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ILO supports workshop on integrated policies for extending social protection and creating decent jobs under Rwanda’s National Strategy for Transformation

Rwanda’s Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) together with the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MINECOFIN), in collaboration with the ILO, organised a workshop to create awareness on the need for integrated policies and their contribution to accelerating job creation and the extension of social protection, including in the framework of the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection, in Nyamata from 22 to 23 January 2025.

The objective of the workshop was to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the National Strategy for Transformation 2 (NST2), a new medium term development framework adopted by the Government which focuses on job creation, economic growth, and social development.

More specifically, the workshop aimed to identify:

• Priority areas and actions for accelerating job creation and social protection coverage under NST2, with a specific focus on:

o   addressing informality,

o   creating decent jobs in agriculture, and

o   addressing specific needs of youth not in employment, education, and training.

• Mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the priority actions under the Global Accelerator in the framework of NST2.
• A list of priority areas to be integrated into the roadmap development.

The workshop brought together around 45 participants from different ministries, implementing institutions, UN agencies, international financing institutions, development banks, workers and employers’ representatives, in particular the Rwanda Workers' Trade Union Confederation (CESTRAR) and the Private Sector Federation (PSF), and development partners, represented by the embassies of Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg as well as the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Key takeaways:

• The Global Accelerator can be an effective vehicle to support the Government of Rwanda in the implementation of integrated policies under the framework of the National Strategy for Transformation and to contribute to the achievement of goals related to the creation of decent jobs and the extension of social protection.
• Formalization, decent work in agriculture and supporting youth not in employment, education and training have been confirmed as priority areas. However, other sectors should be considered as well and using new technology, ensuring access to finance, social dialogue to promote better working conditions, encouraging innovation, and supporting the most vulnerable have been identified as important cross-cutting issues.
• Integration should happen at the policy level but also at system and implementation level. This will require a broad coalition of actors to join forces.
• The importance of monitoring and evaluation of integrated policies for job creation and social protection was highlighted for the successful implementation of the Global Accelerator.

Following the workshop, Rwanda can move to the next steps in the GA process—drafting the roadmap, identifying priorities within the framework of the National Strategy for Transformation, and creating a broad coalition for supporting the acceleration agenda through the identifying of high-level and technical steering mechanisms.

For more details and resources, visit the dedicated workspace here.