New York, Dec 03: The present model of
globalisation is not working for Africa and global policies
must change to put jobs at the centre of the development
debate in an employment-centered approach to alleviate
poverty, the International Labour Organisation has said.
"The extensive policy advice given to Africa needs a
reality check - a wake-up call," ILO director-general Juan
Somavia told the agency's 10th African Regional Meeting at its
opening session in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
"Work is at the heart of the economic, political and
social concerns of people. So let's make decent work in all
countries the new organising factor for a globalisation that
works for all," Somavia added.
He noted that the ILO's decent work agenda has been
assumed by its African tripartite constituents as a primary
means of dealing with real problems as perceived by
individuals, families and communities.
That agenda is rooted in the ILO's core strategic
objectives of employment and enterprise creation, basic social
protection and social dialogue.
The four day meeting brings together governments,
workers' and employers' representatives from 53 African states
to discuss initiatives to alleviate the plight of the
continent's hundreds of millions of impoverished people and in
creating more and better employment opportunities.
