Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you will bear the cost of participation.
Background
Building on the progress of the PSI through multiple projects, this regional conference will focus on GBV as a core workplace rights issue of public service workers. The adoption of ILO Convention 190 has been an opportunity to enhance union strategies for GBV prevention, mitigation, and policy advocacy with much effort going into ratification campaigns and efforts to implement C190 in workplaces. In the African context, GBV is deeply intertwined with structural inequalities, informal labour, and the under-resourcing of care sectors. Public service workers are also responders to GBV in their local environment, that furthers their interest and stake in this. This conference looks to reach beyond the work that can be done on C190.
Objectives
- Share progress and lessons learned from PSI’s GBV-related work across public services, which have mostly been focused on strategies to ratify and implement ILO C190 at national levels.
- Build capacity of unions and workers to address GBV as an OHS issue as well as a social issue
- Consider approaches needed for various public services and in informal care work contexts.
- Foster regional collaboration on advocacy, policy, and collective bargaining demands related to GBV.
Background and Rationale
Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing rapid urbanization and growing demand for essential services in electricity, water, and waste management. These sectors are crucial for sustainable development, public health, and economic growth. However, the supply chains supporting these services often face significant challenges, including:
- Lack of Transparency: Opaque procurement processes, complex subcontracting arrangements, and limited access to information hinder accountability and contribute to corruption.
- Decent Work Deficits: Informal employment, precarious contracts, low wages, unsafe working conditions, and limited social protection are prevalent in these sectors.
- Environmental Degradation: Unsustainable resource extraction, pollution, and inadequate waste management practices have adverse environmental impacts.
- Climate Change Vulnerability: Infrastructure and service delivery are vulnerable to climate-related shocks, impacting workers and communities.
Trade unions and workers in the electricity, water and waste sectors that have experienced privatisation and liberalisation have generally seen the following: Increased outsourcing of work, decreases in total employment,decreased union membership , decreased in general working conditions, decreased bargaining power ,splintered trade unionism and increase in tariffs.
These outcomes are often deliberate strategies on behalf of governments which have promoted privatisation and liberalisation and by investors – since these are precisely mechanisms which will lead to greater profits.
In this regard, in-order to further reach the long term project objective of safeguarding workers’ interests in the whole value chain and build on promoting universal access to quality public services that are environmentally sustainable and provide decent work , the project has so far allowed the involved unions to build up knowledge about the investment value chains and disseminate information on relevant policies to the union members and rank and file; develop strategies to connect with the workers within these value chains; mobilise workers against policies and actions that go in against accessible and quality public services in the water, energy and waste sectors; build and consolidate alliances with like-minded organisations in civil society to work jointly on the necessary improvements in the sectors; sensitise the public about the importance of keeping utilities in public hands; engage employers and policy makers about issues of the project and development ofvisual media on experiences of conditions of work in the three sectors .
PSI currently is implementing the value-chains project in Sub-Saharan Africa where participating affiliates have been able to mobilise the support of workers against policies and actions that are anti-quality public services through various strategies including media engagement that has highlighted the challenges of Private Public Partnerships in water,energy and waste services in relation to accessibility and affordability to the general population.
Trade unions play a vital role in advocating for workers' rights, promoting transparency, and ensuring decent work. It has been observed by the trade unions participating in the project that to build on the results achieved in the project, there is need for increased campaigns against casualization and privatization of essential services and public utilities (water, waste management and electricity) within the region post the project period as the current governments are pushing and in some cases implementing privatization of this essential services and public utilities .
This side event aims to bring together trade union representatives, civil society organizations, government officials, and other stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities for promoting transparency and decent work in the electricity, water, and waste supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa and to provide an opportunity for the affiliates to shareand get regional support towards continued fight against privatization and ensuring decent work even post project period.
The side event is designed as a strategic extension of the current project “Promoting Transparency and Decent Work in Supply Chains in Electricity, Water, and Waste Management in Sub-Saharan Africa – Phase II”, with a clear and direct contribution to its objective of safeguarding workers’ interests along the entire value chain while promoting universal access to quality, sustainable public services.
Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
- Consolidate learning and experiences from the project “Promoting Transparency and Decent Work in Supply Chains in Electricity, Water and Waste Management in Sub-Saharan Africa – Phase II,” highlighting key lessons, good practices, and progress achieved
- Develop concrete post-project advocacy strategies and action plans to address challenges of privatisation, casualisation, and poor working conditions in the electricity, water, and waste sectors
- Strengthen regional collaboration and solidarity among trade unions, civil society, and stakeholders to advance transparency, accountability, and decent work in essential public services.
Registration of participants |
|
Each country delegation presents their finalized post-project action plan.
Q&A session focused on identifying regional support mechanisms and cross-country collaboration opportunities. |
Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
Positioning GBV as an Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
Priority: integrating GBV into OHS committees and workplace policy and practice
- Facilitated by Najwa Hanna, Sub Regional Secretary, PSI
Moving from awareness to implementation
Participants work in cross-country groups to develop:
- workplace GBV intervention plans
- campaign strategies for informal workers
- policy advocacy with civil society collaborations, social dialogue and state engagements
- deas for regional union collaboration
Developing action points, tools needed, and reflections.
|
Union commitments and next steps
|
Wegdan Hussain Abdrabbuh, Regional WOC Chair Daniel PSI Regional Secretary |
Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
Uniting labour power for global tax justice
Background
The 2025 Trade Union Tax Forum will convene in Accra, Ghana, bringing together trade union leaders and policy advocates from across Africa and around the world. Co-hosted by ITUC Africa, Public Services International (PSI), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Network of Unions for Tax Justice (NUTJ), this year's Forum forms part of the 2025 AFRECON edition. It continues a series of gatherings that have strengthened the labour movement's capacity to advance tax justice, building on previous Forums held in Brussels, Berlin and Ottawa.
The Forum will address tax justice across three interconnected dimensions. First, it will focus on national reform, with trade unions sharing experiences of transitioning from protest to policy influence. Sessions will examine effective advocacy, communication strategies and legislative engagement. A prime example is the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT), a draft legislation developed by West African unions and researchers to ensure multinationals pay their fair share.
Second, the Forum will take stock of the evolving international landscape. As traditional powers like the United States step back from global tax reform efforts, opportunities have emerged for more representative leadership. The Africa Group has been instrumental in this transformation, from initiating the UN resolution on inclusive international tax cooperation to currently shaping the resulting Framework Tax Convention.
Third, the Forum will strengthen alliances and build coordinated strategies for the year ahead. Trade unions and civil society allies will identify shared priorities and map opportunities for joint action. With tax justice campaigns gaining momentum globally, coordinated efforts across borders are essential to match the scale of multinational tax avoidance.
This work comes at a critical time. Africa faces an estimated annual SDG financing gap of US$ 1.67 trillion, yet many countries remain well below the 15% tax-to-GDP benchmark set by the African Union. Ghana and Nigeria, for example, are at 14 and 7.9% respectively. As governments face mounting fiscal pressures, large corporations continue shifting profits and exploiting loopholes, draining resources needed for health, education, climate resilience and care systems. Across Africa and the Global South, tax justice remains essential for mobilizing domestic resources, financing quality public services and reducing dependence on external aid. Through coordinated fair tax advocacy, trade unions are defending the foundations of social and economic development, tackling inequality and delivering genuine economic sovereignty.
Objective of the Panel
This session aims to:
- Draw on lessons from successful regional and global tax justice campaigns by PSI and affiliates.
- Discuss most effective strategies to advance transformative tax policy alternatives like the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax at national and regional levels.
- Strategize on how trade unions can reframe and elevate collective action, campaigns, and policy engagement towards a global tax governance
Background
This caucus brings together young workers from over 100 trade union affiliates of Public Services International (PSI) in the Africa and Arab countries. It is an opportunity to connect the struggle for economic emancipation, employment, digital security, decent work, and social, economic and political justice within the context of political and economic realities they face. In addition, participants will review the YEMP (Young Workers’ Education and Mentorship Programme) that has taken place this year, and shape the programme going forward.
Objectives
- Strengthen young workers’ understanding of the links between economic emancipation, employment, access to public services, digital precarity, climate crises, and decent work within the broader political and economic realities shaping Africa and the Arab countries
- Provide a platform for young workers to share experiences and strategies on how to organize, advocate and lead effectively in addressing youth-specific challenges in the public sector and the wider world of work
- Conduct an honest and collective review of the Young Workers Education and Mentorship Programme (YEMP), assessing its impact, identifying lessons learned and highlighting areas for improvement based on participants' experiences
- Co-creation of next phase of the YEMP
Programme
Monday 10 November 2025 |
|
14:00 – 14:30 |
Opening Session and Welcome
|
14:30 – 15:00 |
Input: Young workers fighting for dignified, quality public services through tax justice and an economic development alternative Speaker: Aya Douabou, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) |
15:00 – 15:45 |
Discussion on what this means for the work of the Young Workers Committee |
15:45 – 16.30 |
Input: Young people protesting and demanding change: Lessons to be learnt ·What lessons can we learn from struggles across the region where young people have been in the forefront? Speaker: Gyekye Tanoh, Hands and Brain Africa |
16:30 – 17:00 |
Discussion on place of young workers in the region and in public sector trade unions |
17:00 – 17:15 |
TEA |
17:15 – 19:00 |
Workshop: YEMP Co-creation Workshop |
19:00 |
Closure |
Item 1 |Opening ceremony
- Introduction
- Presentation and adoption of the Draft Agenda
Item 2 |Engaging towards the global and regional genderwork of PSI
- PSI priorities and strategies
Item 3 |General Briefing of the Regional Conference (AFRECON)
- Draft agenda of the Regional Conference
- Panels and workshops
- Attendance and gender balance
- Sponsored delegates
- Non-sponsored delegates
- Observers & visitors
- Violence and harassment policy at AFRECON
Item 3 |Women participation to panels’ discussions
Item 4 | Resolutions/Recommandations
Item 5|Any other business
* End of the meeting*
The African & Arab Countries Regional Executive Committee (AFREC) is open to titular members only
Introduction and adoption of the Conference agenda
- Election of the Co-chairs of the Conference
- Election of the Standing Orders Committee members
- Election of the Credentials Committee members
- Election of the Tellers
- National anthem of Ghana
- Workers’ solidarity song
- Welcome speech by Ghana NCC Chair,Mr. Isaac Bampoe Addo,
- Solidarity Messages of Organised Labour of Ghana
- Opening statements by PSI Vice-President, Africa & Arab Countries, Prince Peters Adeyemi, President of Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigeria
- Address by the PSI General Secretary, Daniel Bertossa
- Opening address by PSI President, Britta Lejon
- Opening of Conference by His Excellency Mr. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana,
- Vote of thanks
Background
The world of work is undergoing rapid and disruptive changes that are posing significant challenges to public services and public sector workers. In the public sector, this trend is compounded by regressive labor reforms, outsourcing, and deliberate attacks on trade union rights, leading to shrinking union density and weakening collective bargaining power. Privatization and austerity gut healthcare, education, water, and sanitation systems—deepening inequality, undermining workers' rights, and excluding the most vulnerable from access. Additionally, digitalisation has, in practice, become a double-edged sword, exposing the deep fault lines of inequality and exploitation. Rather than empowering workers and improving services, it has been weaponized to erode labour rights, replace secure employment with precarious gig work and marginalize unions in the name of efficiency.
Public service unions have a key role to play in demanding dignity, equity, and justice in the provision of quality public services.
Objective
The two-hour panel session- Reclaiming Public Services for Dignity-will highlight examples of privatisation of public services, austerity measures, abuse of trade union rights and attacks on union leaders, and digitalization of public services. Panel members will then share alternatives and examples of how unions and their allies can demand quality public services. As the right to strike is being attacked, the session will receive an update on the status of the case submitted to the ICJ by ITUC seeking the interpretation of C87.
Background
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPA), adopted in 1995, was a groundbreaking political and normative commitment that recognised violence against women, including in the workplace, as a structural and systemic barrier to gender equality. It called on governments, employers, and international institutions to acknowledge the issue and take integrated measures to prevent and eliminate it. However, it relied primarily on political will and voluntary policy changes, rather than binding international obligations.
In contrast, the ILO’s Convention No. 190, adopted in 2019, represents a paradigm shift, from recognizing the problem to establishing a binding international legal framework. C190 sets out clear rights and responsibilities for states and employers and recognizes gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) as a threat to decent work and a systemic issue in the world of work.
This year, the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women marked the 30th anniversary of the BDPA. It provided a critical opportunity to evaluate progress made and reaffirm new political commitments. In its Political Declaration, Member States acknowledged that new challenges have emerged concerning violence against women and committed to taking effective action against violence and harassment, including in the world of work.
This progress reflects a growing synergy between political commitment and legal enforcement, especially between Beijing +30 and the ILO agenda, in the lead-up to the 114th International Labour Conference (ILC), which will hold a General Discussion on “Advancing the Transformative Agenda for Gender Equality at Work.” This discussion represents a vital step towards achieving gender justice.
In this context, PSI-affiliated unions in Africa and Arab countries are called to deepen their understanding and reinforce their actions. In the region, intersecting forms of violence, conservative legal frameworks, and high levels of informality present both challenges and opportunities for transformative trade union action towards gender equality.
Objective
The panel will examine how the ILO, governments, and trade unions can strengthen their efforts to address gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the world of work. It will build on the political commitments of the Beijing Platform for Action and contribute to preparations for the upcoming ILC General Discussion on Advancing the Transformative Agenda for Gender Equality at Work, with a specific focus on the Africa and Arab countries region.
Methodology
The panel will be structured as a 90-minute moderated conversation involving key actors in the world of work with a more political and strategic approach, helping to prepare the region for the discussions at the ILC 2026 General Discussion — particularly the inclusion of the gender transformative agenda as one of the main topics. The panel discussions will focus on world of work-related issues, conflict, and crisis situations within the region and their impact on GBV.
- Report from the Standing Orders Committee and adoption
- Report from the Credentials Committee and adoption
Recognition of dignitaries & Solidarity Messages
Keynote Speaker: Conference theme “Quality Public Services for Dignity”
- Empowering Education Support Personnel in Africa and MENA: Challenges and Solutions
- Enhancing Social dialogue in waste management
- Public financing of universal health and social care
- Regional Agenda on digitalisation
Strengthening the Backbone of Education: Addressing Challenges Facing Education Support Personnel (ESP) in Africa and MENA
Background
Education Support Personnel (ESP)—including bursars, cleaners, security staff, ICT technicians, librarians, cooks, lab assistants, and other non-teaching staff—are essential to the functioning of inclusive, quality, and equitable public education. They ensure safe learning environments, administrative efficiency, and the well-being of learners and teaching staff.
Yet, across Africa and MENA, ESPs remain undervalued and systematically excluded from national education plans and public employment frameworks. Austerity-driven structural adjustment programs and domestic underinvestment in education systems have worsened their working conditions. Key challenges include: chronic understaffing due to wage bill ceilings and recruitment freezes, outsourcing of core services, increasing casualization and insecurity, exclusion from professional development and education sector reforms, delayed or non-existent career progression mechanisms and, poor enforcement of labour protections and collective bargaining rights.
The compounded effect of these trends undermines public education, weakens morale, and increases inequality within education institutions.
Agenda
11:00-11:10 - Opening & Framing of the Session
Welcome remarks, objectives, and outline of the session; recognition of ESPs’ role in quality public education.
- Moderator Musa Okello, Chairperson, ESCW Network
11:10-11:25 - Session 1: Understanding the Role and Invisibility of ESPs
Real-life perspectives from an ESP worker; challenges of workload intensification, casualization, and policy neglect.
- Speaker to be confirmed
11:25-11:35 - Audience Discussion
Short Q&A to capture reflections and experiences from participants related to ESP visibility and working conditions.Moderator:
- Everline Aketch, PhD, Sub-Regional Secretary, PSI
11:35-11:55 - Session 2: Global and National Pressures – Dual Forces Undermining ESPs
How IMF/World Bank wage ceilings and national underinvestment intersect to undermine ESP welfare; political will needed to address these forces.
- Charles Mukhwaya, PhD, General Secretary, KUSU
11:55-12:05 Audience Discussion
Reactions and questions from participants, linking the presentation to their national contexts.Moderator:
- Everline Aketch, PhD, Sub-Regional Secretary, PSI
12:05-12:25 Session 3: Organizing Against Recruitment Bans and Invisibility
Examples of union-led campaigns, policy dialogues, and alliances to challenge recruitment freezes and secure recognition for ESPs.
- Peters A. Adeyemi JP, Vice President, PSI & General Secretary, NASU
12:25-12:35 - Audience Discussion
Q&A focusing on strategies that participants’ unions could replicate.Moderator:
- Everline Aketch, PhD, Sub-Regional Secretary, PSI
12:35-12:55 - Session 4: Lessons from Elsewhere – Comparative Global Practices
How education reinvestment and policy reforms in the Global North have improved ESP recognition and working conditions.
- TBC (European Education Union-eg FNV)
12:55-13:10 Plenary Discussion
Open exchange across all session themes; participants share key insights, union priorities, and action proposals.
- All Participants
13:10-13:25 Wrap-Up & Key Recommendations
Consolidated summary of strategies, commitments, and next steps for unions, governments, and PSI.
- Everline Aketch, PhD, Sub-Regional Secretary, PSI
13:25-13:30 Closing Remarks
Appreciation to speakers, participants, and PSI leadership; reaffirmation of commitment to strengthening ESP advocacy.Moderator:
- Everline Aketch, PhD, Sub-Regional Secretary, PSI
Enhancing social dialogue at local government level for local QPS and decent jobs
Background
Effective and adequate solid waste management is among the most urgent urban challenges facing African cities today. Rapid urbanization, population growth, and changing consumption patterns have led to an exponential increase in waste generation. Yet, many local authorities continue to struggle with inadequate infrastructure and financing, limited resources, and inefficient service delivery systems. Poorly managed solid waste contributes to environmental degradation, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions – further worsening climate change. Faced with all these problems, local governments have often found it easier to outsource waste collection, landfill site management and other solid waste management tasks. However, in many countries this has led to a situation of insecure and poorly paid jobs, and poor working conditions (including inadequate OSH provisions) for those who collect and dispose of the waste, and disjointed, inequitable and inefficient delivery of solid waste management services to communities.
In 2021 PSI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UCLG Africa (United Cities and Local Governments Africa).As part of implementing this MOU, PSI and UCLG Africa agreed on a joint project – promoting social dialogue at the local level in order to strengthen quality public services and decent jobs, with a specific focus on the solid waste management sector. This project is in line with the PSI LRG Global Network Action Plan 2022 – 2027, which calls for LRG PSI affiliated trade unions to engage in “constructive social dialogue with progressive LRG employers to enhance policy leverage on shared priorities.” By enhancing social dialogue at the local level between trade unions and local government, inclusive, rights-based, and sustainable waste management systems, with decent jobs for solid waste management workers, can be promoted.
As part of this project, PSI has developed education and training material on pursuing social dialogue in the solid waste management sector. We have also engaged with LRG affiliates in Africa around this material and around their experiences of social dialogue and collective bargaining broadly, as well as more specifically in the solid waste management sector.
Objective
The two-hour panel session - Enhancing social dialogue in solid waste management at Local Government level for local QPS and decent jobs – will be an opportunity for trade unions in the LRG sector to share with other public service trade unions their experiences of using social dialogue processes, specifically in the solid waste management sector, to promote Quality Public Services and Decent Jobs. It will also be an opportunity to launch the education and training material on social dialogue at a local level, and to strengthen the relationship with UCLG Africa in furtherance of the MOU of 2021. There will also be a focus on the potential for the re-municipalisation of solid waste management services in the light of the pervasive privatisation happening in the sector.
Agenda
Times |
Item |
Speakers |
10 min |
Welcome, introduction to the side event, objectives |
Sandra van Niekerk |
Session 1 |
LRG trade unions organizing solid waste management workers: the challenges and successes |
|
15 min |
Experience from Tanzania: the challenges of organizing workers in solid waste management |
Mr Tumaini Nyamhokya – National Chairman of TALGWU, Tanzania, and chair of AMALGUN |
15 min |
Reflections from the floor: LRG Trade Unions from other countries share their experiences |
Uganda, Nigeria and others |
5 min |
Roundup |
|
Session 2 |
Experiences of Collective Bargaining and Social Dialogue at local level |
|
10 min |
Challenges faced by trade unions in engaging in social dialogue and reaching agreements |
Hon. Roba Duba, GS of Kenya County Government Workers Union |
10 min |
Negotiating for decent work for informal waste workers |
Daria Cibrario, PSI Senior Policy Officer, LRG sector/OSH/Research |
10 min |
Senegal: a long but successful struggle for collective bargaining rights |
GS of SNTCLS (TBC) |
15 min |
Discussion |
|
Session 3 |
Education and training material as tools to empower LRG affiliates for effective social dialogue and to promote re-municipalisation |
|
15 min |
Introduction of remunicipalisation and social dialogue training material |
Daria Cibrario, PSI Senior Policy Officer, LRG sector/OSH/Research |
10 min |
Discussion |
|
Session 4 |
Conclusion |
|
10 min |
Discussion on: Building solidarity, Strengthening AMALGUN |
Achieving Universal Healthcare Coverage and Quality Health and Social Care Services in Africa and the Arab Region through Public Healthcare Financing: Bringing Patients, Communities, and Trade Unions to Fight for the Future.
Background
Pursuing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and providing quality health and social care services in Africa and the Arab Region represent a fundamental global imperative, intertwined with human rights, economic development, and social stability. Current healthcare systems in Africa and the Arab Region grapple with severe underfunding, critical shortages of skilled health workers exacerbated by brain drain and austerity measures, and a complex epidemiological landscape marked by both communicable and rapidly rising non-communicable diseases. Access to essential medicines remains a formidable barrier, particularly in conflict-affected zones, while profound regional and urban-rural disparities further marginalise vulnerable populations. Public healthcare financing models often prove inadequate for these contexts, leading to catastrophic out-of-pocket spending that pushes millions into poverty. Compounding these issues are challenges of donor dependency, overwhelming debt burdens, and pervasive governance deficiencies, including corruption and inefficient resource allocation. Achieving UHC and quality public healthcare services requires sustained political will, transparent governance, and a collective commitment to health as a shared societal responsibility, ensuring no individual is left behind in the fight for a healthier future. Trade Unions in the healthcare service sector must be at the forefront of advocacy and campaigns for well-resourced, quality public health services to achieve the WHO target of UHC.
Objectives
The panel session's objective is to examine how Universal Healthcare Coverage through Quality Health and Social Care Services can be achieved in Africa and the Arab Region through proper healthcare financing and explore how Trade Unions and communities can build synergy to fight for an equitable future that promotes universal health coverage. In this discussion, healthcare professionals, academics, policymakers, trade union representatives, and community leaders will share their insights and experiences.
Agenda
Times |
Item |
Speakers |
10 min |
Welcome, introduction to the side event, and objectives |
Abi Badru |
Session 1 |
Privatisation in the Healthcare sector: Analysing the increasing involvement of non-governmental entities in the financing and delivery of healthcare services |
|
10 min |
Experience from Kenya: The privatisation of public healthcare, its negative impacts, and how trade unions can be a powerful force in resisting the privatisation of public healthcare. |
Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah National Secretary General Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists' Union. (KMPDU) |
10 min |
Reflection from the floor: trade unions from other countries share their experiences |
South Africa, Nigeria and others |
5 min |
Roundup |
Moderator |
Session 2 |
Framing the Challenge and the Promise of Health and Care Public Financing |
|
10 min |
Health Workforce Labour Market Analysis and its implications for Public Healthcare Financing. |
Dr Fiona Braka WHO Country Rep Ghana |
10min |
Public Health Financing: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through sustainable and equitable funding models. |
Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh Minister of Health, Ghana |
5 min |
Reflection from the Floor: Trade Union Leaders Share Their Perspectives. |
South Africa, Uganda, Senegal and others |
Session 3 |
The Global Health Workforce Migration |
|
10 min |
Promoting Decent Work and Social Protection in Health and Care Workforce Migration |
Kwena Daniel Manamela, General Secretary DENOSA |
5 min |
Launch of the PSI Project on Capacity building and social dialogue on Health and Care workforce Migration in Ghana and Nigeria |
Luis Monje PSI Projects Officer |
5 min |
Discussions |
Nigeria, Ghana, others |
Session 4 |
Conclusion |
|
10 min |
Discussion on: Building Solidarity and Strengthening Health Sector Networks in the region |
Daniel Oberko PSI Regional Secretary |
Regional Agenda on Digitalization for Quality Public Services
Background
The PSI Digitalization team will convene a workshop during AFRECON on the impact of digitalization on public services. The workshop will discuss the current digitalization trends globally and regionally. It will provide affiliates with an understanding of some of the key challenges facing workers. The aim of the workshop is to build possible pathways through collective brainstorming on what the content of a worker-led Procurement, Policy and Workplace could be across these three sites of action in the face of increasing digitalization. This workshop will lay the foundation for the region’s continued work on creating a set of policies that will ensure Quality Public Services for Dignity.
Africa and Arab countries are becoming increasingly digitalized. Whilst this is not all negative, current digitalization trends point in the direction of an increasing privatization of public services, growing dependency on foreign providers of digital public infrastructure and systems, loss of public service autonomy, environmental degradation through data centers and mining for rare minerals and a fragmentation of the labour force. Yet current geo-political developments, not least in relation to the uncertainties around global trade, can be an opportunity for the region to devise and demand their own digital industrial policy.
It is imperative that trade unions and their governments are cognizant of the impacts, which are increasingly being documented: increased precarity for workers, the privatization of public infrastructure and therefore public services, repressive surveillance, the erosion of national sovereignty, the depletion of energy and water resources, and rising authoritarianism. Too often, ostensibly public interest frameworks for investment in digital technologies only serve to entrench these trends and carve out new markets for Big Tech.
It is against this background that PSIs two digital consultants, Professor Hannah Johnston who will join us remotely, and Dr. Christina Colclough who will be onsite, will run the workshop. This is for all affiliates who are interested in learning more about the impacts of digitalization, and in discussing policy and workplace paths forward to ensure Quality Public Services for Dignity across the region.
Objective of the Panel
This two-hour workshop aims first to provide affiliates with a baseline knowledge of the impacts of digitalization on public services and work. It will do so by drawing on global tendencies and regional particularities presented by the two speakers. It will also gather input from affiliates to support PSI Africa and MENA’s work going forward on establishing a set of policies in support of the conference’s theme: Quality Public Services for Dignity. This will happen through table discussions and facilitated presentations. As part of this section, the two speakers will present some of PSIs recommendations for worker-led digital change and discuss with participants what a worker-led digital industrial policy could look like.
Discussion and adoption of the Resolutions
Protecting Those Who Heal: Fighting Against Violence for Health Workers in Conflict Zones in Africa and the MENA Region
Background
Across Africa and the Arab region, health workers are caught in the crossfire of escalating conflicts and crises. They face bombings, kidnappings, threats, and the systematic destruction of healthcare infrastructure. From the eastern DRC and the Anglophone regions of Cameroon to the war-torn zones of Palestine and the insurgency-plagued states of Nigeria, health professionals are working in conditions of extreme danger and fear—yet they persist, committed to saving lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported over 7,000 attacks on health care since 2018. These violations are not isolated incidents. They represent a pattern of disregard for international humanitarian law and a growing crisis that undermines both the safety of health workers and the resilience of public health systems.
Health workers in conflict zones endure not only physical risks but also professional abandonment: lack of protective equipment, unpaid salaries, burnout, and minimal psychological support. Unions in these regions face extreme difficulties in defending their members.
This session seeks to center these voices, document abuses, and explore how trade unions and allies can mobilize globally to protect those who heal.
Objective
This panel will shed light on the violence faced by health workers in conflict zones and explore how public service unions and international allies can organize solidarity, influence global health governance, and push for accountability.
The delegates dinner will take place at the World Trade Center, 22 Independence avenue, Accra.
Buses will pick up participants at 7pm at their hotels.
Background
In July 2024, the region developed a survey to identify the priorities of its 164 affiliates. A key component of their priorities is the need to build power through organizing to increase density within the public sector, organizing within privatized public services, and recruiting more public sector unions to affiliate to PSI. data received from about 96 affiliates suggests more than 50 public sector potential affiliates. Existing affiliates also have the potential to recruit in new areas, including privatised public services, and increase their membership by between 1,000 and 5,000 each year from 2025 to 2030.
Work is underway and progress is being made. Activities are taking in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Senegal and Kenya, representing a significant step towards strengthening union power at the national level. Unions in Ghana and Kenya have expanded into recruiting in private hospitals. In Zimbabwe, the nursing union is being supported to expand its recruitment efforts in public health facilities. In Senegal, Nigeria, and Zambia, affiliates are organizing community health workers. In Senegal, unions in the water sector are being supported through research to confront corporate abuse of workers' rights, poor service delivery and illicit financial flows. This enhances their power and ability to organize. A PSI web app has been developed to support affiliates in managing membership data.
Objectives
The one-hour session-Overview of regional organizing and growth strategy-will provide insight on the relevance of the regional organizing and growth strategy and shed light on some of the successes in the countries where activities are already taking place.
- Statement by SEIU President
- Launch of the “Organize for dignity (2026-2030)”
Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
Regional Climate Change & Just Transition: Public sector unions responding to the climate crisis
Background
This workshop is the culmination of work on climate change and just transition that has taken place over the last few years in a number of different countries. We have emphasised the vital role public services play in mitigating against climate change (for instance in the transition to renewable energy, an effective solid waste management system, and public sector workplaces that practice energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, sustainable transportation) and in adapting to climate change (such as water services, health and care systems, local and regional governments, public emergency services). Public service workers are essential in implementing these measures, yet their voices are often absent from climate policy spaces and in influencing adaptation and mitigation strategies. This workshop is an opportunity for public sector trade unions to come together, deepen a common perspective and strengthen collaboration around climate change policy and sectoral issues, as well as the impact extreme and increasingly dangerous weather conditions create for workers.
Objectives
- Build solidarity and networking among PSI affiliates through sharing experiences of the impact of climate change on public sector workers as well as on public services and how unions have organised for climate and environmental justice
- Consolidate a regional position through exploring and deepening understanding of key policy issues and identify common demands for influencing national, regional and global policy spaces
- To share best practices and lessons learnt in terms of tackling mitigation and adaptation strategies in different sectors
- To highlight effective OSH and collective bargaining positions and promote union led responses to the protection of frontline workers
Welcome by
- Daniel Oberko, PSI Regional Secretary;
- Prince Peters Adeyemi, PSI Vice-President; & Chair of the Ghana NCC
Impact of climate change in Africa and on public workers
Framing discussion on what climate change means for Africa, and in particular, its impact on public services
- Gyekye Tanoh, Coordinator, Hands and Brain Africa ·
- David Boys, Deputy General Secretary, PSI
Chair: Linda Keitany, PSI
Climate Finance: What does it mean for universal and accessible public services?
Analysing the impact of climate finances on public services, particularly energy: to what extent does it strengthen public sector delivery and ensure access?
- Sean Sweeney, TUED
How climate finance is opening the doors to privatisation in energy and how can we respond - Thoko Madonko, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of Witwatersrand (tbc)
Impact of climate finance and green reforms on national budget and debt responses including austerity
Chair: Najwa Hanna, PSI
Shaping regional demands on Climate Justice
Participants work in cross-country groups to discuss national experiences and union strategies to synthesise into collective demands that unions can organise and rally around
Four (4) thematic groups based on key climate policy issues:
- Climate finance and public services
- Just transition in utilities
- Protection of frontline workers, including emergency services
- Gender and just transition
Identifying priority issues and formulating clear demands; identifying possible campaign focusses
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Please note this that this workshop is limited to specific countries and unions. If you want to attend you may reach out to charlotte.kalanbani@world-psi.org. Note that you wll bear the cost of participation.
Regional Climate Change & Just Transition: Public sector unions responding to the climate crisis
Background
This workshop is the culmination of work on climate change and just transition that has taken place over the last few years in a number of different countries. We have emphasised the vital role public services play in mitigating against climate change (for instance in the transition to renewable energy, an effective solid waste management system, and public sector workplaces that practice energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, sustainable transportation) and in adapting to climate change (such as water services, health and care systems, local and regional governments, public emergency services). Public service workers are essential in implementing these measures, yet their voices are often absent from climate policy spaces and in influencing adaptation and mitigation strategies. This workshop is an opportunity for public sector trade unions to come together, deepen a common perspective and strengthen collaboration around climate change policy and sectoral issues, as well as the impact extreme and increasingly dangerous weather conditions create for workers.
Objectives
- Build solidarity and networking among PSI affiliates through sharing experiences of the impact of climate change on public sector workers as well as on public services and how unions have organised for climate and environmental justice
- Consolidate a regional position through exploring and deepening understanding of key policy issues and identify common demands for influencing national, regional and global policy spaces
- To share best practices and lessons learnt in terms of tackling mitigation and adaptation strategies in different sectors
- To highlight effective OSH and collective bargaining positions and promote union led responses to the protection of frontline workers
Climate Change as an Occupational Health and Safety Issue
Understanding how climate change impacts on the health and safety of public service workers across the sectors, and how trade unions can respond
- Facilitator: Sandra van Niekerk, PSI
Developing strategies for Climate Justice
Participants work in cross-country groups to discuss union led strategies in the sector and workplace for Climate Justice around four thematic areas:
- OHS and climate risks
- Health and care response to climate change
- Just transition and energy/water/sanitation/waste
- Collective bargaining and social dialogue for climate action
Facilitator: Abi Badru, PSI
Agreeing on final declaration and closure
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