Background

Decent work is central to efforts to reduce poverty and is a means for achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, provides security in the workplace and social protection for workers and their families, and gives people the freedom to express their concerns, to organize and to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

In this regard, monitoring and assessing progress towards decent work at the country-level is a longstanding concern for the ILO and its constituents. The 2008 Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization details that member States may consider “the establishment of appropriate indicators or statistics, if necessary with the assistance of the ILO, to monitor and evaluate the progress made” (Paragraph II.B.ii.).

In September 2008, the ILO convened an international Tripartite Meeting of Experts (TME) on the Measurement of Decent Work, and consequently, adopted a framework of Decent Work Indicators, based on technical guidance provided by the TME.

In the context of the global financial and economic crisis and the need for a rapid and sustainable recovery, the importance of monitoring and assessing progress on decent work has been magnified. In June 2009, the International Labour Conference adopted the Global Jobs Pact which offers a series of crisis response measures to get people working again, mitigate the effects of unemployment and promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. At the request of the Indonesian tripartite constituents, the ILO is providing support to Indonesia to give effect to the Global Jobs Pact, and monitoring its implementation will be critical to enhance its impact.

In the past, countries have repeatedly called for ILO to support their efforts to monitor and assess progress towards decent work. Now, with funding from the European Union, the project “Monitoring and Assessing Progress on Decent Work (MAP)” works with Government agencies, Workers’ and Employers’ organisations and research institutions to strengthen the capacity to self-monitor and self-assess progress towards decent work. Based on consultations with the Indonesian tripartite constituents and various stakeholders in June 2009, Indonesia has been selected as one of ten countries to participate in the global MAP project.

The 2-day tripartite consultation workshop is one of the initial activities under the MAP project. It will provide an opportunity for national stakeholders to identify Decent Work Indicators for Indonesia which can support the design and monitoring of national development plans, the Decent Work Country Programme and the Global Jobs Pact, as well as to prioritize areas of ILO support to Indonesia under the MAP project.

Aims and expected outcomes of the Workshop

The Workshop provides a platform for policymakers, statisticians, representatives of Workers’ and Employers’ organizations and other stakeholders in Indonesia to:

• Discuss the ILO’s framework for monitoring decent work;
• Identify Decent Work Indicators that are relevant for Indonesia and could be used for detailed trends and policy analysis on progress towards decent work in Indonesia;
• Select a subset of priority indicators for the purpose of planning and monitoring (e.g. Indonesia
• Decent Work Country Programme, Global Jobs Pact and Medium-Term Development Plans); and
• Identify priorities for technical support to Indonesia in the collection, dissemination and analysis of decent work statistics under the ILO/EC MAP Project.

Format and technical themes of the Workshop

A number of technical themes will be discussed in plenary sessions and during parallel technical working groups, including:

• The ILO framework for measuring decent work;
• The implementation of the Global Jobs Pact and the relevance of monitoring decent work indicators;
• The Indonesia statistical system and requirements for strengthening Decent Work Indicators; and
• Supporting the enhanced planning and monitoring of national programmes, policies and plans through decent work indicators.

Participants

The meeting targets policymakers from the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), representatives from the Employers Association of Indonesia (Apindo) and the trade unions, and statisticians from Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Each organization or agency should be represented by 3-4 officials in order to facilitate technical discussion during the parallel technical working groups.