The International Labor Organization (ILO) and BiH will work together to solve the challenges of the labor market with the goal to open new and better jobs as part of the Agreement on Partnership that was signed in Brussels.
The ILO Director of Central and Eastern Europe Mark Levin and the BiH Minister of Civil Affairs Sredoje Nović signed the Partnership Agreement.
This is the third Decent Work Country Program (DWCP) for BiH that was signed by the representatives of the ILO in BiH.
The signed program for the period of 2012-2015 is based on three key priorities.
The first aims to strengthen the capacity of state institutions, as well as trade unions and employers’ organizations to improve the management of the labor market at the state, entity and district level.
ILO will provide technical assistance to promote an adequate and legal institutional framework that enables the full realization of social dialogue.
The ILO will also assist employers’ organizations to strengthen their institutional capacity to promote sustainable enterprises and for workers’ organizations to strengthen their capacity for collective bargaining.
The second priority is to increase employment opportunities for improving the system of vocational education and training (VET) for more employability opportunities with an emphasis on vulnerable groups.
The ILO will analyze the existing VET system and labor market with an emphasis on vulnerable groups in order to provide the necessary information for policy making based on facts.
The position of women in the market represents a key objective under this priority.
The focus of the third priority is the improvement of the social security system, which relies on the pension system whose sustainability is provided in the reform process based on a tripartite social dialogue.
Apart from that, there will be technical help in order to improve the current legal and policy framework in order to protect the rights of people who live with HIV/AIDS.
An effective labor inspection system will have a key role in the successful promotion of dignified working conditions through information, counseling and its enforcement.
The New Decent Work Country Program is based on the previously successful cooperation of the ILO and BIH and is consistent with the objectives laid out in national development strategies.
The program supports BiH in the fulfillment of some obligations that arise out of international and regional development plans, including the ratification of the international labor standards and the Agreement on Stabilization and Association with the EU.