A high-level mission from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is in Namibia to assess the country’s readiness and capacity to participate in the United Nations (UN) Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions as a pioneering pathfinder country. The assessment is being conducted from 31 January to 3 February.
The Global Accelerator was launched by UN secretary general António Guterras in 2021 with the aim of creating 400 million decent jobs in the green, digital and care economies as well as the extension of social protection to an additional four billion people
According to acting executive director in the labour ministry Otniel Podewiltz, the ILO delegation is expected to meet various role players to discuss country-specific actions to create jobs, strengthen social protection and facilitate the transition to a green economy through a whole-of government and whole-of-UN collaboration.
This includes developing a financing strategy involving local and multilateral financial institutions and donor countries, as well as securing appropriate technical assistance to achieve measurable goals.
“Namibia expressed becoming part of the Global Accelerator shortly after it was launched. Last year, minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation Utoni Nujoma met with the ILO outgoing director general Guy Ryder and the new director general Gilbert Houngbo during the 110th International Labour Conference in Geneva. This was followed up by a second meeting with the new director general during the November 2022 meeting of the ILO governing body to lobby for Namibia to be selected as a pathfinder country for this initiative. Namibia is now the first country to be visited by the high-level mission,” Podewiltz stated.
The ED explained the Global Accelerator initiative aims to assist UN member states to accelerate the achievement of tangible solutions to problems such as high unemployment, especially among the youth; inadequate social protection; informality in the labour market; inequality; weak alignment and coordination of policies and programmes that can create employment and support sustainable enterprises, as well as weak implementation and institutional capacities.
“These are the precise issues facing Namibia, particularly in the areas of effective and meaningful employment creation and enterprise development, employment coordination and social protection. This triggered Namibia’s eagerness to participate in the initiative. In order to achieve the concrete objectives to be set by Namibia, if accepted as a pathfinder country, maximum policy coherence, short, medium and long-term strategies as well as strong coordination across government ministries, public enterprises, the private sector, educational and training institutions, and civil society will be required,” Podewiltz stated.
During its visit, the ILO mission will confirm the relevance of the Global Accelerator to Namibia and identify strategic entry points for a Global Accelerator approach in the country, such as policy gaps, social protection and decent employment deficits and job creation potential that the Global Accelerator could address.
It will further look into key sectors of the economy where an integrated policy and financing approach would be particularly important.
Podewiltz added: “It is also expected that the mission will facilitate institutional buy-in from national constituents, including government and social partners, identify national institutions that could lead the Global Accelerator design and implementation in the country, as well as to secure high-level commitment to Namibia’s participation as a pathfinder country”.