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| Sunday, 1 December 2002 |
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ILO Project to strengthen National Policies on 'Poverty Reduction' The International Labour Organisataion (ILO) in Sri Lanka with funding from the Dutch Government has made a significant step involving trade unions and employers in the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). Involvement and participation of non-government actors in strengthening national development policies is now recognized to be fundamental for achieving ambitious targets of reducing the current levels of transitory and permanent forms of poverty. Opinions of diverse groups of institutions are essential for national policy making due to the multi-dimensional effects of poverty. Worker and Employer representatives have prepared position papers. These will be presented and discussed at a workshop to be held on 2nd December at Galadari Hotel,Colombo. This will be attended by senior representatives of the ILO, senior representatives of several ministries, employers and trade unions in Sri Lanka. Colombo Office ILO Director Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, reiterating ILO's role in poverty reduction, said that ILO had always championed the need to put a human face on, and to assure that social and economic efficiency go hand in hand. " Through this project we have given a voice to important stakeholders and increased the dialogue between our social partners - Employers, Workers and the Government". Many development analysts have observed that continued poverty in important pockets of the country have catastrophic implications for the growth prospects of the country. ILO, the oldest agency of the United Nations, maintains that the creation of employment that significantly improves the quality of living standards is the most effective way of reducing poverty. It is significant that 95% of the poor in Sri Lanka are working, already employed in some sort of occupation and yet their standards of living are low. Indeed, past economic policies have had little effect on poverty reduction, mainly due to the fact that they have not incorporated active labour market policies. The growth of quality jobs has lagged behind. ILO's activities in building the capacity of the constituents to influence national policy making has already been seen in past initiatives to include concepts of "Decent work for all" in the National Employment Policy and the National Productivity Policy. |
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