Report from the Trade Union Partnerships Working Group Meeting 23 rd September 2015

Organisational Capacity Assessment Presentation of the work that has been done so far January - March Mapping of OCA tools March OCA seminar May - June Key capacities July - September Survey on OCA

Assessment of the work on OCA We need to continue work towards a shared approach and an instrument on OCA. Need to involve the trade union leadership. Give more relevance to the process for greater ownership and involve the regions. Keep things simple and practical, work on flexible and adaptive approaches to OCA. Need to have more spaces in the trade union partnerships pillar of the network for sharing information on trade union development cooperation projects and experiences.

How should we move forward on OCA? 1. Continue work on a specific tool based on the key capacities that came out of the OCA seminar. The tool could have two layers: 1.Three clusters to analyse through a simple tool (SWOT analysis?). The clusters could be: how an organisation is advancing with respect to internal issues, to external issues and how it relates to other stakeholders. 2.Use the key capacities that came out of the OCA seminar as a basis for this analysis expanding the subcomponents of these capacities.

Key capacities Service delivery & legal support Capacity to realise needs-based improvements for workers | to provide collective services | to provide legal advice & support |.. Collective Bargaining Capacity to do situational analysis| to articulate and aggregate members’ needs| to develop strategic bargaining proposals | to negotiate effectively| … Influencing government, business, and society Capacity to influence externally| to conduct effective dialogue| to campaign different target audiences| to lobby & advocate policy makers | to increase outreach through partnerships & alliances |.. Key operating principles Democratic ownership| Transparency | Accountability | Inclusiveness & equality | Autonomy | Coherence | Partnership | Sustainability Resource mobilisation Ability to mobilise resources for the organisation (human, technical, financial)| to collect & manage dues | … Strategic planning Ability to measure progress and do research| to plan strategically | to learn & adapt |.. Communication & networking Ability to generate, communicate and share information internally and externally| to build networks & alliances | to achieve internal & external legitimacy |... Education & training Ability to design & implement capacity development activities| to network with educational institutions | to track skills development |.. Organising & recruitment Ability to organise & retain members |to build a movement (mobilise & engage members) | to do membership management |.. Structures & procedures Ability to divide tasks & responsibilities | to implement functioning procedures |to have inclusive, democratic and autonomous structures | ….

How should we move forward on OCA? 2. Organisation of thematic seminars to share experiences of organisations on a specific area of work and relate it to OCA. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the work done and how and what organisational capacities this work has contributed to strengthen. Gather information on how thematic work impacts the capacity of organisations. Contribute to the OCA guidelines through discussions based on real experiences, keeping things close to the real work of organisations, keeping everyone on board and making it useful for everybody. Increase ownership and involve the political level. Themes to be defined. Examples could be: informal economy, organising, social protection, global value chains…

TUDEP Presentation of the work on TUDEP and the improvements that have been made on the tool: A revision has been made of the tool. The new documents will be uploaded on the TUDEP website. Suggestions have been raised for the use of TUDEP. Information on future partnerships activities on TUDEP Partnerships meeting in Sao Paolo, October 2015 (with a focus on South-South and triangular cooperation) Partnerships meeting in Africa, February 2016

How can we expand the use of TUDEP? Vulgarise the principles and tools: ilustrated leaflet, review the language and booklet. Idea of working on a manual for facilitators for TUDEP workshops. Put the Principles and the tool forward in other fora: GUF- TUSSO meetings Study the idea of reducing the number of questions in the form. Reflect upon the use of TUDEP in South-South and triangular Cooperation.

Other priorities for discussion in the partnerships working group Discussions on exit strategies/sustainability of organisations at the end of cooperation (reduction in funds, removal of countries from priority list/DAC list). Financial autonomy and strategies for the longer term