The Programme is called the Global Fund for Decent Work and Tripartite Dialogue, and it operates within the framework of EEA/ Norway Grants, where the donor states are Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, whereas Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Spain are the beneficiaries.
The Fund for Decent Work is administered by Innovation Norway, which is a Norwegian state agency providing support for innovations and development of enterprises in Norway. The main goal of the Fund for Decent Work is the promotion and improvement of tripartite dialogue between employers’ organisations, trade unions and public authorities.
Through the Fund for Decent Work the Ministry of Welfare of Latvia puts an emphasis on addressing three main priorities for Latvia:
- healthcare, security and environment at the work place;
- promotion of communication and partnership initiatives among social partners, public and private organizations, as well as NGOs;
- promotion of the activities by social partners in ensuring employment, education, training, housing, non-discrimination, poverty prevention, healthcare, security and social protection.
The Information Day introduced the Fund for Decent Work laying out its framework and discussing the important details of project applications. The main social partners – Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises and Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions – shared their experience as well. There were about 40 participants at the Information Day event, including representatives of 18 different Latvian trade unions and associations, among them the Latvian Employers' Confederation and the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia, as well as the Ministries of Finance and Welfare.
Presentations from the Information Day:
Situation in Latvia from the perspective of tripartite cooperation and decent work. Ilze Zvidrina, Ministry of Welfare of Latvia.
Presentation of the Fund for Decent Work. Knut Ringstad, Innovation Norway.
This is NHO. Henrik Munthe, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises.
LO-Norway. Our background and experiences. Hans Øyvind Nilsen, Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions.
More information on the Fund for Decent Work: www.decentwork.no
More information on EEA/ Norway Grants: www.eeagrants.lv