The Political Agenda to Mainstreaming Employment in Africa's Development Strategies
by Dr. Maxwell M. Mkwezalamba
Commissioner for Economic Affairs, African Union
1.0 Background
1. Unemployment and underemployment continue to be pressing economic and social issues in both developed and developing countries. High levels of employment are believed to be one of the most direct channels to achieve economic growth and reduce poverty. In general, unemployment and underemployment are considered to be, among others, the direct causes of poverty in Africa and the rest of the world. According to the available statistics, the average rate of unemployment in 2003 was around 10.5 per cent in Africa. The trend over the past decades shows that unemployment in Africa has not significantly improved over the past 10 years.
2. It should be noted that the current process of globalisation presents both challenges and opportunities for Africa. However, this has so far marginalised the Continent in a manner that exacerbates problems of poverty, unemployment and even underemployment. Social and economic policies should aim at addressing these challenges if the Continent is to reduce poverty by half by 2015.
3. The general level and rate of unemployment (both indices of poverty levels) are very high in Africa, with the youth and women being the most adversely affected groups. The unemployed also include university graduates, school leavers and dropouts, and highly skilled and experienced professionals. This has been one of the causes of the serious net brain drain experienced by the Continent.
4. The major ramifications associated with unemployment, particularly youth unemployment could be explosive and be a source of civil and social unrest. Recently, the world witnessed unparalleled demonstrations by the youth in France on issues of employment. Africa is no exception to such social upheavals if no effort is made to remedy the unemployment question.
2.0 The Role the African Union: The Ouagadougou Declaration, Plan of Action and Follow-Up Mechanism
5. A Decision was taken at the 2nd Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government in Maputo, Mozambique, in July 2002 requesting the African Union Commission to convene an Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation. Following this Decision, an Extraordinary Summit was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in September 2004, specifically to address the challenges of poverty, unemployment and underemployment in the Continent. During this Extraordinary Summit, a Declaration, Plan of Action and Follow-up Mechanism were adopted, calling upon Member States to place employment at the centre of their economic and social policies.
6. The Plan of Action provides key objectives and guidelines for Member States to formulate their own mechanisms based on their national needs and specificities. Its primary objective is to reverse the current trends of pervasive and persistent poverty, unemployment, and under-employment in the Continent. The key priority areas of the Plan of Action include:
i. Ensuring political leadership and commitment to create an environment of good governance for investment;
ii. Promotion of the agricultural sector, infrastructure and rural development;
iii. Development of an appropriate framework for integration and harmonization of economic and social policies;
iv. Improving and strengthening the existing social protection schemes and extending them to workers currently excluded;
v. Empowerment of women by integrating them into labour markets and to enable them to participate in development of national policies;
vi. Capacity building for public and private institutions dealing with employment promotion;
vii. Allocation of adequate resources to sectors which can generate more jobs;
viii. Building international cooperation to enhance international support on the employment agenda;
ix. Promotion of regional and economic cooperation among the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in order to expand intra and inter regional trade;
x. Targeting and empowering vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, aged persons and working poor, among others; and
xi. Mobilization of resources at national, regional and international levels.
7. The Follow-Up Mechanism outlines the modalities of assessing and evaluating progress being made in the implementation of the Plan of Action. It also designates the Member States and the RECs as the principals responsible for implementation of the Plan of Action. Achievement of this agenda will require the support of international partners in adopting clear policies aiming at increasing support for employment agenda within the context of the African Union and its New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) programme. The Summit mandated the African Union (AU) to coordinate the follow-up mechanisms and evaluate the implementation of the Declaration and Plan of Action at the Continental level.
3.0 What Has Been Done to Date?
3.1 Consultative meeting with the RECs and cooperating partners
8. In pursuing its mandate, the AU with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Office and some United Nations (UN) agencies convened a consultative meeting with the RECs and cooperating partners to popularize the Summit outcomes. The meeting was aimed at strengthening and enhancing cooperation of the African Union Commission (AUC), ILO and the RECs on the follow-up to the Ouagadougou Declaration. The meeting adopted the following:
(i) Guidelines to Member States and RECs to follow up on the Declaration;
(ii) A reporting format; and
(iii) A roadmap for immediate actions.
3.2 The Fourth Ordinary Session of Labour and Social Affairs Commission
9. The African Union convened its Fourth Ordinary Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission in Cairo, Egypt, from 22 to 27 April, 2006. It was during this session that the AU presented its first biennial report on the status of the implementation of the Plan of Action for the promotion of employment and poverty alleviation since its adoption in Ouagadougou in 2004.
10. The AU report alludes to the efforts made both by African countries and international partners in addressing the challenges facing employment. At regional level, the AU is placing additional resources to implement and follow-up the Ouagadougou Summit Decisions. This is being jointly supported by the Governments of Sweden and Norway and in collaboration with ILO, UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), RECs and Member States. Further, the AU Commission and the ILO have created a Joint Task Force comprising the AUC, the ILO and other partners for strategic purposes to assist the Commission in following-up the Ouagadougou Summit Decisions.
11. The Declaration on Financing Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa to the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Development issued at the end of the meeting, among others:
Calls for holistics strategies to be developed on the need to promote faster, sustained, and employment intensive growth;
Requests Ministers of Finance, Planning and Development, in consultation with Labour/Employment Ministers, social partners and other national stakeholders to continue to mainstream employment into national development strategies, especially at the macroeconomic , social and political levels;
Recommends strengthening mechanisms of social dialogue at national level in order to provide a mechanism for achieving synergies, especially in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of national economic and social development goals;
Calls uponMember States to makeannual budgetary allocations towards employment creation and poverty reduction;
Calls upon the Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Development to take into account the fact that the creation of decent work remains the decisive instrument for addressing poverty on a sustainable basis;
Requests the Conference of ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to develop mechanisms of ensuring that Member States, RECs, and international organizations are facilitated to enable them adequately address poverty and employment, with the Ouagadougou Summit commitments being the benchmarks;
Recommends the scaling -up of social-sector expenditures in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
Proposes greater synergy between Finance, Planning and economic Development Ministries and Labour, Employment and Social Affairs Ministries towards deepening national capacity to address the challenges of unemployment while recognizing the unique institutional competencies of labour ministries; and
Recommends that international organizations, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the UN system align and harmonize their actions in line with the recommendations of the World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization.
3.3 Identification of priority areas within the Plan of Action for implementation in 2006
12. With regard to the Plan of Action, the African Union has identified three priority areas to be implemented by the end of 2006. These are the following:
Analysis and advocacy for setting up integrated employment promotion policies and programmes to cover all sub-regions of the Continent;
Undertaking studies and organising a workshop on the informal sector in Africa and how it contributes to employment creation and poverty alleviation; and
Exploring the possibility of a social protection mechanism in Africa.
3.4 African Plenary on Poverty Reduction Strategies and the Millennium Development Goals
13. The African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), jointly organized a High Level African Plenary on Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) and the MDGs in Cairo, Egypt, from March 26- 28, 2006. The Plenary was attended by Ministers and Senior Officials from ministries of Finance, Planning and Development and Social Sectors. The Plenary was also attended by international partners.
14. Discussions during the Plenary revealed that many African countries are aligning their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) to the Ouagadougou Summit outcomes. The Plenary emphasized that Africa's efforts to achieve the MDGs would be hampered unless it generated higher rates of broad-based growth; improved ownership, leadership and accountability in the formulation and execution of its development programs; developed integrated capacity building strategies for the implementation of PRSPs; and worked with donor partners to design an aid architecture that reduces transactions costs and supports the implementation of national policy priorities as reflected in PRSPs.
3.5 Commitments by Member States
15. It can be argued that the Ouagadougou Summit led to the setting in motion of a number of activities in various countries. These activities ranged from ministerial meetings, consultative meetings, dissemination seminars and media coverage to put in place follow-up implementation committees. To date, implementation mechanisms have been put in place in a number of countries, or where tripartite or tripartite-plus structures already existed, they have been revitalized. In addition,a number of governments in Africa are taking initiatives to place employment at the centre of economic and social policies.
16. The following are among the achievements made by some of the countries:
i. The President of theRepublic ofMalihas made youth employment as his first national priority;
ii. The Government ofGhana's 2006 budget entitled "Investing in People, Investing in Jobs" 1.5 trillioncedis - or approximately 110 million dollars- fora National Youth Employment Programme;
iii. The World Bank and the ILO are currently working inEthiopiato design appropriate and effective employment and labour market policies, with the aim of designing a three-year poverty reduction plan which will consider job creation as a coreelement and as key to poverty alleviation;
iv. Gabonhas made employment a nationalpriority;
v. Chadhas prepared a post-Summit national action plan on employment;
vi. In Madagascar, a national plan for employment promotion has been adopted and a national committee for employment promotionand poverty reduction has been established;
vii. In Tanzania, the president has directed the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development to identify potential areas that would hasten the creation of over a million jobs annually; and
viii. In Uganda, the government, through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has formulated a National Action Plan on Youth Employment.
4.0 Way Forward
4.1 Consultative Meetings
17. The AUC is planning to organize a number of consultative meetings at sub-regional level aimed at popularizing the Summit outcomes and enhancing cooperation of the Member States on the follow-up to the Ouagadougou Declaration. The meetings will involve: (i) Ministers of Trade and Industries, Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning, and Ministers of Labour and Social Welfare; (ii) Employers organizations; and (iii) Trade Unions.
18. The following are the proposed venues and dates for the meetings:
Southern Africa : Windhoek, Namibia, May 15- 17, 2006;
West Africa : Abuja, Nigeria, July 19- 21, 2006;
Central Africa : Brazzaville, Congo, September 5- 7, 2006;
Eastern Africa :Khartoum, the Sudan, September 26- 28, 2006;
North Africa :Tunis, Tunisia, October 3- 5, 2006.
4.2 Implementation of key priority areas
19. In addition, the key priority areas of the Plan of Action identified by the African Union will be implemented in 2006. These are the following
Analysis and advocacy for setting up integrated employment promotion policies and programmes covering all the sub-regions;
Studies and a workshop on the informal sector in Africa and how it contributes to employment creation and poverty alleviation; and
Exploring the possibility of a social protection mechanism in Africa.
4.3 Monitoring the achievement of the MDGs
20. The African Union Commission in collaboration with Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and the ECA will develop a mechanism for monitoring progress toward the achievement of the MDGs in Africa. As mandated by the AU Assembly in July 2005 in Sirte, Libya, the AUC will submit regular progress reports on the attainment of the MDGs by African countries to AU Summits for political guidance.
4.4 Establishment of a Statistical Unit
21. Given the need to have reliable, timely and quality statistics, the African Union Commission will continue with its work on setting-up a Statistical Unit within the Commission to collect, analyse and harmonize statistics in Africa. In doing this, it will work closely with the Member States, the RECs, the ECA and the African Development Bank. In addition, the African Union will advocate for reliable, timely and quality statistics in Africa.
5.0 Conclusion
22. The fundamental issue in dealing with labour markets is the creation of more, well paid and decent jobs. The experience has been that formal sectors provide limited number of jobs while informal sectors usually face the challenge of low earning and low productivity. Incentives and conducive environment for investment remain a challenge in many African countries. In order to face the challenges of unemployment, poverty, and underemployment, the African Union wishes to lay emphasis on the following points:
i. Members States should formulate their national budgetary allocations towards employment creation and poverty reduction;
ii. Employment issues must be mainstreamed in PRSs and national development strategies;
iii. In achieving the MDGs, social sector expenditures need to be scaled up;
iv. Greater cooperation is needed among Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Labour and Vocational Training, Trade and Industry, and Employment and Social Affairs towards deepening national capacity to address challenges of unemployment;
v. Countries that have not yet done so must put to good use the Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action and start implementing them immediately;
vi. There is need to develop an appropriate framework for integration and harmonization of economic and social policies;
vii. Women must be integrated in labour markets and participate in development of national policies;
viii. There is need to target and empower vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, aged persons and working poor, among others; and
ix. Partners should align their programmes with the Ouagadougou Declaration and Action Plan.