OVERVIEW OF ASEAN ACTIVITIES ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT-Priorities in Labour and Employment

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OVERVIEW OF ASEAN ACTIVITIES ON HUMAN RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT-Priorities in Labour and Employment

• Dr. Donald Tambunan
• Social Welfare, Women, Labour and Migrant Workers
  Division
• ASEAN Secretariat

The 2nd ASEAN HR Conference Human Resource for
Economic Recovery and Development, 25 May 2010,
Ha Noi.
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Overview of Labour Force in ASEAN Region

• Labour Market in ASEAN up to 2007 (source ILO
  report, 2008)
• Employment in ASEAN Member States increased from
  260.6 million in 2006 to 268.5 million in 2007
  7.9 mio additional jobs.
• Employment growth particularly strong in
  Indonesia (4.7), Malaysia (2.6), Singapore
  (2.5 among resident population and 6.6 when
  non-resident are included), and the Philippines
  (2.4 )
• Shift towards industry and services. Employment
  in industry and services expanded by 5.1 and 3.3
  respectively. Job growth in agriculture only
  1.9. 72 of the regions employment growth in
  industry and services.
• Number of vulnerable workers remained massive,
  estimated 161 million workers, or 60 of the
  ASEAN workforce in 2007
• Different situations after the Global Financial
  Crisis in 2008/9 (to be reported by ILO)

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Mechanism for ASEAN Cooperation in Labour and
Migrant Workers

• ASEAN SUMMIT

ASEAN COORDINATING COUNCIL
ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL
ASEAN LABOUR MINISTERS MEETING (ALMM)
SENIOR LABOUR OFFICIALS MEETING (SLOM)
ASEAN COMMITTEE ON THE IMPLEMENTION OF THE ASEAN
DECLARATION ON THE PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF
MIGRANT WORKERS (ACMW)
ASEAN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH NETWORK
(OSHNET)
SLOM WORKING GROUP ON PROGRESSIVE LABOUR
PRACTICES TO ENHANCE THE COMPETITIVENESS OF ASEAN
(SLOM-WG)
SLOM WG ON THE HIV PREVENTION AND CONTROL ON THE
WORK PLACE
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ASEAN Frameworks for Cooperation in Labour

• ASEAN Charter (ratified in December 2008)
• ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion
  of the Rights of Migrant Workers (Jan 2007)
• ASEAN Commitments on HIV and AIDS (Jan 2007)
• Cooperation Agreement between ASEAN Secretariat
  and ILO (March 2007)
• ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint
  (March 2009)
• ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint (Nov
  2007)
• ALM Work Programme (2001-2010)
• ALM Work Programme (2010-2015)

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ASEAN Frameworks (cont)

• Human Resources in the ASEAN Charter
• One of the purposes of ASEAN as enshrined in the
  ASEAN Charter provides the basic principles for
  the cooperation, i.e.
• to develop human resources through closer
  cooperation in education and life-long learning,
  and in science and technology, for the
  empowerment of the peoples of ASEAN and for the
  strengthening of the ASEAN Community

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ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint
(2009 2015)

• Selected Strategic Objectives concerning labour
  and employment
• Investing in human resource development Enhance
  and improve the capacity of ASEAN human resource
  through strategic programmes and develop a
  qualified, competent and well-prepared ASEAN
  labour force that would benefit from as well as
  cope with the challenges of regional integration.
  Strategic objective on
• Promotion of decent work Incorporating decent
  work principles in ASEAN work culture, safety and
  health at work place and ensuring that the
  promotion of entrepreneurship becomes an integral
  part of ASEANs employment policy to achieve a
  forward-looking employment strategy.
• Strengthening entrepreneurship skills for women,
  youth, elderly and persons with disabilities
  Increase the participation of women, youth,
  elderly, persons with disabilities, vulnerable
  and marginalised groups in the productive
  workforce by enhancing their entrepreneurial
  skills, particularly to improve their social
  well-being and contribute towards national
  development and regional economic integration.

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ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint

• Free Flow of Skilled Labour is one of the five
  core elements under Single Market and Production
  Base in the AEC Blueprint
• Relevant actions
• Enhance cooperation among ASEAN University
  Network (AUN) members to increase mobility for
  both students and staff within the region and
• Develop core competencies and qualifications for
  job/occupational and trainers skills required in
  the priority services sectors (by 2009) and in
  other services sectors (from 2010 to 2015) and
• Strengthen the research capabilities of each
  ASEAN Member Country in terms of promoting
  skills, job placements, and developing labour
  market information networks among ASEAN Member
  Countries.

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ALM Work Programme 2001-2010Relevant Priorities

• Priorities on HRD and employment generation
• Objectives
• Formulate strategies that enhance job creation
  and promote employment
• Facilitate and enhance capability of AMS to find
  ways of generating employment
• To formulate ASEAN strategies to promote
  cooperation in the generation of employment
  opportunities
• (ii) HRD Planning and labour market monitoring
• Objective
• Enhance capacity for formulating and implementing
  a comprehensive and integrated HRD strategy on a
  continuous basis

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ALM Work Programme 2001-2010Relevant Priorities
Priority areas (cont.)

• (iii) Enhancing labour mobility
• Objectives
• To ensure the availability of competent and
  skilled manpower through better HRD strategies
  and plans
• To promote better mobility of labour through the
  establishment of networks of professional
  accreditation bodies as part of a larger strategy
  to enhance labour market flexibility in the
  region
• To promote faster integration of CLMV (Cambodia,
  Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam) members into the
  ASEAN and
• To enhance the capability of AMS to cope with
  economic downturns by information exchanges and
  best practices.

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Selected HRD-related activities in ASEAN

• ASEAN Plus Three Workshop on Youth
  Entrepreneurship, Nov 2007
• ASEAN-OSHNET Plus Three Policy Dialogue on OSH
  Management System, Dec 2007
• 11th Human Resource Development (HRD) Programme
  for Officials in ASEAN Countries, 25 Nov 4 Dec
  2008, Seoul
• Regular convening of the ASEAN HR Conference (1st
  Summit/Conference, 22 Oct 2008, Singapore 2nd
  Conference, 25 May 2010, Ha Noi)
• ASEAN-Japan Collaboration Programme for
  Strengthening the Basis of Human Resources
  Development in CLMV Countries-Phase II (2008-2011)

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Selected activities (cont)

• Enhancing Skills Recognition Systems in ASEAN
  (2004-2007)
• ASEAN-ILO Technical Workshop on Labour Market
  Statistics, October 2007, Putrajaya, Malaysia
• Workshop on Labour Market Information and
  Analysis in ASEAN countries, 2-4 March 2010,
  Bandar Seri Begawan
• ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services
  (AFAS)Initiative led by the ASEAN Economic
  Ministers

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ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS)
brief progress on MRA

• Launched by ASEAN Economic Ministers at the 5th
  ASEAN Summit, 15 Dec 1995
• The AFAS is aimed at substantially eliminating
  restrictions to trade in trade services among
  ASEAN Member States in order to improve the
  efficiency and competitiveness of ASEAN services
  suppliers.
• At the 7th Summit (Bandar Seri Begawan, 5 Nov
  2001), ASEAN Leaders mandated the start of
  negotiations of MRA to facilitate the flow of
  professional services under AFAS
• An MRA enables professional service providers
  registered/certified in its signatory countries
  to be equally recognised in other signatory
  countries
• MRA does not warrant unresctricted free flow of
  foreign professionals, relevant domestic
  regulations and market demand still applies.

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Concluded MRAs in ASEAN

• Engineering Services
• Nursing Services
• Architectural Services
• Surveying Qualifications
• Accountancy Services
• Medical Practioners
• Dental Practioners

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Implementation of ASEAN MRAs

• ASEAN is now focusing on implementing all signed
  MRAs
• Typical processes in implementation preparation
  phase
• - setting up implementing committee and its
  rules and procedures
• - Setting up secretariat for implementation
• - Establish recognition/assessment mechanism
• - Compilation of related domestic rules and
  regulations
• Typical processes in implementation phase
• - Review of recognised institutions
• - Review of applicants
• - Establish work programme

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ALM Work Programme 2010-2015

• Adopted by the 21st ALM, Ha Noi, 24 May 2010
• Overall objective to build towards the vision of
  better of quality of life, productive employment,
  and adequate social protection for ASEAN peoples
  through enhancing workforce competitiveness,
  creating a harmonious and progressive workplace,
  and promotion of decent work for all.

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Strategic Priorities

• Legal foundation to ensure that labour rights
  and conditions of work are protected in law and
  its application
• Institutional capacity to ensure that Government
  bodies have the capacities to oversee enforcement
  labour laws and regulations
• Social Partners Informed social dialogue to take
  place among labour sector partners at the
  national and regional levels
• Labour market and workforce development labour
  marker to generate decent employment
  opportunities and the workforce development
  system to contribute to the creation of a
  competitive workforce

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Strategic priority on Legal markets and workforce
development

• Thematic areas
• Addresing the employment impacts of trade
  liberalisation and recovery from global economic
  crisis
• Promoting progressive labour practices
• Enhancing labour mobility
• Enhancing labour market monitoring

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Challenges

• Gaps among AMS
• Regional vs. National interest
• Cross-cutting nature
• Resource mobilisation

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• Thank you
• Xin c?m on