Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2 (ESAP2)

This three year project is the Phase II of the Employment and Social Affairs Platform project (ESAP). This new phase (ESAP2) will consolidate the results achieved under phase I and expand the platform to cover additional employment and social policy topics of high relevance for Western Balkans. The ESAP2 consists of three thematic components: Informal Employment and Undeclared Work: The Informal Employment and Undeclared Work Component aims to generate quantitative evidence on what works and what does not work with regard to transition to formality in the region and improve availability and quality of data on the different dimensions of informality. The results will be the basis for evidence based policy-making supporting improved policy design and implementation to reduce informal employment and undeclared work. 2. Labour Inspection: In relation to the Labour Inspection Component, informal employment and undeclared work is the main policy areas for peer learning within the Network of Labour Inspectorates in the Western Balkans mirroring the EU’s Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC). The Network was established under ESAP1. A peer-review will be undertaken to increase the regional knowledge and the understanding of the different labour inspection systems and practices for preventing and combating undeclared work. Based on the results of the peer review, tailored Inspection Guidelines for detecting undeclared work will be designed and pilot tested. The results will lead to an increased outreach of the Labour Inspectorates in preventing and combatting undeclared work. 3. Social Dialogue: To foster increased effectiveness of tripartite and bipartite social dialogue, the Social Dialogue Component includes three strands of action: 1. Establishment of online national and regional performance-monitoring tools in Economic and Social Councils (ESCs) for improving their impact on policy-making, 2. Development of regional guidelines for the promotion of collective bargaining in selected economic sectors, and 3. Development of online regional policy and performance tools in the area of labour dispute resolution and industrial relations. Through regular updating of the Database on Industrial relations and Working Conditions, more accurate data on number of collective agreements and collective bargaining coverage in the Western Balkans will be generated.

Project symbol

RER/19/03/EUR

Admin unit

DWT/CO-Budapest
International Labour Office

Start date

01/11/2019

End date

31/12/2023

Total allocation

2751569

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

2718799

Development Partners

European Commission, DG Employment and Social Affairs

Country/Countries

Central and Eastern Europe

Outcomes

Outcome 3: Full and productive employment for just transitions