SECOND MEETING OF THE WORKING GROUPS OF THE OEA/Ser.L/XIX.VI.2XIII INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS CIMT/GT1-GT2/doc.21/05OF LABOR (IACML) 5 April 2005April 11-13, 2005 Original: SpanishBuenos Aires, Argentina

PROGRESS REPORT ON HORIZONTAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES

Leonardo Neves, Senior Technical Coordinador of the Project ILO-IACML, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, ILO

Word Document Presentation (ppt)

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATESInter-American Council for Integral Development

(CIDI)

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICEProject: Principles and Rights at Work in the Context of the XIII Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour of the

Organization of American StatesIACML ProjectIFP / DeclarationIFP / Social Dialogue_____________________________________________________________________

FIRST MEETING OF WORKING GROUP 2 XIII INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF LABOUR

OF THE ORGANISATION OF AMERICAN STATESWASHINGTON, May 11-14 2004

LABOUR ADMINISTRATION IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROJECT “PRINCIPLES AND RIGHTS AT WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF INTER-

AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF LABOUR OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES”

I. INTRODUCTION

Labour Administration is a fundamental issue in regional integration processes, especially in the actions and tasks of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour of the Organisation of American States (IACML-OAS). Strengthening Labour Administration services is extremely important for raising the degree of compliance with labour norms, increasing the effectiveness of employment policies and extending the benefits of social protection to more citizens.

Since the 1990s, the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean has been supporting actions developed by the conference. Since 2000, this support has been channelled through the multilateral technical cooperation project of “Principles and Fundamental Rights at Work in the Context of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour of the OAS,” funded by the United States Department of Labour (USDOL).

In its first phase (September 2000 to March 2002), the Project focused on carrying out assessments of the modernisation of labour administration and labour policies, which proposed analysis and reflection on various technical issues.

As part of the 12th IACML, and within the framework of support for Working Group 2 (which is responsible for the area of “Modernisation of Ministries of Labour: Requirements and Challenges”), the second phase of the Project (September 2002 to March 2004) essentially carried out an entire program of national assessments of the current state of labour administration in certain countries of the Americas (Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago). Based on those assessments, it sought to establish agreements and horizontal technical cooperation projects to strengthen the capacity of Ministries of Labour in the region to help them effectively enforce labour laws and standards. Other aspects included the dissemination of information about best practices in labour administration, the promotion of the 1998 ILO Declaration and activities included in the Ottawa Action Plan.

The Project is currently in its third phase, and one of its objectives is to implement activities that lead to the institutional strengthening of Ministries of Labour. To that end, it has been carrying out new assessments (Panama, Saint Lucia and Jamaica).

In particular, as follow-up to the previous phase and directly based on its results, the Project has sought to provide states, based on the assessments and horizontal cooperation, with technical inputs that enable them to carry out their mandate; in other words, it is “seeking appropriate ways of building and/or developing the institutional capacity of the Ministries of Labour.”

Immediate Objective 2 of the project is to develop — through research, consultations and social dialogue — horizontal cooperation agreements and technical cooperation projects that strengthen the capacity of ministries of labour to effectively implement labour laws and labour standards contemplated in the ILO’s Declaration of Principles and Fundamental Rights at Work, as well as other areas of labour administration, to be determined by the members of Working Group 2 of the 13th IACML-OAS.

Last but not least, it should be noted that the project seeks to monitor activities related to the formulation of Labour Administration Action Plans in countries that were the

focus of the labour administration assessments carried out by the corresponding ILO Sub-Regional Offices at the countries’ request. Work has also continued to encourage the signing of horizontal cooperation agreements for exchanging information about successful experiences in the field of labour administration, especially for countries whose labour administration was targeted for a survey in the previous phase and that have developed their action plans.

The Project has thus been working to complete a cycle aimed at improving and strengthening labour administration in countries of the Americas, contributing to the construction of an effective labour administration system in the Americas that will, among other things, ensure enforcement of and respect for the fundamental principles and rights at work.

II. LABOUR ADMINISTRATION IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE IACML-OAS PROJECT

This section describes specific actions carried out in relation to labour administration in the context of the IACML, with support from the ILO-IACML Project. As indicated above, this is mainly based on assessments of the functioning of and services provided by labour administrations, and the preparation and implementation of post-survey Action Plans.

The labour administration assessments used the methodology developed by the ILO’s In Focus Programme for the Promotion of Social Dialogue, Labour Legislation and Labour Administration (IFP/Dialogue), which was adapted for this project.

This methodology, which was designed by the ILO, has already been used in several reasons of the world, including the Americas — in Panama (1995), Haiti (1998) and Bolivia (2000). It grew out of prior experience in technical assistance for labour inspection in Brazil and Chile, where partial assessments were done in the early 1990s.

The assessments prepared make no judgments about specific national legislation or policy, but attempt to analyse the systems for applying these policies and programmes, as well as administrative procedures. The studies include Ministries of Labour and their dependent agencies at both the central and territorial levels, based on the administrative divisions that exist in the countries, as well as other relevant national institutions and authorities, such as the judiciary, training institutes, social security institutions, etc. They also evaluate relationships among social actors — governments, workers and employers — which are fundamental for determining the effectiveness of administrative functions.

In the countries where the ILO assessment methodology was used, the goal was to create a new way of looking at labour, employment and workplace safety policies, to guarantee consistency between technical assistance and realistic possibilities for project and programme management. The idea is to harmonise programmes derived from technical assistance with the capacity of Ministries of Labour to develop public policies based on these experiences and ensure sustainability over time.

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In this context, it is important to analyse administrative aspects related to technical assistance, particularly best practices, requirements, and the ability to absorb technical cooperation and implement and sustain results.1

While the assessments found that labour administrations are different in different countries, there were some common elements.

The following is a summary of the principal results of the five labour administration assessments done during Phase 2 of this Project (Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago), and the three surveys done as part of Phase 3 ( Saint Lucia and Panama). These results are arranged according to the various Labour Administration functions, which also served as the basis for designing the assessment documents submitted to the Ministries.2

General considerations

1. Labour administration budgets represent a tiny fraction of the country’s overall administrative budget, limiting institutional capacity. The Ministries of Labour that were surveyed suffer from significant budget weakness.

2. Certain elements of improvement do not depend directly on larger budget allocations, but are exclusively related to the reorganisation of resources or methods.

3. Other aspects could be improved through better coordination and collaboration among existing services, projects or agencies. For example, this includes everything related to responsibilities that fall under the administration of Social Security.

4. The main problems are related to management, processes, technology and the basic materials with which the ministries operate, as well as training, career tracks and remuneration.

Organisation and Funding

Theoretically, the services respond to the users’ main demands. Nevertheless, it is possible to plan and promote effective improvement in services.

Vertical relationships of authority and dependence need to be clarified, as do the powers of territorial authorities with respect to decentralised agencies or units of the ministries, because in these situations the General Office’s guidance is not clearly perceived. This affects the performance of inspection functions, as well as the implementation of training programmes and other employment services.

The same is true of operational agencies and special programmes, as the latter operate with relative autonomy of goals, procedures and funding in comparison to

1 Best practices are understood as strong points and most effective and efficient services; requirements refers to the need to improve weaknesses and ineffective or inefficient services and remedy shortcomings; ability to absorb technical cooperation refers to the institutional capacity to design change and transfer it to short-, medium- and long-range plans with total or partial external support; and ability to implement and sustain the results of technical cooperation refers to the institutional capacity and political commitment (governmental and from representative social institutions) to implement plans for reform, establish an adequate legal framework and promote appropriate measures and resources.2 Information was also taken from the document, “Labour Administration in the Countries of the XII Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour of the Organisation of American States,” prepared by the project during Phase 2 and presented at the preparatory meeting for the XIII IACML (Brasília, July 2003).

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line agencies. It therefore becomes more important to achieve greater integration with the ministries’ ongoing missions and objectives.

Regional Offices have very few resources. There are cases in which the Regional Labour Office has only one staff member. The personnel do not always have the necessary qualifications. Appointments are often made with no technical criteria. These offices are not very active.

Ensuring that the ministries carry out their functions requires drawing up broad general labour guidelines or policy that will make it possible to define goals, objectives and priority actions to be implemented in coordination with the various labour administration bodies to ensure compliance with labour rights and the effective promotion and/or formalisation of employment.

To varying degrees, depending on the specific situation, management in the ministries requires the implementation of strategic planning processes aimed at establishing objectives, policy criteria, methods and procedures that permit the efficient use of limited budget resources by linking goals, programmes and human and financial resources based on the specific needs and activities of the centralised and decentralised services.

It is necessary to adopt strategic planning methodology that includes broader time frames for the implementation of activities. This implies capacity-building in order to define objectives more precisely, identify activities for achieving them and establish methods for creating indicators of results, so as to ensure monitoring and follow-up of the policies adopted and evaluate their impact.

Workplace and Labour Relations Area

There are notable weaknesses in ensuring appropriate enforcement of norms. It is therefore necessary to improve the functioning of the units responsible for oversight of the application of labour regulations and safety and health at work.

There is a need for extensive review of administrative procedures and reform of prac-tices related to them to ensure greater effectiveness and efficiency in services provided to citizens. Recommendations include analysis of procedures, their usefulness, phases, forms, duration, resources and costs, for both the administration those who use the ser-vices.

There is little dissemination of information about labour regulations as a means of pre-venting conflicts. It would be advisable to implement a national plan for the effective application of labour norms, including campaigns to disseminate information about working and employment conditions established in labour regulations. These activities should be specifically designed for microenterprises and small businesses.

In the area of labour inspection, the principal needs lie in review of supervision and oversight processes, as well as requirements for specialised training of personnel, the computerisation of services, and the adoption of measures that make it possible to de-velop preventive oversight programmes with employers and workers and joint inspec-tion programmes with other autonomous public agencies.

In many cases, there is a need to adopt a Labour Inspection Statute, along with a stat-utory regime for workplace inspectors, to regulate inspection procedures. This should include visits, other inspection actions and procedures for sanctions. There is a need to normalise forms and records, speed up the summary instruction and resolution

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phases, establish an objective-based system for scheduling visits, and set up a system for periodic reporting of the actions of each inspector, each Regional Office and the inspection system.

The inspection system must increase visits, avoiding repetition and reaching more workplaces. Its effectiveness lies above all in its presence — the best entry point for prevention — as well as the quality of its work, which depends on the inspectors’ train-ing and clear guidance from the central office. This office must establish objectives — based on the results to be achieved — with the goal of guaranteeing workers’ rights in a process aimed at gradually ensuring decent work.

Given the lack of resources in the labour administrations surveyed, it may be advisable to opt for a “generalist” inspection model to compensate for the lack of inspecting ca-pacity in every dimension, eliminating distinctions between departments or even of-fices, and training inspectors in all areas subject to inspection.

In both budget planning and the design of inspection policies, it is important to ensure that the necessary conditions exist for carrying out workplace inspections at any hour of the day or night, and to promote the computerisation of inspection processes.

It is equally important to design a national plan for official actions, including prevent-ive actions and impact indicators for evaluating inspection and overall compliance with regulations.

The cases analysed show that it is also important to establish selection requirements and mechanisms for inspectors and promote appropriate professional training, which could be linked to certification of the inspectors’ skills and training in areas in which they fail to qualify in the certification process.

In safety and health at work, there are notable shortcomings in prevention and the oversight of working conditions, as well as limited coverage of the target population. It is crucial to establish linkages among the entities responsible for safety and health at work, with clear definitions of functions, powers and resources, and to promote the participation of social interlocutors.

There is a need for an integrated approach to prevention. Functions are scattered throughout various ministries and sector-based institutions. Reports on workplace acci-dents and occupational illnesses are minimal, and their investigation by the inspection and prevention system is limited to cases of workers who are not enrolled by their em-ployers in the social security system.

This area is extraordinarily deficient. There is a lack of inter-institutional coordination, as is clearly seen in the monitoring of workplace accidents and occupational illnesses. It would also be helpful to establish and sustain a participatory system involving or-ganisations of employers and workers, along with the responsible institutions.

Finally, services aimed at extrajudicial conflict resolution (conciliation, mediation or arbitration) do not obtain the expected results because of shortcomings in procedures. Nevertheless, although they are not widely used, they generally do have a positive ef-fect, reducing transaction costs and time investment for those involved.

It is also noted that officials do not always have appropriate, updated training; for ex-ample, they lack information about jurisprudence. It is crucial that officials who act as conciliators not serve as workplace inspectors too; instead, they should be highly trained in techniques and procedures for conciliation and conflict resolution. It is also important to design a skills certification plan for mediators and conciliators and

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provide training for those who do not qualify in the certification process, so as to en-sure that all personnel are properly certified within the shortest possible time.

Employment Area

There is a lack of job-creation policies and programmes. In general, active policies are reduced to providing workers through Placement Offices. The system is primary and poorly funded, and its potential users are not aware of it or do not use it. There is a need for a series of actions to modernise the system, with appropriate computer pro-grammes and personnel capable of providing guidance to workers seeking employ-ment. Information about the existence of public employment services and how they function must be disseminated among potential users.

In Labour Administrations where there are policies and programmes for creating em-ployment, it is necessary to develop indicators and monitoring systems that make it possible to determine the impact of these programmes on the national economy, as well as the impact of national economic measures on employment in each country.

Employment Offices need databases for recording census information about businesses and employed workers, by economic sector and geographic area. This requires co-ordination with other ministries and services, as well as with the various offices of the Labour Administration itself.

There is also a need to expand the network of job-placement assistance in the Minis-tries of Labour involved in the assessments, so as to making this service more effect-ive, focusing the administration’s action on sectors where need is greatest and develop-ing more modern mechanisms to make public employment services more agile by us-ing information technologies (“electronic job banks”).

Relationships with social interlocutors

The effectiveness of formal opportunities for social dialogue (National Labour Councils or similar bodies) could be improved by expanding participation to a greater variety of organised and representative sectors, as well as through the implementation of consensus-based actions that make it possible to reproduce new opportunities for dialogue at intermediate and territorial levels.

The role of social interlocutors is important not only for ensuring compliance with fundamental principles and rights at work, but also, and especially, for monitoring such compliance.

The lack of permanent institutions for dialogue complicates relations with social interlocutors. It is recommended that the Labour Administration implement actions to promote social dialogue and establish this as a permanent institution.

The Ministry could establish adequate procedures for ensuring consultation, cooperation and negotiation between public authorities and the most representative organisations of employers and workers.

One aspect that could probably be improved is the one that facilitates the recognition of trade union organisations and their representative nature: the trade union registry in both the public and private sector, facilitating access and improving the record-processing system (forms, etc.).

Records often are not computerised, making it difficult to keep information current. The Registry should take into account the classification and types of trade union

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organisations, economic activity, documents of interest and those related to organisational regime. Steps must be taken to ensure the maintenance of the system and the various reports it generates, including: trade union organisations by economic activity, range of dates and status.

Relations with other public agencies

A holistic approach to social protection, which is indispensable aspect of decent work, should lead to the joint use of available measures, such as databases of businesses and workers, as well as the design and implementation of campaigns for increasing records of workers.

Preventive actions related to the risk of workplace accidents and occupational illnesses have an extremely limited scope, and Ministries of Labour lack the capacity to address these issues or ensure oversight. Among agencies responsible for workplace safety and health, it is important to establish a national policy with clear definitions of the functions and powers of each, with appropriate distribution of resources for their implementation, and with the participation of social interlocutors.

Generation of information and analytical capacity

In the area of institution-building, priorities should also focus on the capacity to produce information and the creation of specialised analytical units.

In cases where there is significant production of statistics, these tend not be sufficiently disseminated; as a result, they are not used to provide feedback about management or in the formulation of policy. There is also a need to integrate scattered activities into a strategic plan designed to achieve greater effectiveness in carrying out functions.

There is a need to link existing systems for producing and gathering information with administrative records, statistics resulting from surveys, and results of inspections, con-ciliation or other activities, with a plan for handling, using and disseminating this in-formation.

There is also a need to expand the information gathered into areas that are insuffi-ciently covered or, in some cases, not considered, thus meeting the need for break-downs of information by sex, age and other variables, as well as by business size.

Human and material resources

The ministries generally suffer from a lack of personnel, in a labour situation in which remuneration is low and there are few incentives for promotion or rewards for performance. This increases the risk of not retaining personnel, especially those who are most qualified. Ensuring better working conditions, with attention to stability, a public-service career for officials and adequate remuneration, is necessary if functions are to be assumed properly.

Ongoing updating of knowledge is crucial for maintaining and developing the capacit-ies of ministry personnel. Special attention should be paid to education in emerging is-sues or those of increasing importance for labour administration, such as supervision, oversight and dissemination of information about labour rights in microenterprises and small businesses.

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Material conditions, in many cases, tend to be inadequate and insufficient, especially in territorial units. National agreements are needed to guarantee the financial resources necessary for the ministries to operate normally, as well as significant investment in in-frastructure, with plans for equipment and overhauling of facilities and material, in-cluding remodelling of office space, the use of computers and vehicles, etc.

In the Regional Offices, especially, facilities are inadequate, lacking sufficient furniture, computer equipment and vehicles. Both the staff and the public suffer the consequences.

Areas for attending the public should be improved, with privacy for people who go to the office for consultations or conciliation sessions. Labour Administration employees should also have at least minimal space for carrying out their duties under appropriate conditions.

It is also important to provide Labour Administrations and all their dependencies with on-line communication systems that, besides speeding up and optimising employees’ work, provide employers and workers with access to the various services and informa-tion available. This can be done by installing a central server and a personal computer for each work station and/or official needing it. This will also relieve pressure on re-gional offices, as the only people who visit the offices will be those who must appear in person for some service.

Post-survey activities

The results described above indicate the importance of having access to and using the ILO’s methodology to evaluate labour administration needs with the goal of improving it, and to facilitate the development of a real exchange of good practices among coun-tries, increasing horizontal cooperation in the region. The assessment, therefore, is an initial, fundamental step that should lead to the preparation of a corresponding Action Plan.3

The plan, in turn, serves as a basic guide for the Labour Administration to take actions for improving the quality of the services it provides, institution-building, and the design and implementation of policy. It also serves as a guide for complementary actions through technical assistance projects and/or horizontal cooperation agreements. In this way, technical or horizontal cooperation projects represent possible ways of concretely implementing the activities defined in the Action Plan.

For this process to complete a cycle that ends with the improvement and strengthening of Labour Administrations (survey – action plan – technical or horizontal cooperation), there is a series of basic requirements that must be seriously evaluated by the corresponding Ministries, so as to ensure that these elements are addressed in the course of the process.

3 The formulation of an Action Plan is guided by a chart that contains the following elements: Requirements (needs observed in the survey); National Actions (those that can be implemented by the national Administration with its own means); and Actions in Cooperation (those requiring horizontal cooperation, technical assistance or international cooperation).

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Initiating an assessment requires:

Political will based on the recognition of a need. This is the motivation for the request to the ILO;

Detailed internal analysis of the assessment’s usefulness and evaluation of its possible applications;

Designation of at least one focal point to help carry out the survey at the internal level; this person will be responsible for coordinating development of the action plan internally and with the ILO, if appropriate;

Internal dissemination of information about the assessment’s importance and, if politically advisable, dissemination of information about labour among social actors (involved in the process by the ILO).

Carrying out the survey requires:

The same political will;

Internal transparency and frankness;

Backstopping for the survey mission.

Drawing up the action plan requires:

A focal point;

A detailed study of the proposal and the action plan chart;

An evaluation of the effort required;

A specific request for the support considered necessary;

Remembering that the action plan is an internal process of which the Ministry must take ownership.

Follow-up Actions

As indicated above, during Phase 2 of the Project, five labour administration assessments were carried out using the ILO methodology, with technical supervision by the In Focus Programme for Social Dialogue, Legislation and Labour Administration (IFP/SD) and collaboration and technical assistance from the corresponding ILO Sub-Regional Offices: Ecuador (October/2003), Nicaragua (April/2003), Paraguay (April/2003), Peru (February/2003) and Trinidad and Tobago (April/2003). Three other surveys were carried out during the current phase: Jamaica and Saint Lucia (August/2004) and Panama (November/2004).

With regard to the preparation of action plans by the countries that were the subject of the labour administration assessments, the Ministries of Labour in Peru and Ecuador drew up their corresponding post-survey action plans with support from the ILO Sub-Regional Office for the Andean Countries (SRO-Lima). Both ministries are receiving technical cooperation from another ILO project for institutional strengthening of labour administration (the “Strengthening of Labour Administration Services” Project, known as FORSAT for its Spanish initials4), and their action plans contributed to the definition 4 ILO multilateral technical cooperation project targeting the Ministries of Labour in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, sponsored by Spain’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

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of activities for that project. In other words, the project is implementing certain actions that were initially identified in the post-assessment action plans of the Ministries of Labour in Ecuador and Peru. Experts from the SRO-Lima are also helping the ministries implement other elements of their action plans.

The Nicaraguan Ministry of Labour has prepared a fairly ambitious Modernisation Plan based on the assessment, involving actions that exceed the scope of the ILO’s direct assistance. The Ministry requested support from the UNDP and IDB for these. The ILO Sub-Regional Office for Central America and the Caribbean (SRO-San José) participated in a technical workshop in Managua in September 2004, with support from the IACML-OAS Project, to review the plan and distribute responsibilities among the multilateral bodies involved. An evaluation of progress and possible further subdivisions of the plan is pending.

Paraguay’s Ministry of Justice and Labour has been implementing a proposal for the creation of a Ministry of Labour and Social Security, using the labour administration survey as a basic reference. This would remove responsibility for “Labour” from the current Ministry of Justice and Labour. With support from the ILO Sub-Regional Office for the Southern Cone of Latin America (SRO-Santiago), a mission to Asunción was held in early November 2004 to discuss Paraguay’s Labour Administration Action Plan in the context of the reform under way. SRO-Santiago has been providing technical assistance to Paraguay’s Ministry of Justice and Labour in drafting the decree for restructuring the ministry, helping with analysis of the proposed structure and cost-benefit estimates for the change.

The preparation of the post-assessment labour administration action plan in Trinidad and Tobago is pending.

The assessment reports for Jamaica and Saint Lucia were recently submitted to the countries’ Ministries of Labour, so the corresponding action plans are not yet available. In the case of Panama, the report is in the final review phase prior to official submission to the country’s Ministry of Labour and Labour Development.

In the cases in which there was follow-up of post-assessment actions, especially Ecuador and Peru, the only countries in which action plans were developed under terms suggested by the ILO and with technical assistance from the corresponding SRO, there was a long time lapse of practically a year between the ILO’s submission of the survey report and follow-up action by the Labour Administrations.

Possible reasons for the lack of or delay in follow-up of post-assessment actions include:

Significant ministerial changes, which required starting over, contacting the offices again and reinitiating the preparation of the action plan.

Lack of clarity about who is responsible for preparing the plan within the Ministry; in other words, no focal point or key team member was designated to lead the analysis and design process, which must be an internal process.

Lack of adequate analysis of internal needs and possible support for moving the internal process ahead within the country.

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Because of the confidential nature of the report (it is submitted to the ministry on this condition for a period of six months), the ministries may not feel immediate pressure to begin a reform process to address the most obvious problems, slowing the process or relegating it to second place in a complex panorama.

Ultimately, the overall result so far is one of relative progress that is unstable and highly dependent on direct technical assistance from the ILO or technical cooperation projects with the ILO or other international bodies (IDB and UNDP). To a great extent, the Ministries of Labour lack the means and have little institutional capacity to carry out the assessment recommendations that should guide corresponding action plans.

In these cases, horizontal or international technical cooperation is vital for following up the process of modernisation and institution-building in the Ministries of Labour, so as to create the conditions needed to increase the sustainability of this process by the Labour Administrations themselves.

III. POSSIBILITIES FOR HORIZONTAL COOPERATION

In a more integrated and more technologically advanced economy, the Labour Administration should play a leading role, so as to guarantee, among other rights and as a sine qua non requirement, enforcement of and respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, with the goal of fostering integral development of individuals and their productive potential, improving labour institutions and increasing the economic security of workers and their families. This will also ensure better functioning of the labour market and a deeper understanding of the impact of integration on labour, and will facilitate more active participation in key debates over economic and social policy, among other factors.

The strengthening of labour administrations is key to the viable enforcement of labour rights and social protection for women and men in countries of America. Maintaining the role of the Ministries of Labour in the defence of human labour rights in the national sphere is key to developing National Plans for Decent Work that lead to the effective enforcement of these fundamental rights, permitting the development of employment policies and plans for social security, safety and health at work, etc., that ensure a high quality of life for the countries’ inhabitants.

Addressing needs related to good labour administration has been a focus of attention since the creation of the ILO. It is important to note that Article 10, paragraph 2, b) of the International Labour Organisation’s Constitution states that the International Labour Office will provide assistance “to governments at their request [...] in connection with [...] the improvement of administrative practices and systems of inspection.” It should also be remembered that at the last American regional meeting of the ILO (Lima, December 2002), it was expressly noted that, within the framework of the Organisation’s activities in the region, it was necessary to establish programmes to strengthen labour administrations so that they could provide effective service to users, create support for agreements by organisations of workers and employers, and effectively enforce social policies and labour law.

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The Salvador Declaration of the XIII IACML also expresses the need to support and stimulate efforts to develop, modernise and strengthen Ministries of Labour through regional action that takes into account the important role of horizontal cooperation and technical assistance.

Finally, it is necessary to note the concerns expressed in the Nuevo León Declaration of the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Americas (Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, January 2004), which have a direct impact on the role and activities of labour administrations:

The need to modernise the state as an element of good governance, by promoting the use of new information and communication technologies;

Recognition of microenterprises and small and medium-size businesses as a fundamental component of economic growth and employment generation, as well as the need for policies and programs that facilitate their incorporation into the formal sector and the training of their human resources;

The need to strengthen social security systems and promote the adoption of unemployment insurance systems and subsistence programmes.

To respond to these challenges, the region’s Ministries of Labour, especially in the smallest economies, must strengthen their capacity. Technical assistance and horizontal and technical cooperation can play a key role in capacity-building for Ministries of Labour, in accordance with their particular conditions. Horizontal cooperation is also an important means of implementing action plans after labour administration assessments, by promoting the widespread exchange of good practices in labour administration among countries.

To what extent has this Project helped promote inter-American horizontal cooperation?

First, the Project implemented two important backstopping activities to define concrete possibilities for horizontal cooperation in the region.

1) the preparation of a database of technical cooperation projects and programmes under way in the region, which is available to the public on the project Web page (www.oit.org.pe/cimt), and which includes information about 1,125 projects;

2) the design and inclusion of a specific survey on the Web page, with questions that will contribute to progress in the improvement of labour administration: the survey includes a question to identify horizontal cooperation projects in labour administration being carried out by Ministries of Labour in the region.

The database makes it possible to identify cooperation projects and programmes being implemented in the Americas, facilitating an exchange of experiences among them or synergies with those that are under way. The database was revised and updated in late 2004. Improvements were made in the search engine and the information available in the database was updated. A new function was also included for access to project statistics (for example, by donor country, target groups, area of implementation, etc.). This is an important source of information for extracting data about labour-related inter-American cooperation projects (it is certainly a very representative sample).

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The assessments, meanwhile, were an effort to reinforce the database by enabling ministries engaged in horizontal cooperation projects to provide detailed descriptions. There has been little participation so far, however, as only four countries have responded to the survey.

Another way in which the Project supports horizontal cooperation is by funding the exchange of experiences to help countries improve their labour administration. It is important to note the project actions that tend to foster the signing of horizontal technical cooperation agreements among Ministries of Labour in the region, as an important contribution that the Project can make to the IACML, especially in backstopping the implementation of Action Plans drawn up by the ministries that were involved in the Labour Administration assessments using the ILO methodology.

Specific examples in this area include the project’s support for an exchange on Labour Inspection for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour in May and June 2004 among the Ministries of Labour of Brazil, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, under the coordination of SRO-San José (Costa Rica). The Costa Rican and Brazilian Ministries of Labour submitted a report on those exchange activities to the Project and expressed their willingness to establish a cooperation agreement on the issue, which will require follow-up.

Important elements in the Project’s fostering of horizontal cooperation also include missions for exchanging experiences on Labour Relations, Records and Information Systems and Safety and Health at Work between the Ministries of Labour of Peru and Brazil, held in August and October 2004. In the case of Peru’s Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion, the need for such exchange missions arose from the Action Plan designed with assistance from SRO-Lima after the corresponding Labour Administration assessment. These missions were an effort to support the development of that plan by fostering horizontal cooperation, culminating with the signing of a “Memorandum of Understanding,”5 as the first step toward establishing a technical cooperation project between the countries.

Other exchange processes were also designed to lead to horizontal cooperation agreements between Ministries of Labour in the region (for example, between Chile and Mexico, Ecuador and Brazil, Ecuador and Chile, Peru and Argentina, etc.). Specifically, an exchange began between the Ministry of Labour of Chile and the Mexican Labour Secretariat, with support from the Project, with a mission by an official of Chile’s Ministry of Labour to Mexico to learn about Mexico’s experience with the NAFTA Labour Cooperation Agreement. This mission was held during the last week of November 2004, and was to correspond with a mission by an official from the Mexican Labour Secretariat to Chile early this year. With regard to other exchange activities, it is necessary to verify countries’ interest in participating and the Project’s availability to promote them, during the first half of 2005 if possible.

What are the areas for horizontal cooperation?

Based on the recommendations of the Labour Administration assessments carried out as part of this Project and the charts prepared for the post-assessment action plans, certain

5 Signing of the memorandum was planned for the beginning of March of this year, but the change of Peru’s Minister of Labour in late February halted the process momentarily.

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areas for technical assistance and horizontal cooperation can be identified, as well as other areas of interest to countries in the region. These are summarised in the following table:

Areas of exchange of good practices for promoting Horizontal Cooperation

Requirements Referential practices

Generation of information and analytical capacity

Integration of databases and computerisation of administrative records

Computerising administrative records and organising an effective corporate system of labour information are tasks that should be supported by a Labour Observatory established within the Ministry. Brazil and Argentina have experience in this area.

Establishment of a unit specialising in information and dissemination of information to worker and employers about labour norms and fundamental principles and rights at work

The experience of territorial delegations of the Ministries of Labour in Brazil and Chile can make a significant contribution to designing this service. The handling and dissemination of information about labour norms to workers and employers could also be a function of a Labour Observatory.Argentina and Brazil have experience with Labour Observatories within the ministerial structure. They also participate in activities of the MERCOSUR Labour Market Observatory.

Integrated, computerised system of trade union records

In Brazil’s Ministry of Labour and Employment, a reform of the Trade Union Registry System is under way. Depending on the outcome, it could be an interesting experience to be shared.

Conciliation and Mediation

Establishment of a unit specialising in conciliation and mediation for resolving individual and collective labour conflicts

Chile has good experience with the recent development of a mediation and conflict-resolution system.

Labour Inspection

Development of a regulatory framework, organisation, procedures and inspection methods

Labour inspection systems in Brazil and Chile could serve as an important reference for Labour Administrations, in terms of a regulatory framework, methods and procedures for inspection and organisation of the system.

Requirements Referential practices

Safety and Health at Work

Organise and link systems for safety and health at work

The Brazilian Inspection System for safety and health at work could provide good experience, through FUNDACENTRO; FUNDACENTRO and SESI (Social Service for Industry) could offer courses and methodologies for training inspectors in safety and health at work.

Employment Policies

Improving the functioning of Public Employment Services and services for Labour Migration

Brazil has good experience in public employment services through the National Employment System (SINE). Coordinated centrally by the MLE, it has approximately 1,000 offices throughout the country and works with trade union employment agencies; there is significant computerised support, use of information technologies, evaluation methodologies and decentralised service (agreements with states and trade unions); it serves about 5 million people a year (workers registered with the system).Mexico also has significant experience in employment services, including the use of modern technological tools.

Reinforcement of services for supporting, strengthening and formalising microenterprises and small businesses

Brazil has interesting experience in the form of SEBRAE (Brazilian Support Service for Microenterprises and Small Businesses), which has been working since 1972 in the sustainable development of small businesses, through training courses, facilitating access to financial services, stimulating cooperation among businesses through the

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organisation of fairs, business conferences, etc.Argentina can contribute good practices in the area of formalisation and registration of microenterprises and small businesses. Peru has the noteworthy experience of PROMPYME. This organisation works in the promotion, coordination and development of agreements on actions necessary for increasing the competitiveness of microenterprises and small businesses in the various markets in which they participate.

Training for and productivity of businesspersons and workers, labour reconversion and reinsertion, and regulation and oversight of vocational training providers

The Brazilian MLE, through its Professional Qualification Office, has good experience in training programmes, regulation of vocational training and labour reconversion and reinsertion. Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay also have good practices in these areas; in Brazil, there is the experience of the S System (SENAC, SESI, SENAI, SESC, SEBRAE), with vocational training programmes and technical assistance for microenterprises and small businesses.

Lessons learned

The project has placed priority on stimulating exchange activities for fostering horizontal cooperation agreements with the ministries that have been involved in the assessments, partly as a way of supporting the implementation of the corresponding post-assessment plans. It also has addressed other concerns, such as those identified by other cooperation projects, such as the exchange among the Ministries of Labour in Brazil, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic on “labour inspection for the prevention and elimination of child labour,” organised and coordinated by IPEC in SRO-San José. Our perception, however, is that fostering horizontal cooperation activities based on the requirements (demands) expressed in the post-assessment action plans is more effective for the eventual signing of horizontal cooperation agreements.

Because we are in the first stages of this type of cooperation, it is crucial to evaluate follow-up and difficulties in developing and implementing such agreements.

In general terms, it is extremely important to invest in the development of a map of strengths and weaknesses of the various countries in the region that, through the Web page, will provide them with information about a broad range of experiences throughout the hemisphere. It is vital to bring together supply (repertoire of good practices in labour administration) and demand (requirements) for horizontal cooperation.

It is also important to determine which methods are most expeditious and effective for:

putting the ministries in contact with one another;

quickly building institutional relations;

effectively implementing the exchange;

ensuring subsequent follow-up; and

sharing information with all interested countries.

In terms of mapping horizontal cooperation, an initial lesson of the IACML-OAS Project is to use the post-assessment action plans as a basic reference for identifying demand for cooperation, as they describe the rationale for the requirements for cooperation. In other words, the labour administration assessments and their

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corresponding action plans make it possible to more precisely identify the demand for horizontal cooperation.

Appropriate mapping of the supply of good practices in labour administration must be addressed with seriousness and commitment by the Ministries of Labour in the region, so that fostering horizontal cooperation for strengthening labour administrations becomes a fundamental objective within the IACML framework. In that sense, the experience of the “Portfolio of Consolidated Programmes in the Area of Labour” of the OAS Office of Education, Science and Technology should be seriously considered by the members of the conference. It is not enough for a country to have a good practice; it must also be in a position to provide horizontal cooperation.

This latter aspect is crucial for the proper identification and promotion of exchange activities. The organisation and implementation of missions for exchanging good experiences with the goal of promoting horizontal cooperation agreements involves a series of activities that demand coordination time and effort — appropriate selection of issues for the exchange, coordination and scheduling (agenda) of the visits, technical and financial support for the missions, evaluation and systematic documentation of the visits.

Promoting missions for the exchange of good experiences makes it possible to better identify the areas, terms and effective possibilities of potential horizontal cooperation, putting the ministries involved in direct contact with one another and establishing the necessary institutional relationships. Systematic documentation of these activities and their follow-up is crucial for encouraging the signing of horizontal cooperation agreements.

A structured mechanisms for coordination and follow-up is needed for the appropriate identification of the exchange activities, organisation and implementation of the missions (which requires the necessary technical and financial support), and subsequent follow-up for the signing of a horizontal cooperation agreement. Such a mechanism could be the result of a cooperation project, for example the IACML-OAS Project, through direct coordination with the ILO Sub-Regional Offices (with limitations in terms of financial support), or through another cooperation mechanism established within the framework of the IACML. In any event, one essential condition for this scheme to function is that the donor for the horizontal cooperation project identified be in a position to offer the cooperation and assumes the commitment within the sphere of the conference.

IV – CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In light of all that has been discussed here, it is clear that from the standpoint of the ILO Project of support for the IACML-OAS, steps have been taken to implement actions to build the capacities of the region’s Labour Administrations in an almost programmatic way. Much has already been achieved, but much remains to be done; this will require the more effective participation of the Ministries of Labour of the Americas to move toward the construction of an effective labour administration system in the inter-American sphere.

The assessments proved that labour administrations suffer from severe budgetary weakness, which limits their institutional capacity. In general, Ministries of Labour lack

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personnel, and the staff they have lacks good working conditions in terms of stability, a public-service career and adequate remuneration. Material conditions are often inadequate and insufficient, especially in territorial units, with serious deficiencies in terms of furniture, computer equipment and vehicles. There is also a need for strategic planning processes that establish objectives, methods and procedures that permit efficient use of limited resources, and a lack of results-driven management based on indicators that facilitate follow-up and monitoring of policies adopted and evaluation of their impact.

In the area of labour inspection, the principal needs lie in the review of supervision and oversight processes, implementation of preventive oversight programmes and an objective-driven system for scheduling visits, the computerisation of services and the generation of periodic reports of the inspectors’ work, as well as the need for specialised training for personnel and the establishment of criteria and mechanisms for selecting inspectors.

In the area of safety and health at work, there are notable shortcomings in prevention and oversight of working conditions. There is a need for an integrated approach and institutional coordination for prevention of workplace accidents and occupational illnesses. Finally, in the area of employment, the policies in effect are generally reduced to placing employees through placement offices, which use a primary system and have limited resources, and which are unknown to or ignored by potential users. There is a need for modernisation, adequate computer programmes and personnel capable of providing guidance to workers who are seeking employment.

The labour administration assessments using the ILO methodology have been very important in evaluating the needs of Ministries of Labour so as to promote their modernisation and institutional strengthening; for these actions to be sustainable, the assessments must lead to the preparation of attainable action plans. The plan is an important guide for enabling the Labour Administration to adopt measures aimed at improving the quality of the services it provides, as well as for the strengthening of the institution and the design and development of policies. It also serves to guide complementary actions through horizontal or technical cooperation projects.

A general evaluation of the assessment processes carried out as part of the Project and their follow-up shows relative progress that is unstable and highly dependent on direct technical assistance from the ILO or other international agencies. The Ministries of Labour have weaknesses in terms of resources and institutional capacity for implementing the recommendations of the assessments, which are meant to guide corresponding action plans. Technical or horizontal cooperation, therefore, is highly important for following up the process of modernisation and institution-building within Ministries of Labour, so as to create the conditions necessary for increasing the Labour Administrations’ capacity for sustaining this process.

Promoting horizontal cooperation activities based on the requirements (demand) expressed in the post-assessment action plans can be a useful mechanism for fostering the signing of horizontal cooperation agreements. The labour administration assessments and their corresponding action plans make it possible to identify more precisely the demand for horizontal cooperation.

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Promoting missions for exchanging good experiences, in turn, makes it possible to better identify the areas, terms and effective possibilities for potential horizontal cooperation, by putting the ministries involved in direct contact with one another and establishing the necessary institutional relationships. The systematic documentation of these activities and their follow-up is crucial for encouraging the signing of horizontal cooperation agreements.

A structured mechanism for coordination and follow-up is needed for the appropriate identification of exchange activities, organisation and implementation of missions (which requires technical and financial support), and subsequent follow-up leading to the signing of the horizontal cooperation agreement.

The Project’s actions in the area of strengthening labour administrations (labour administration assessments, support for the preparation of post-assessment action plans or other follow-up activities, and fostering horizontal cooperation activities) make it possible to formulate certain recommendations about activities that could be carried out in the context of the IACML:

1. Continue to carry out new Labour Administration assessments leading to attainable action plans, using the ILO methodology. Countries needing assessments must make this a political priority, with clarity about its usefulness and possible applications. It is also necessary to have specific funds available for this within the IACML, which could take the form of a specific technical cooperation project.

2. Develop an effective mechanism to encourage horizontal cooperation, including the necessary “mapping of cooperation supply and demand.” Supply refers to the good practices in the area of labour administration that the region’s Ministries of Labour possess and are willing to and able to contribute. Demand refers to the appropriate identification of needs for horizontal cooperation; the action plans drawn up after labour administration assessments are extremely useful for this.

3. Based on this map of supply and demand, encourage exchange missions among the interested ministries (which requires financial support) or other means (direct contact with cooperation agencies connected with Ministries of Foreign Relations) to promote the signing of horizontal cooperation agreements.

4. Post-assessment action plans can also encourage specific technical cooperation projects for strengthening services provided by the Labour Administrations (for example, the FORSAT Project). Future projects of this type in the IACML’s sphere should also integrate the cooperation mechanism mentioned above.

5. Periodically evaluate the results achieved in the area of horizontal or technical cooperation for strengthening labour administrations, providing feedback to the cooperation mechanism.

6. Publicise the mechanism and disseminate the results through the appropriate media (Web page, informative brochures, etc.).

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