Brazil and ILO sign cooperation pact to assist East Timor in social protection

On 15 June in Geneva, Switzerland, in the context of south-south cooperation, Brazil and the International Labour Organization (ILO) signed an agreement aimed at developing social protection in East Timor.

During the signing ceremony for the agreement – which focuses principally on providing support to the development of a social protection system for East Timor, the ILO’s Executive Director for Social Protection, Assane Diop, pointed out that the creation of a new system in a country as young as East Timor was a rare historic event in the present day.

Following up on this, the Head of the East Timor mission to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Joaquim da Fonseca, underlined the importance of south-south cooperation between Brazil and his home country – a nation, according to the Ambassador “where all inhabitants are poor”. He further added that solidarity was essential for a young nation so that “all may live in dignity”.
Two further south-south cooperation agreements resulted from the meeting, aimed at the eradication of forced labour and employment development, and the strengthening of workers’ unions in Africa. Commenting on these agreements, the Brazilian Minister for Labour and Employment, Carlos Lupi, said that “tangible advances in south-south cooperation are being made” and he highlighted the interest Brazil had in the promotion of  “a permanent inter-exchange of experiences”.

Cape Verde: Results of the forum on the Social Security Extension Plan

A forum on the Social Security Extension Plan to include self-employed and domestic workers was held from 7-8 June in the Cape Verdean City, Praia.

This initiative, whose main purpose was to introduce the Plan, brought together representatives of several professional sectors, associations, unions, mutualities, and NGO's to create partnerships and identify phased goals under the extension plan - which aims at an inclusion rate of 70% of informal economy workers, self employed and domestic workers working for third parties, in the social security system.

The main recommendations resulting from the forum concerned the need to improve “communication” about this extension of the social security scheme, as well as the urgent establishment of partnerships between the different groups and organisms present, in order to ensure that the message reaches its target groups. Leonesa Fortes, President of the INPS Administration Council, showed her appreciation of the work being carried out and summarized the forum as “extremely positive”. “As a result of this forum,” she added “the INPS will no longer be the same; it has created a means for INPS to open up to society”.The forum was organized by the National Social Security Institute and supported by the ILO-STEP Portugal Project.

Mozambique: IESE makes available the results of the Productive Social Action Seminar

The event served to stimulate public reflection on the international experience of “productive social action”, the characteristics of successfully implemented productive social action programmes and the way these programmes connect with national formal systems.

Activities kicked off with a presentation by António Francisco (IESE) concerning the “Demographic Contextualization of the Social Protection Issue in Mozambique: Recent Dynamics and Prospective Scenarios”, which was followed by a presentation on “Productive Social Action and the Regulatory and Strategic Basic Social Security Mozambican Plan”, by Elsa Afai, from Mozambique’s Ministry of Women and Social Action. Other interesting presentations were made by Nuno Cunha (ILO), Anna McCord, Bridget O’Laughlin, David Calvert, and Yasfir Ibraimo. A final presentation by ILO’s Denise Magalhães examined “Productive Social Action in Mozambique: Key Points for Future Discussion and Research”.

INFORMATION CENTRE ON SOCIAL PROTECTION  

The Information Centre on Social Protection (CIPS) is a website that provides information in Portuguese on the social protection area (www.cipsocial.org). CIPS purpose is to respond to the knowledge needs of the Portuguese Speaking Countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste) and to make available information on their social protection realities. The CIPS News bulletin was created to serve this last purpose. Every two months it will provide you with information about relevant social protection news and events in those countries.
CIPS is a joint initiative from the Executive Secretariat of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), ILO Lisbon Office and ILO/STEP Portugal Project.