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Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers - Final Evaluation

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Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers - Final Evaluation ILO EVALUATION o Evaluation Title: CARIFORUM Civil Society in the Regional Development and Integration Process: Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers - Final evaluation o ILO TC/SYMBOL: RLA/13/03/EEC o Type of Evaluation: Final independent o Country(ies): Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Haiti o Date of the evaluation: March-June 2018 o Name of consultant(s): Juan David Gonzales and June Alleyne o ILO Administrative Office: DWT/CO-Port of Spain o ILO Technical Backstopping Office: DIALOGUE o Date project ends: April 2018 o Donor: country and budget US$ €2,015,000 (European Comission) o Evaluation Manager: Cybele Burga o Evaluation Budget: USD 50000 o Key Words: Social Dialogue, Capacity Development This evaluation has been conducted according to ILO’s evaluation policies and procedures. It has not been professionally edited, but has undergone quality control by the ILO Evaluation Office FINAL EVALUATION REPORT I Executive Summary Background and context In October 2008, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic, being members of the Forum of the Caribbean Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM), signed the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Haiti signed the agreement in December 2009, but has not yet applied it, as it still has to be ratified. The first objective of Article 1 of the Agreement indicated that the EPA is expected to contribute to “the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty through the establishment of a trade partnership consistent with the objective of sustainable development, the Millennium Development Goals and the Cotonou Agreement” but also to promote regional integration, economic cooperation and good governance, and to improve CARIFORUM States' capacity in trade policy and trade-related issues.1 In the context of the implementation of this EPA, the ILO Decent Work Team (DWT) for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean based in Trinidad and Tobago put together, with the financial support of the EU, the project “Support to Facilitate Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in the Regional Development and Integration Process: Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers to Fulfil their EPA Obligations”. It targeted all CARIFORUM countries and was to be implemented between 2015 and 2018. This project is herein after referred to as the “ILO-EU Project”. Summary of the assignment objective, logic and structure The project was designed to address a number of needs identified by ILO in the region, most notably: the limited knowledge about social aspects of the EPA, the existence of few support programmes with regards to these aspects, labour legislation in all CARIFORUM countries need updating, labour information systems in most countries are weak, dialogue on labour and social aspects issues is limited, child labour remains a problem in a number of CARIFORUM countries and occupational health and safety (OHS) training is required across the region.2 The overall development objective of the ILO-EU Project was to allow employers and workers, through their national and regional organizations, to engage effectively in social dialogue processes, to contribute to the design and implementation of social and economic development policies for Caribbean regional integration, and to drive the monitoring process of the social aspects of the CARIFORUM-EC EPA. As such, the main beneficiaries of the ILO-EU Project were the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC), the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and their national constituents, National Employers’ Organizations (NEOs) and National Trade Unions (NTUs). 1 http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/february/tradoc_137971.pdf 2 ILO. 2014. - Description of Action- Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employer to fulfil their EPA Obligations: Caribbean Employers Federation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) component of the support to facilitate Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in Regional Development and Integration Process © UNIVERSALIA II FINAL EVALUATION REPORT The ILO-EU project had three specific objectives: . “Enhance technical and organizational capacity of the regional organizations of employers and workers to enable them to participate meaningfully in the harmonization of labour laws and practices to support the free movement of a skilled and competitive workforce, the development of an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises across the region, and the promotion of the Caribbean Single Market intra and extra regional trade and development”; . Put processes and programmes in place to assist the regional and national organizations of employers and workers in building and maintaining the institutional capacity required to promote and implement internationally recognized core labour standards according to Article 191 of the EPA, and the Decent Work Agenda; . Establish mechanisms to facilitate the promotion of and participation in dialogue between the CEC and the CCL within the CARIFORUM-EC Consultative Committee. In addition, establish mechanisms to enable them to fulfil their roles in the implementation and governance of the EPA, including monitoring its effect as described in the Social Aspects Chapter. To achieve these three specific objectives, the project was articulated around 12 outcomes regrouped around three components: a joint CEC-CCL component, a CCL component and a CEC component. Actual status of the assignment A total budget of 2,015,000 euros was granted to implement the project over a three-year period between February 2015 and February 2018 across the fifteen CARIFORUM countries. The project was subject to a no-cost extension of three months and was finalized in April 2018. Purpose, scope and clients of the study The objective of this final independent evaluation is to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, potential impact and sustainability of the ILO’s actions taken during this project. These actions were aimed at enhancing the capacities of the CEC and the CCL with a view to fulfill their obligations with respect to the implementation of the EPA with the EU. As stated in the Terms of Reference (ToR), the purpose of this evaluation is to: . Assess the relevance of the intervention’s objectives and approach . Establish how far the intervention has achieved its planned outcomes and objectives . Determine the achievements of the ILO-EU Project objectives at the outcome and impact levels . Understand the extent to which the ILO-EU Project’s strategy has proven efficient and effective . Evaluate whether the ILO-EU Project is likely to have a sustainable impact. Knowledge and information obtained from the evaluation will be used to inform the design of future similar ILO activities in the Caribbean or countries in similar situations. This evaluation is being carried out in line with the requirements of the ILO Evaluation Policy. ILO project evaluations are conducted to provide an opportunity for the Office and its funding partners to assess the appropriateness of the design as it relates to the ILO's strategic and national policy framework, and consider © UNIVERSALIA FINAL EVALUATION REPORT III the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of ILO-EU Project outcomes. Project evaluations also test underlying assumptions about its contribution to a broader development goal. The evaluation focused on all the activities that have been implemented since the initiation of the ILO-EU Project, in February 2015, until its completion in April 2018. It thus covered activities conducted and results reached until the project extension period between February 2018 and April 2018. This evaluation responds to the evaluation questions presented in the evaluation matrix (Appendix II) that derive from the questions proposed in the ToR and that was approved by the evaluation’s director. The internal clients of this evaluation are: ILO Regional Office, DWT/CO–Port-of-Spain, DWT/CO–San-José, DIALOGUE, PARDEV and EVAL. The external clients of this evaluation are the donor (European Union), the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC), the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and the Programme Steering Committee. Methodology for the evaluation This summative evaluation was participatory, utilisation-focused and was supported by mixed methods throughout the six phases of the evaluative process described below: . Preparation . Data collection and country visit (May 7th to May 24th, 2018) . Validation Workshop (May 24th, 2018) . In depth document review . Data analysis and triangulation . Report writing and validation (July-August 2017). The evaluation triangulated information from three sources of data: . Document review was done in order to identify milestones reached and provide references to challenges and delays in the delivery of activities. Field Visits were conducted in 5 CARIFORUM countries that participated in the project: Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. A total of 48 individual and group semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders from nine different types of organizations (including: CEC, CCL, NEOs,
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