South-South and Triangular Cooperation was a major cross-cutting theme of the 1st ILO Academy on Decent Work for Portuguese-speaking countries

The ILO Academy on Decent Work for lusophone countries gathered more than 100 participants and experts from all Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), from the 28th May to the 1st June 2018 in Turin, Italy. This was the first academy designed specifically for the reality, context and work that ILO has been doing in Portuguese-speaking countries and was conducted entirely in Portuguese.

One of the main objectives of the event was to strengthen ties and networks of collaboration between CPLP member countries though South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC). The academy introduced instruments, mechanisms and methodologies in order to enable the launching and implementation of SSTC initiatives and projects. Besides being presented and discussed in plenary sessions in the first and last days of the academy, South-South and Triangular Cooperation was also a cross-cutting topic in all thematic axes of the event, namely: 1. Youth employment and the future of work; 2. Labor rights, gender equality and non-discrimination; 3. Promotion of sustainable and solidary enterprises; 4. Social protection and creation of decent jobs; 5. Vocational training and insertion of young people in the labor market; 6. Formalization of the economy in a period of labor market transition.

 

 

SSTC at the opening of the ILO Decent Work Academy (Turin, 28th May 2018):

 

Presentation about Mechanisms of South-South and Triangular Cooperation by Anita Amorim and Fernando Baptista, ILO PARDEV (Turin, 28th May 2018):

 

 

The last day of the event was dedicated to the elaboration of a draft road-map of South-South and Triangular Cooperation implicating all participants of the academy, coming from 9 Portuguese-speaking countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe. Participants were grouped according to thematic axes they were most interested in and collectively drafted 10 propositions for future SSTC projects. A brief summary of these propositions is presented bellow (grouped by thematic axes).

 

1. Youth employment and the future of work:

 

2. Labor rights, gender equality and non-discrimination:

 

3. Promotion of sustainable and solidary enterprises:

 

4. Social protection and creation of decent jobs:

 

5. Vocational training and insertion of young people in the labor market:

 

6. Formalization of the economy in a period of labor market transition:

 

Depending on the participants’ interest, these propositions may now be further elaborated and converted into active SSTC initiatives and projects. In order to enable and encourage participants to engage in this effort, an interactive internet space for South-South Cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries was created in the «ILO South-South Meeting Point»: http://www.southsouthpoint.net/themes/cplp/?lang=pt-br. This space features an online discussion forum and is open not only to participants of the academy, but also to any person or organization interested in becoming part of these SSTC initiatives.

Finally, more information and materials related to SSTC in the 1st ILO Academy on Decent Work for Portuguese-speaking countries can be found in the flowing links:

– All SSTC materials of the 1st ILO Academy on Decent Work for Portuguese-speaking countries: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SFWu1SuhskBFDrrbQA-WuWkziYudaKHs

– SSTC news, materials and videos at the «South-South Meeting Point»: http://www.southsouthpoint.net/?lang=pt-br

– SSTC news, materials and videos in social media: