Suriname signs Decent Work Country Programme III

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and tripartite partners in Suriname signalled the continuation of efforts to advance social justice and promote decent and productive work opportunities for women and men with the signing of a new four-year Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP). On Friday 10 February 2023, Suriname officially signed its third DWCP. DWCPs are the main vehicle for delivery of ILO support to countries and have two main objectives: to promote decent work and its normative framework as a key component of national development strategies; to organize ILO’s knowledge, instruments, advocacy and cooperation at the service of tripartite constituents in a results-based framework to advance the decent work agenda.

This DWCP will focus on several key areas including jobs, productivity and sustainable growth, livelihoods, human capital, and a skilled workforce as well as labour market governance and labour rights. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its commitment to the human rights agenda and the core programming principle to leave no one behind, is central to this third Suriname DWCP. The priorities of the DWCP are based on Suriname’s national development priorities, as articulated in the Multi-Annual Development Plan of the Republic of Suriname (NDP), 2022-2026, which in turn aligns with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).



Delivering the feature address at the launch, the Honourable Steven Mac Andrew, Minister of Labour, Employment Opportunity and Youth Affairs, noted that the DWCP is “broader than sustainable development goal number 8” and “shows that (we) have paid attention to issues that confront the whole world, for example climate change and the necessity to create green jobs”.



Mr. Lars Johansen, Deputy Director ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean highlighted that the signing underscored the country’s commitment to mainstreaming decent work in social and economic policies. “In the case of Suriname, since this is the third Decent Work Country Programme developed, each building on the one that went before it.” He emphasized and thanked the Government and social partners for their “continued belief in and commitment to the DWCP as the best way of collaborating with the ILO and other Development partners.”



The DWCP focuses on three priorities:

1. Jobs, productivity, and sustainable growth.
2. Livelihoods, human capital, and a skilled workforce.
3. Labour market governance and labour rights.

This DWCP was developed through the close cooperation of the ILO’s Decent Work Team (DWT) for the Caribbean and a cross-section of national stakeholders led by Suriname’s tripartite constituents. In addition to bilateral consultations, stakeholder workshops and visits to Brokopondo and Redi Doti were held in September and November 2022.



Photo: From left to right: the signatories of the (DWCP SU III). Claudette Etnel (trade center C-47), Michael Miskin (Central of National Service Organizations CLO), Armand Zunder (Progressive Employees Organization PWO), Sherida Mormon (Association Surinamese Business Life VSB), Hon. Steven Mac Andrew, Minister of Labour, Employment Opportunity and Youth Affairs, Suriname, Mr. Lars Johansen, Deputy Director, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, Roy Haverkamp (Federation of Farmers and Farmers FAL), Sonny Chotkan (Organization of Cooperating Autonomous Trade Unions OSAV) and Imrick Edam (Moederbond).