UNIÃO AFRICANA. Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: Fax : Website: www. africa-union.org

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1 AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: Fax : Website: www. africa-union.org MEETING OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE ON HARMONIZATION OF THE LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN AFRICA 07-08, SEPTEMBER 2011 ADDIS ABABA- ETHIOPIA CONCEPT NOTE 1

2 Introduction: 1. The Regional Integrated Employment policy Frameworks unanimously recognize the shortcomings of the Labour Information systems in African countries and the problems of planning, monitoring and evaluation of employment policies this situation generates for all stakeholders in the labour market. 2. This problem concerns all actors of labour markets in the Continent and Member States carry out actions to overcome this challenge, which is also associated with the difficulties of harmonization of the labour markets data and statistics at regional and continental levels. 3. In response to these challenges, and as mandated by various AU Decisions and Policies, the African Union Commission has prepared a Labour Market Information System Harmonization and Coordination Initiative. The main goal is to facilitate the coordination and harmonization of separate and isolated initiatives concurring to the same objective, and to avoid disparities that will add to the challenges rather than contributing to their remove. The Steering Committee of the Initiative is meant to ease the coordination and harmonization of the key stakeholders, besides providing guidance in its implementation. A. BACKGROUND 4. The 2004 Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment Promotion and Poverty Alleviation put special emphasis on the information systems of the labour market, even calling for inclusion of job creation and poverty alleviation initiatives as indicators in the the African Peer Evaluation Mechanism. 5. For the purpose of formulation and implementation of policies and programmes to promote employment in a sustainable manner, and the monitoring and evaluating of their performance, it is imperative to have an effective labour market information system. The labour market indicators are hardly comparable for several reasons. These include differences in concepts and methodologies, the variety of sources and the measurement periods that change. 6. The 2004 Ouagadougou Declaration on Employment Promotion and Poverty alleviation calls to include initiatives on employment creation and poverty alleviation as indicators in the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism. While the Ouagadougou Action Plan seeks to "strengthen data collection and analysis as well as labour market information systems" as part of a strategy of "setting up and continuously up-dating of national data base on employment and poverty. 7. The AUC has developed an Initiative on Labour Market Information System Harmonization and Coordination, in line with the AU Charter on Statistics (January 2010) and its Strategic Plan. The initiative is supported by the AU key 2

3 ministerial Conferences. Recently, the 4 th Joint AUC-ECA Conference of Ministers in charge on Economy, Finance and Development Planning (Addis Ababa, March 2011) adopted a Resolution that: Urges the African Union Commission to pursue the implementation of its project for the harmonization and coordination of labour market information systems ; Calls upon member States to allocate resources to budgeting a viable labour market information system to complement resources that will be mobilized from development partners On another hand, the 8 th ordinary session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission (Yaoundé, April 2011) decided: That Member States strengthen their Labour Market Information systems in line with the AU Statistics harmonization frameworks, to facilitate employment formulation, implementation and evaluation, including a database on youth for the labour market, with clear and harmonised indicators; That Member States review their TVET Systems for a better alignment of their outputs with the labour market requirements and development needs; Member States, the AUC and RECs are urged to implement the Labour Market Information Systems Harmonization and Coordination Project, with the support of international partners; A harmonized Labour Force Survey needs to be conducted by 2013, coordinated by the AUC and RECs. 8. The 8 th LSAC committed also That Priority Actions targets 2% per annum reduction in youth unemployment to be endorsed as an incentive criterion for youth employment targeting. That is an ambitious planning which requires having an effective Labour Market Information System. 9. Recently, at the occasion of the 17 th Ordinary Session of the Union (July 2011, Malabo), the Heads of States and Government adopted a Declaration calling to (i) REDUCE Youth and Women unemployment by at least two percent annually over the next five years as contained in the Youth Decade Plan of Action ; (ii) MAINTAIN, extend and harmonize Labour Market Information Systems in support of employment policy formulation, implementation and evaluation; 10. In order to speed up the implementation process of the AUC Initiative on harmonization and coordination of the Labour Market Information Systems, and of the above recommendations and decisions, it is planned to organize a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Project, on 07-08, September 2011 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). 3

4 B. OBJECTIVES OF THE MEETING OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE Take stock of the various initiatives on the subject which are developed by different stakeholders without or, if any, a little alignment with the AU Statistics Charter and its Strategy for Harmonization of Statistics in Africa, as well as the AUC Initiative on Harmonization and Coordination of the Labour Market Information Systems; Agree on a Minimum List of harmonized labour-employment-tvet indicators Agree on the Plan of Action for the implementation of the Labour Market Information System harmonization and Coordination Initiative, as per the AU Strategy for Harmonization of Statistics in Africa ; Identify the potential technical and financial partners to support its implementation; C. AGENDA ITEMS 11. THE workshop will consider the following agenda items: i) Presentation and discussion on the Labour Market Information System Harmonization and Coordination Project ii) Presentation and discussion of selected initiatives (SADC, EAC, AFRISTAT-ACBF, UNESCO-Dakar, EUROSTAT, Mauritius, South Africa, etc) iii) Presentation and Discussion of the African Charter on Statistics iv) and its Strategy for Harmonization of Statistics in Africa Presentation and discussion of the Minimum List of harmonized Labour, Employment and TVET Indicators v) Presentation and discussion of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Labour Market Information System Harmonization and Coordination Project. vi) vii) Linking TVET outputs with the Labour market requirements (UNESCO) Principles and Mechanisms for funding of LMIS activities D. FORMAT OF THE MEETING 12. The Meeting will be organized through presentations by relevant stakeholders, on their respective initiatives, followed by discussions which will lead to an agreed roadmap ensuring the effective implementation of the Project. E. OUTCOMES OF THE MEETING 13. The expected outcomes of the Workshop are to: Key Stakeholders are at the same level with regard to the ongoing initiatives; 4

5 Agreed Minimum List of harmonized labour-employment-tvet indicators Agreed Plan of Action for the implementation of the Labour Market Information System harmonization and Coordination Initiative, as per the AU Strategy for Harmonization of Statistics in Africa ; potential technical and financial partners identified to support its implementation; F. PROCESS OF THE WORKSHOP 14. Preparation of technical documents of the meeting with the AUC Social Affairs and Economic Affairs Departments, Human Resources, Science and Technology Department, UNDP-Dakar, AFRISTAT, UNESCO-Dakar, ILO, ECA, etc. Presentations will be presented followed by discussions. G. ORGANISATIONAL MATTERS 15. The AUC, AFRISTAT and the UNDP-Dakar will be responsible for the invitations and the preparations of the Agenda, Programme and Documents in coordinating with the participants. 16. Translation, and interpretation services in French and English, as well as secretariat support, will be availed for the meeting. H. PARTICIPANTS 17. Participants are the members of the Steering Committee: AUC, the 5 RECs, EUROSTAT, AfDB, ECA, ILO, UNDP-Dakar, UNESCO, AU Committee of Directors General of National Statistical Offices (02 representatives), experts from Mauritius, Kenya, Tunisia and Liberia. I. FURTHER INFORMATION Contact persons for any further information on the Workshop: Mr Oumar DIOP Department of Social Affairs AUC Addis Ababa Tel Extension 221 Fax / / oumar_diop@hotmail.com; DiopO@africa-union.org and sewnetm@africaunion.org Mr. Yeo Dossina, Department of Economic Affairs, AUC Addis Ababa Tel Extension 221 Fax / /