Solution Exchange Forum on Social Protection & Food Security

Today close to one billion people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger while the current trend of rising food prices continues to exacerbate income inequalities and increase poverty, hunger, social unrest and political instability. Since production and food-purchasing capacity are both rooted in employment, the Decent Work Agenda, which provides an integrated approach to pursuing the objective of decent work for all, is central to strategies to achieve global food security. Addressing decent work challenges across all sectors of the food system (including agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture production, food manufacturing and packaging, transport and storage, and trade and retail distribution as well as food services) through a set of integrated actions promotes increases in the quantity, quality and distribution of food to vulnerable groups. This could be achieved by, among other means, improving working conditions to foster productivity; promoting sustainable enterprises in relevant sectors; promoting development of cooperatives, mutual benefit societies and other types of associations; and addressing decent work challenges in key sectors relating to market access and distribution. Sectoral strategies that invest in decent and productive employment and social protection can accelerate economic growth; stimulate food production, processing and accessibility; and provide incomes to enable large segments of the population to exit poverty and food insecurity.

Social protection is being increasingly recognized as an effective instrument in addressing food insecurity. Guaranteeing income security through social protection schemes has a direct effect on both consumption and production. Evidence from developing countries has shown that regular cash transfers are mostly spent on food and investments in livestock or agriculture. Increased consumption also supports agricultural demand for local services, which has a direct knock-on effect on agricultural production. In addition, there has been increasing international recognition of the importance of social protection as a strategy against child labour.

This Solution Exchange Forum will showcase innovative Southern solutions and mechanisms to improve food security through decent work and social protection.

The Solution Exchange Forum on Social Protection and Food Security is organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

 

Ms Alette van Leur Director, Sectoral Activities Department, ILO 13.00-13.20	WELCOME REMARKS and INTRODUCTION OF PANEL MODERATOR – Ms Alette van Leur Ms. Alette van Leur is Director of Sectoral Activities Department (SECTOR) at the ILO, Geneva. SECTOR promotes Decent Work by addressing social and labour issues in specific economic sectors. By tackling decent work challenges and development issues at the sectoral level the ILO supports its tripartite constituents to enhance economic opportunities and improving working conditions in sectors and supply chains. Between 2007 and 2011, Ms. van Leur served as Director of the ILO Department of Partnerships and Development Cooperation (PARDEV), which is responsible for the overall management of development cooperation and partnership activities at the ILO, including the Organization’s involvement with the UN System and other international organizations. Prior to this, she was Deputy Director of the International Affairs Department at the Netherlands’ Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and held various other positions in the same Ministry. Ms. van Leur started her career as an Associate Expert on social security at the ILO Sub-regional Office for the South Pacific, Suva.
Dr. Sammy Nyambari Commissioner for Labour, Head of the Department of Labour and Secretary to the National Labour Board 13.20-13.40	TOWARDS A SYSTEMS APPROACH IN SOUTH –SOUTH COOPERATION ANCHORED ON DECENT WORK: TANGIBLE LABOUR MARKET EXAMPLES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM KENYA Dr. Nyambari’s presentation will identify, elucidate and analyze specific examples based on experiences from Kenya on South-South Cooperation through bilateral and multilateral agreements and/or protocols that borrow from good practices from other countries. He argues that an integrated approach in South-South cooperation, anchored in Decent Work and premised on International Labour Standards (ILS) adds value to positive human development. In particular, he will speak about integrated initiatives at national level (but influenced by international good practice) that have influenced the integration of decent work in the food chain in Kenya. Other examples to be presented concern an exchange programme with Brazil that influenced the development of a holistic social protection policy as well as a common Registry in Kenya; regional integration initiatives that influenced the free movement of people including labour in the East African region premised on good practices learned from other sub-regional groupings; and, a case on how international good practices borrowed from the Philippines influenced the initiation of bilateral agreements with Middle East Countries. Dr. Sammy Nyambari Dr. Nyambari is Commissioner for Labour, Head of the Department of Labour and Secretary to the National Labour Board. He is also Alternate Delegate/Technical Advisor for Kenya in the ILO GB. A social scientist, development economist and educationist by training, Dr. Nyambari is labour market specialist with twenty six (26) years of national and international experience. He holds a PhD degree and various testimonials and academic certificates from universities and institutions of Higher Learning from Kenya, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Japan. Dr. Nyambari is a regional trainer for the African Caribbean and Pacific Countries Observatory on Labour Migration as well as Advisor to the Government of Kenya on international labour relations. He has delivered lectures at a number of academic institutions and has presented papers at various international and national forums as well as published papers on topical issues in reputable journals. Prior to his current appointment, he held a number of posts including World Bank/ILO Lead consultant for capacity development in labour administration reconstruction for Southern Sudan (2008-2009); Director of the African Regional Labour Administration Centre, domiciled in Harare, Zimbabwe; Secretary of the Governing Council of Ministers of Labour and Employment; Secretary of the Executive Office of High Commissioners and Ambassadors from English speaking Africa; representative of ARLAC at the International Labour Conference during 2000 -2008, etc.
Ms. Vicenta Trotman Community leader and member of the Administrative Board of Rural Water Supply in the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous territory of the Ño-Kribo region in Panama 13.40-14.00	COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE: JOINT UN WATER AND SANITATION PROJECT IN THE NGÄBE-BUGLÉ INDIGENOUS TERRITORY OF THE ÑO-KRIBO REGION IN PANAMA Ms. Vicenta Trotman will speak about her community’s experience with the Joint UN Water and Sanitation Project, which was implemented in the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous territory of the Ño-Kribo region in Panama. Ms. Vicenta Trotman Ms. Vicenta Trotman is a member of the Administrative Board of Rural Water Supply in the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous territory of the Ño-Kribo region in Panama. She is a facilitator for Indigenous Enterprises in the indigenous communities, where the Joint UNDP Water and Sanitation Project is being implemented. Ms. Trotman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sciences and has received training as leader in water security planning from the Pan American Health Organization. She has made presentations before at the Paraguay Encounter on the exchange of indigenous experiences in water and sanitation within the framework of South-South Cooperation of MDG-F projects under the ILO’s Employment Intensive Investment technical assistance, as well as at the “Water and the Green Economy in Practice: Towards Rio+20” Conference (3-4 October 2011, Zaragoza, Spain), which was organised by UN Water and UNSGAB to support the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015. She is also a member of several craftspeople and environmental organizations in the Ngäbe-Buglé indigenous territory of the Ño-Kribo region.
Mr. Say Sam On Coordinator of Cambodia Union Federation (CUF) 14.00-14.20	Eliminating Child Labour in the Fishing and Aquaculture Sector: Lessons Learned from Cambodia  Mr. Say Sam On will discuss the importance of eliminating child labour in the fishing and aquaculture sector in Cambodia. He will specifically describe the global role of trade unions in mobilizing public opinion and mainstreaming the issue of child labour into the workers’ agenda. Mr. Say Sam On will also highlight his personal experiences in tackling child labour in the fishing sector from his previous work with the ILO-IPEC Time Bound Program in Cambodia. Mr. Say Sam On Mr Say Sam On is a native of Kampot, Cambodia. He currently serves as a Coordinator for the Cambodian Union Federation (CUF) and manages the trade union activities within the Kampot and Kep Provinces. His professional experience includes collaboration with the ILO-IPEC Time Bound Program in Cambodia to implement direct trade union actions in the Kampot Province to tackle child labour. Since 2004, Mr. Sam On has played a key role in the program to eliminate child labour in the salt production and fishing sectors in the Secin Kampot Province., Through the establishment of community monitoring systems, awareness raising activities and vocational training centers, this program has been successful in removing children from hazardous working conditions and preventing others from entering into hazardous work environments.
14.20-14.40	Launch of FAO-ILO Guidelines for Addressing Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture: Policy and Practice During the ILO Solutions Forum on Social Protection and Food Security, a preliminary edition of the "FAO-ILO Guidelines for addressing child labour in fisheries and aquaculture: policy and practice" will be launched. This document has been prepared within the framework of the current FAO and ILO collaboration on decent work and child labour in the food and agriculture sector and represents the first-ever set of guidelines on child labour in the fisheries and aquaculture. It is based on the outcomes and recommendations of the FAO-ILO workshop on child labour in fisheries and aquaculture that was held in 2010 and responds to a need to better understand and address child labour in this sector. By first making this preliminary edition available at the ILO Solutions Forum, all stakeholders, including development partners and colleagues, internationally and nationally, are encouraged to provide comments and inputs to improve the document before it is published and disseminated more widely. Note: FAO will print this publication for distribution at ILO's Solution Forum
Mr Guilherme Costa Delgado 14.40-15.00	Social Security and Food Security – Successful Policy Experiences in Brazil Guilherme Delgado will demonstrate how two public policies in Brazil – Social Security and Agricultural Policy – focused on small rural producers, have a positive and convergent impact on the improvement of social protection and food security levels. He will discuss the social security policy innovation which, after more than two decades of existence, includes the so-called “special insured” of the “rural family economy” by granting disability, survivorship, sickness, accident, and maternity benefits of one official minimum wage (thus introducing the “Social Protection Floor” in rural areas). He will argue that the productive revival of the small family-based agriculture in Brazil was induced by this “Brazilian-way” Social Protection Floor. He will further discuss the food purchase guarantee given to peasants– the so-called “Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos da Agricultura Familiar” (PAA) - which is associated to policies aimed at increasing access to food to nutritionally vulnerable groups such as people living in shelter houses or day care facilities, and children in the basic public education system. Mr Guilherme Delgado Mr Guilherme Costa Delgado has a doctorate in Economy from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (1984). He worked during 30 years for the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) which provides technical and institutional support to the government for the formulation and reformulation of public policies and development programs in Brazil. He is currently a professor at the IPEA – FIOCRUZ Post-Graduate Programme. Prior to this appointment he divided his time between his work with IPEA and the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (MG), where he was a professor (guest and titular) since 1993. He has further published and been involved in numerous academic articles, books and papers including on social security and agricultural policies and food security.
15.00-15.30	GENERAL DISCUSSION & WRAP-UP