The transformation from closed economies built on protection and privileges to open economies building on economic performance and competitiveness will result in a shake-up of established policies, practices, institutions and relations among the social actors. The economic and climatic vulnerability of the small Caribbean States will require coordinated responses that should be aimed at strengthening the competitive capacities of the local industry and at formulating supportive social and economic policies. The ILO message is that better outcomes are achieved where the social partners are involved in this process and that social dialogue at the national and enterprise levels is indispensable for raising competitiveness and accomplishing social objectives. Hence the strategy is to promote social dialogue in the sub-region as a prerequisite for managing the change process that results from the rapid progress of globalization. This is to be accomplished in the following ways:

• Reinforcing and supporting social dialogue processes wherever they exist
• Enhancing the capacity of Governments and the social partners to participate in social dialogue
• Advocate social dialogue as the alternative to adversarial approaches among the social partners
• Stimulate Governments and the social partners to start or intensify social dialogue
• Generate a greater readiness on the part of management and labour to adopt social dialogue practices at the enterprise level
• Monitor and analyze outcomes of social dialogue approaches
• Provide information on social dialogue practices, in particular best practices.

1. A collection of case studies of high-road business strategies and an in-depth analysis of the role played by adherence to labour standards as a pre-requisite for enhancing workers' participation in generating business success is currently underway within the framework of PROMALCO.

2. Government conciliators/mediators participated in a workshop intended to improve/provide new skills in the conciliation/mediation process in order to increase the effectiveness of the major disputes resolution machinery, and to strengthen the capacity of the government conciliators/mediators to assist employers and workers to resolve their labour disputes (St. Kitts, February 2000).

3. A Working Party was appointed at the Labour Ministers meeting in April 2000, and a meeting convened in January 2001 to consider recommendations for the modernization of labour ministries in the region and to make suitable proposals. The outcome of meeting will feed into an upcoming meeting of Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Labour in September 2001, and eventually to a Ministers meeting in 2002.

4. A national tripartite meeting on industrial relations and labour administration was organized in Suriname in December 2000.

5. "Effective communication and customer service for organization excellence" was the theme of an ILO sponsored two-day national workshop for employers' organizations, held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2001.

6. During the May AGM of the Caribbean Employers' Confederation, the ILO was given the coordinating role for the preparation of a new EU-funded 2 million Euro social dialogue project for execution by the CEC and the CCL.

7. The Office contributed actively to the design and implementation of the European Union's first and only social dialogue project under its "decentralized funding" facility. The project which ended in September 2000 was jointly implemented by the Caribbean Employers' Confederation and the Caribbean Congress of Labour. It produced studies on industrial relations practices and a model of consultation and collaboration among employers' and workers' organizations at the regional level as well as the first Caribbean social partner declaration on social dialogue. A follow-up project is in the pipeline. The Director and specialists of the Office took actively part in the design and the implementation of the project. The project culminated in a Symposium in Port of Spain in April 2000 that was also attended by the ILO Executive Director for Social Dialogue from ILO Geneva.

8. During much of 1999 and 2000, the Office participated in a technical advisory capacity in a tripartite task force that was charged with the development of a social and economic compact for Trinidad and Tobago. All major private sector organizations, the National Trade Union Centre and the Prime Minister signed the Tripartite Declaration that resulted from this work on 31 October 2000. The ILO has already been requested in helping in the formulation of two specific protocols, one on tripartite consultation and one on employment to give effect to this Declaration.

9. The ILO promoted the very successful Barbados model of tripartite Protocols throughout the region and globally, including through its website. Some analysis of the outcomes of this social partnership agreement was done under the Office's 1999 Country Employment Policy Review. In August this year, a HQ mission to Barbados carried out an in-depth study of the Barbados Protocols as part of ILO's global study of best practices in social dialogue.

10. The ILO organized an open forum and a seminar in Guyana on social dialogue. As a result, the employers' organization, the Trade Union Centre and the Government have undertaken steps to formulate a tripartite agreement.

11. The ILO has recently received approval in principle by the Government and the Social Partners in Suriname to organize a national consultation on social dialogue and to develop a technical cooperation project in support of the anticipated action plan.

12. The Office will publish before the end of this year a workers' education guide on productivity bargaining.