Representatives of the tripartite constituents (government, employer and worker groups) should be involved in the planning and implementation of a DW/NPA. Essentially, a DW/NPA is an instrument with which tripartite constituents and the ILO can identify decent work deficits and agree on priority activities. The ILO can provide technical support for these activities.

The ILO Office has to facilitate the process of developing DW/NPA by:

1. advocating the concept of decent work among tripartite constituents and other social partners;
2. providing tripartite constituents with opportunities to apply the Decent Work Agenda in their national context;
3. providing technical support to tripartite constituents in order to identify decent work deficits and national priorities; and
4. coordinating with the tripartite constituents and technical units in ILO to finalize the country programme.

The way the ILO provides technical support remains unchanged; therefore both tripartite constituents and the ILO will be responsible for playing the roles mutually agreed upon in the work plan. To ensure successful implementation, the tripartite body along with the ILO office should monitor the progress of planned activities.

A national development plan should be regarded as the country’s framework, which defines a government’s current development priorities. The tripartite constituents should review relevant aspects of the national development plan, and seek to identify potential areas where the Decent Work Agenda may fit with the national context. The NPA should identify the programme to be supported by the ILO, which will be conducive for the government to achieve its own goals.

In the process of developing an NPA, on-going ILO activities should be reviewed using the four strategic objectives as an instrument to achieve a balance and focus for these activities in light of the Decent Work Agenda and national priorities. The result of this exercise should be reflected in the NPA, and the fine-tuning of these activities could then constitute a new portfolio of ILO-supported activities.

Except in the cases of the Philippines and Bangladesh, which were selected as locations for the Decent Work Pilot Programme (DW/PP), and which are supported by the Policy Integration Department, other countries have to develop an NPA by utilizing regular allocations for technical cooperation. Ultimately, an NPA is a document that defines ILO-supported activities in terms of the goals of the Decent Work Agenda.

Decent work indicators may be a useful tool through which we can monitor policy impacts at the macro level over a period of time, and identify changes to be made on decent work deficits. Therefore, the adoption of decent work indicators should be considered with a long-term perspective.

In most cases, and from a practical standpoint, a DW/NPA needs to be prepared in line with a national development plan and the constituents’ priorities. Therefore, the most practical approach to developing an NPA should be through tripartite dialogues and through technical consultations with the ILO. Decent work deficits also need to be identified through these discussions. At this stage, any statistical information can be used as supporting data, which can be used to justify the programme/activities planned to address the deficits.

<< Home

Updated by SD.  Approved by SAS.  Last update: 16 June 2003