The ILO should also adjust its resources accordingly to the existing workload of the field offices and promote mutual understanding of each other's responsibilities.

136. Mr. Trotman (Worker member) supported the remarks made by the Worker Vice-Chairperson. He suggested that the Office should assess the level of its assistance in countries where the APP framework was not supported. He accepted that there would be some limitations in the final report because of time and sample constraints, but hoped that it would give sufficient information to fuel further work. It was important to ensure that the country objectives accurately reflected the priorities of those they served, and the Working Party might review the concerns of the sample countries in relation to the priorities contained in the country objectives; the report should provide information on the number of unfilled posts; it should reflect the extent to which there was an absence of critical expertise required to serve the needs of constituents; and it would be useful, if possible, to include information on national follow-up on projects once ILO support had terminated.

137. The representative of the Government of China expressed appreciation for the constructive work done by the Committee and his support for the statement by the Government group. He drew attention to the importance of strengthening the regional and area offices and observed that, because of the shortage of MDT staff, the real needs of constituents were not being met. There should be increased opportunities for the training of local expertise; the MDTs should strengthen their coordination with the regional and area offices, and in order to provide the best advice, should take steps to be carefully attuned to the real situation on the ground.

138. Mr. Robinson (Employer member) congratulated the Working Party on its efforts. The underlying philosophy of the APP was fundamentally sound, and suggested that it should mirror the efforts of enterprises to design products in response to the needs of customers. That strategy led to customer satisfaction, loyalty and profitability. The ILO would also reap those benefits.

139. Pointing to the mixed results in the formulation of the country objectives, he observed that it merited some comment and analysis in the final report. An inventory of best practices would improve the process in the future.

140. Agreeing with the Working Party's observation that the area offices had not been strengthened to deal with the APP, he noted that it also applied to some partner organizations. The quality of output from the area offices and the MDTs would improve if the inputs received from partners improved. With strengthened capacity, the social partners could assess their own needs and priorities more rigorously and avoid the traditional shopping-list approach to the exercise.

141. Commenting on the inadequate numbers of MDT specialists, he suggested the outsourcing of assignments as one way of improving the situation. It would also strengthen local capacity and facilitate the transfer of knowledge. Public relations was an area suitable for outsourcing: the ILO was not sufficiently visible, and there could be a small allocation in programme budgets for promotional work.

142. The representative of the Government of Sweden endorsed the Government group statement. She thought it would be useful to have further information on the effectiveness of the APP as a programme delivery mechanism. She agreed with the representative of the Government of the United Kingdom that the internal evaluation of the APP needed to be complemented by an external evaluation. She supported the recommendation by the Government of Finland that country objectives should be developed in accordance with developments in the UN system as a whole, referring in particular to the Country Strategy Notes. She expressed some disquiet about the reference to competition among agencies and suggested that there should be more constructive ideas for cooperation. She emphasized that the starting-point should be the problems and needs of countries, and there should be appropriate collaboration and division of labour among the agencies to address these needs. She requested information on whether the Office had identified any findings that already required action and, if so, what action it intended to take.

143. The representative of the Government of Hungary commended the report. The APP was important for attaining the ILO's objectives, and he associated himself with the Government group statement and agreed with the representative of the Government of Poland that the APP should be strengthened in their region.

144. The representative of the Government of Guinea thanked the Working Party for its excellent work and the Office for the support it had provided to the exercise. The Committee should consider the report as the framework for reflecting on the future activities to be conducted under the APP. For the Office the report should represent an indicative framework for reflection with a view to improving the quality of activities undertaken.

145. The representative of the Director-General (Ms. Chinery-Hesse, Deputy Director-General) noted that the evaluation of the APP had not been easy. She expressed pleasure that the APP had been assessed by all Committee members who took the floor as a positive policy, which indicated that the Office had taken the right decision in initiating and implementing such an approach. In reply to the question about whether the Office would await the final report of the evaluation before introducing any changes in the APP, she gave assurances that some observations and ideas had already emerged from the field visits of Working Party members and also from the present discussions, which could already form the basis for some refinement of the policy in the interest of efficiency, especially within the context of the programme and budget exercise. Several important issues could be discerned which could inform the ultimate recommendation of the Working Party, as follows:

146. As regards follow-up on the Committee's discussion, a consensus appeared to have emerged for the finalization of the report of the Working Party for presentation to the Committee at the November session of the Governing Body. The Office sought guidance from members on the modalities for accomplishing this task.

147. The Employer Vice-Chairperson thanked the members of the Committee for the high level of interest they had shown in the exercise. It was satisfying to work with the Office in the field of technical cooperation where, in his view, there was a unity of effort. The discussion should conclude with a decision incorporating the following elements: (i) a request for the Working Party to conclude its work and present a final report in November 1998; (ii) because of the great interest, the Working Party should be asked to propose follow-up mechanisms; (iii) the Working Party should be mandated to balance its field visits with discussions with relevant departments at ILO headquarters. He suggested that the Committee might wish to give its agreement in principle to this proposal and the Officers of the Committee could agree on the specific wording of the decision.

148. Mr. Mayaki (Worker Vice-Chairperson) thanked the Committee for their contributions and specifically for their help in taking the work forward. He agreed that the work should be completed by November 1998 and referred to some of the practical modalities that would be needed to accomplish this. He reflected on some of the suggestions that had been made during the discussions concerning what might feasibly be accomplished in the near future, such as improved contact between the MDTs and the social partners and the use of local expertise. Some of the contributions from Government representatives had echoed the concerns contained in the report of the Employer and Worker members as contained in Appendix III. He commended this attitude, which would allow the Committee to finalize its work by November. He agreed with the proposal put forward by the Employer Vice-Chairperson.

149. The representative of the Government of Canada joined with the Worker and Employer members in thanking the secretariat and members of the Committee. She felt that the Working Party would benefit from the broad views expressed. She agreed with the proposal by the Employer Vice-Chairperson to submit a decision to the Governing Body and that the precise wording of the decision could be determined by the Officers of the Committee in consultation with their groups.

150. The Chairperson recapitulated the Committee's agreement that the final report should be completed by November, that the headquarters perspective should be obtained as an input into the final report, and that proposals for follow-up mechanisms should be made. The report would be approved by the Officers on behalf of the Committee and submitted to the Governing Body. The agenda of the Committee at the November 1998 session of the Governing Body would be drafted by the Office after consultation with the Officers, acting on behalf of the Committee.

151. The Officers of the Committee on Technical Cooperation, on behalf of the Committee, agreed on the following:

(a) the Working Party was requested to conclude its work between March and November 1998 and to present its final report to the Committee on Technical Cooperation in November 1998;
(b) during the same period (March-November 1998) the Working Party was requested to examine ILO headquarters role with respect to the APP;
(c) the Working Party was invited to propose follow-up mechanisms.

Geneva, 24 March 1998.

1. GB.271/5, para. 29.

2. GB.271/TC/1.


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

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