Call for expressions of interest for the recruitment of Experts within the framework of the SOLiD project: Promotion of Social Dialogue in Southern Mediterranean Countries عودة إلى الفرص

Context

Social dialogue has progressively become an essential element in the success of collective bargaining processes, thereby increasingly bringing social progress matters into professional relationships and business environment.

The concept, institutionalized by the International Labour Organization, has been the subject of several international conventions. While various structures of governance and support for policy-makers in terms of economic and social development have been put in place over the past decades, some countries are still lagging behind when it comes to adapting to new social constraints, which is critical for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, the major political changes that have taken place in the Mediterranean region since 2011 have highlighted the limits of the economic and social policies in Southern Mediterranean countries, and brought the social imperative to the forefront of popular demands.

Finally, little consideration has been granted to social dialogue in the Mediterranean region by governments, which generally tend to confine the concept to collective bargaining, with priorities and strategic orientations being quite often unilaterally defined.

This has led the partners involved in this process to consider a rethinking of the mechanisms of dialogue in Southern neighborhood countries, with the dual objective of enhancing the practice within these countries themselves and narrowing the gaps with Northern Mediterranean countries.

Thus, in the continuity of the Barcelona process initiated in 1995 and institutionalized in 2007 within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean, various initiatives were proposed by the European Union to strengthen social dialogue through a quadripartite approach involving governments, traditional social partners (Employers’ Organizations and Trade Unions), but also Civil Society Organizations and local and regional authorities, which will play a leading role in advocating and implementing economic and social policies that take into account local development objectives.

It is in this context that the SOLiD initiative was born, aiming to promote social dialogue in the countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The objectives of this project are to provide employers, workers’ and civil society organizations in target countries, with the expertise needed to jointly identify priority issues that are able to meet the needs of each country for a more dynamic and balanced dialogue with governments. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the capacity for dialogue (both social and societal) of the different target groups.

The first phase of this project, initially implemented by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-CSI), the Arab Trade Union Confederation (ATUC), the Maghreb Union of Business Confederations (BUSINESSMED), and the organizations ANND and Solidar with the support of partners from the North of the Mediterranean like Progetto SUD Italy, was set up between 2016 and 2018 and covered three countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan).

The project resulted in the drafting of a twelve-point charter that will further be translated into concrete reforms to promote social dialogue in the countries of the South Shore of the Mediterranean.

As the SOLiD project is entering its second phase (2021-2024), the consortium leading the project (composed of ITUC, ATUC, BUSINESSMED and ANND) has set itself the objective to extend the initiative to three new countries: Algeria, Lebanon and Palestine. The ambition of the consortium is to adapt the social dialogue charter to the respective national contexts and have it adopted by these new partners, as well as building the capacities of organizations involved in social dialogue at the level of each country and developing national action plans on each of the articles of the Charter.

To carry out this mission, the Secretariat of the SOLiD project has started this second phase with a program to raise awareness and mobilize the various social partners and civil society. This essential stage of upgrading between the partners of the countries joining the project and those of the first phase consisted essentially in conducting country studies on the issue of social dialogue, as well as a capacity-building program for target groups in Algeria, Lebanon and Palestine and convergence between the 6 countries of implementation.

In this context, the project partners are to request the services of independent experts for the constitution of an advisory group to assist them on the various points of the SOLiD charter, themselves constituting a translation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

These experts will subsequently be called upon for technical advice to the project consortium, to carry out thematic studies on each of the points of the charter, as well as to facilitate multipartite national meetings both social partners, civil society, local authorities, economic and social councils, professional associations, and government representatives.

Mission of the consultant     

The SOLiD project consortium wishes to set up a group of experts whose mission will be to support the Project Secretariat on the themes of economic and social development relating to multipartite social dialogue in the Southern Mediterranean countries. For this purpose, the recruited expert will have the following missions:

1. Technical and programmatic assistance to the project team as a member of the SOLiD 2 advisory board (two meetings per year)
2. Development of thematic factsheets on one (or more) of the points of the SOLiD charter. These factsheets will intend to describe the situation of each country hosting a multi-stakeholder meeting on the subject in question. The scheduled multi-stakeholder meetings are 6 in total and will see the participation of social partners, civil society, local and governmental authorities, as well as economic and social councils of each target country
3. Development of presentations on the theme of expertise which will serve as support for the animation of thematic sessions during the multi-stakeholder meetings
4. Conduction of thematic sessions during multi-stakeholder meetings
5. Drafting the minutes of multi-stakeholder meetings
6. Formulation, in the long term and jointly with the entire group of experts, of the group meetings’ outcomes in a summary document which will serve as a basis for the development of action plans around the SOLiD charter

Qualifications and requirements

Academic and professional skills

• Graduate degree with university education (Ph.D. or Masters’ degree), preferably in Human and Social Sciences, Legal or Economic Sciences; or related field.
• Significant experience in supporting organizations and institutions (public and private); project management; coordination of inter-professional or associative networks, including capacity building activities; (cumulative experience of at least 5 years)
• Experience in regional projects and regional and multi-sector data collection
• Experience in social dialogue to assess the role and positions of different dialogue partners (4 types of partners: Governments, Employers, Employees, Civil Society)
• Experience in conducting seminars and capacity-building workshops in the areas of work and social dialogue.

Personal Suitability

• Demonstrate enthusiasm and initiative spirit, as well as strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to be mobilized and to move in the countries of the southern shore
• Be able to support and conduct multiple activities simultaneously
• Be able to evolve and adapt to an uncertain socio-political context
• Demonstrate loyalty, trust, flexibility and diplomacy