ILO/European Union Project: Improving Social Protection and Promoting Employment (2010-2012)

A Brief Introduction

In 2010 The International Labour Organization (ILO) started to implement a European Union- funded project in four low-income countries; Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Honduras. The overall objective of this project is to promote, through a national consensus, an integrated strategy of social protection and employment policies within the development framework of these countries.

Social protection policies, such as social insurance and social assistance, are often developed without taking into account policies to promote employment in the formal and informal sectors. There are however many linkages that enhance the impact of one on the other. Cash transfers can enhance employability and help in promoting participation in the work force. Employment growth can help in funding insurance schemes. Policies can have a larger impact on poverty and vulnerability if they adapted to an integrated strategy of social protection and employment.

The aim of the project is not only to assist in the on-going process of policy formulation regarding social protection and employment. It also aims to identify the linkages between the two policies and how these can mutually reinforce each other. Another objective is to promote specific policies that integrate both, such as the formulation of cash for work schemes that include a social protection component, e.g. covering health. The project will involve close collaboration with government agencies and other national agencies already active in these policy areas.

As regards social protection, a Social Protection Expenditure Review will be carried out in some of the countries to determine current and future costs of existing programmes of social insurance and social assistance, including cash transfers. This review will be followed by a Social Budgeting Review to determine fiscal space in the government budget available to continue funding in the future, and to define the need for donor funding. Thirdly, assistance will also involve identifying a Social Floor consisting of a minimum package of social insurance and social assistance programmes to reduce vulnerability. Such assistance will also include the preparation of cost estimates and the calculation of fiscal space.

In respect of employment policies, the project will assist in promoting a national employment policy, or collaborate in updating and/or revising the existing policy. This will consist of carrying out a review of existing and planned policies affecting employment and underemployment in both the formal and informal sector. The aim will be to base this on the latest available data. This analysis will cover an expenditure review of funded policies such as training and public employment schemes. This will also include an estimate for future funding (government and/or donor) to maintain or expand these programmes. The employment policy review will also include policies that have no, or a limited budget, such as labour market regulation.

A key feature of the project is to contribute to a national consensus on the feasibility and

effectiveness of social protection and employment policies. Workshops and seminars will be organized to discuss the various proposals supported by the project.

The target groups of this project are government officials, including officials from the ministries of labour, agriculture, social protection, finance, planning, health and education. Also included are the development partners, and workers and employers organizations. The final beneficiaries are low income persons, including the elderly, people with disabilities, unemployed, children living in low income households and workers in the informal sector.

Finally, the aim of the project is also to conduct an international campaign and platform for awareness-raising and exchanges of good practice in social protection and employment. A global conference will be organized to exchange experiences and to adopt a proposed framework for integrating social protection and employment policies in low-income countries.