At the continental level: what did the ANRSP focus on and achieve in 2019?

Continental meeting
The Asia seminar was held in Kathmandu in February 2019 with two participants from each of the WSM Asia partners. In addition, representatives from the Network on Transformative Social Protection (NTSP) participated, as well as from ILO Nepal, ITUC-Asia Pacific, who provided valuable input.  A keynote intervention was given through video by Reema Nanavati from SEWA, a member of the Global commission on the Future of Work.

During the first part of the seminar we focused on labour market policies. Social movements have a key role to play in the debate on which types of jobs are needed for a truly inclusive economic development. Industrial policies and employment strategies or not to be left to business and governments alone, but it should be a key issue in the social dialogue. Currently, too many jobs don’t fulfill the Decent Work criteria (labour protection falters, salaries are too low, there is no social protection, no respect for social dialogue or freedom of association, job creation doesn’t follow economic growth).
In the second part of the seminar, the focus was on the Future of Work and the ILO centenary conference. An overview was presented of the most important trends in the world of work and on what needs to be done to guarantee more decent work in the future. The need for a renewed social contract, guaranteeing a fair share of prosperity for all, was broadly shared by the participants.

What did we learn? Labour market policies are a new issue for most member organisations of the ANRSP.  The learning and the capacity strengthening aspects of the seminar were evaluated as most important for the participants. Nevertheless, the discussions on the broader issue of the future of work led to a wider sharing of the vision on economic development, on the essential role for civil society and governments in the shaping of the ‘world of work’ and was thus a new step in strengthening the ANRSP.
Advocacy and networking
In 2019, the Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection strengthened its network and advocacy by co-organizing activities with other regional organizations in Asia:

• With the International Trade Union Confederation – Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP): the Asia Wage Floor Forum under the theme of “Asia Fights for +50; Making 2019 the ASEAN year for decent work, minimum living wages and social protection”
• With the Network for Transformative Social Protection (NTSP): the ASEAN People’s Forum-Life with Dignity Convergence, providing a venue for participants from different organizations in South East Asia to share updates & recommendations on the ACSC/APF2019. Statement pertaining to issues of realizing social dimension in regional integration, Universal Health care, Social Protection for all and Decent work.
• with the AEPF Social Justice Cluster, held in March in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The ANRSP Steering Committee held regular meetings and discussed the process and role of the network regarding various ILO topics and events: the Future of Work, the International Labour Conference, standards on Violence and Harassment at the workplace and the Global Social Protection Week. There is a need to harmonize networking efforts between International, (Sub) Regional and National level.

Internationalisation

The International Labour Organisation declared in 2019 a Global Social Protection Week from 25th till 28th of November, which was the opportunity for WSM to put the importance of social protection and our Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection (ANRSP) in the spotlight, both at the national and global level. Globally, a delegation from WSM, including from Asia, attended the ILO Conference in Geneva (link) and the launch of the Network on the Right to Social Protection (link). In three Asian countries, WSM and the ANRSP facilitated national events which happened on or near the dates:

• in Indonesia, the trade unions organized a national forum on 6/11 and agreed on a common national agenda (harmonization of laws and regulation on SP; expansion of coverage of ‘missing middle’, informal workers, migrant workers, domestic workers; unemployment Insurance and increasing benefits for work related accidents (link).
• In Nepal, a stakeholders meeting of the Nepal Network on the Right to Social Protection gathered over 40 civil society organisations and trade unions to discuss priorities to promote the social protection floor regarding child allowances, elderly pensions, access to health and the contributory social security. The trade unions also mobilized several thousand members for the National Day of Social Security on the 27/11 (link).
• The Bangladesh Social Protection Advocacy Network (BSPAN) organized a spot event on 28/11 with the message to "Ensure Social Protection for all Workers and ratification of ILO Convention of Social Security (No-102).

These independent though linked events show a joint pressure and shared vision on social protection. They were also the opportunity to broaden our national synergies and move towards real national networks, which involve more than only WSM funded partners. This is often easier to do either through a punctual mobilising event like the global social protection week, or when linked to additional funding.

Shrinking (democratic) space for our partner organizations is something that has also been happening in 2019, such as in the Philippines and Cambodia. On 17th December 2019, the Belgian Development Cooperation DGD, together with 11.11.11-CNCD and ECPDM, took the very much appreciated initiative to organize a seminar on this issue ‘Claiming back civic space’.

In 2019, over 3,5 million people were reached in five countries of Asia: 

1. India:     225.139 
2. Nepal:  1.080.225
3. Bangladesh:     605.780
4. Indonesia:  1.197.085
5. Philippines:     428.651

TOTAL:                    3.536.880

Impact: Over the past three years in all of Asia, the activities from our partners contributed to:

• Better working conditions for over 600.000 workers   
• Nearly half a million people have better coverage: almost 300.000 people have better access to health and nearly 200.000 people have better social security coverage 
• The passing of 25 legislations, providing more rights to over 800 million people

Asia Partners:  19 partners in six countries                                  Overall budget 2019: 1 million €

Donors: DGD (756.081€) and others                                              Programme: 2017-2021