The International Labour Organisation and CRADAT are holding a training of trainers’ workshop for the CEMAC sub-region in Yaounde.

Economies of the Central African sub-region have been experiencing fast growth in recent years. However, the zone is plagued by recurrent conflicts, making affected States and neighbouring countries prone to labour strife. It is in this light that the International Labour Organisation, ILO and the African Regional Centre for Labour Administration, CRADAT, have since February 24, 2016, been organizing a three-day Training of Trainers’ workshop in Yaounde.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, MINTSS, Johny Razack, said the training came up at the time President Paul Biya has made social peace a cardinal point in ensuring civil peace and sustainable development. The Permanent Secretary described social dialogue as guarantee for sustainable development, insisting that there was need for increasing cooperation between governments, employer organizations and workers.

According to Moussa Oumarou, Director of the Department of Governance and Tripartite Negotiations, ILO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, the economic situation in the Central African sub-region is compounded by falling oil prices – save for Cameroon. This is further aggravated by securing concerns, necessitating additional budgetary allocations. All this, compounded by labour demands, makes upgrading of knowledge in social dialogue a prerequisite for ensuring peace and stability, Moussa Oumarou stated.

Workshop participants will from February 24-26, 2016, discuss topics such as reasons and results of tripartite social dialogue, conditions necessary for social dialogue, resistance to social dialogue, ensuring social dialogue at the national level, and what employers think of social dialogue. Others are experiences of the use of social dialogue in West Africa, trade union liberties in tripartite national dialogue and proffering solutions for ensuring social dialogue at different levels of society.