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Promotion of Decent Work in Southern African Ports (phase II) - Final Evaluation

eval_number:

2575

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2575

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Resource management

category:

Organizational issues

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comments:

Beneficiaries included the ILO and the donor from effective implementation point of view, the donor from the point of view of effective use of resources, and ultimate beneficiaries from the point of view of capacity building in social dialogue principles and mainstreaming HR policies towards international best practices.

challenges:

Based on available foundational information base upon which the project was conceptualized and designed, it is clear that low productivity and competitiveness of the participating ports were largely attributed to lack of social dialogue and HR strategies that are not reminiscent of international best practices – resulting in confrontational relationships between workers and management and occasional industrial actions. Key challenges facing project implementation included: (i) Organizational instabilities at the start of PWD phase 2 – with respect to DCT; (ii) Insufficient “buy-in” and practical commitment to planned project activities on the part of high-level management in both TPT and MPDC; (iii) High turnover of key staff - especially in DCT and Richards Bay; (iv) Significant level of mistrust between management and union staff as well as limited mindset change towards social dialogue as a means of conflict resolution in both countries; (iv) Inadequacy of project staffing as well limited HR development related skills of project staff in both countries; (v) Weak capacity and high illiteracy level among union staff as well as lack of training facilities and structured training interventions – in the case of Mozambique; (vi) The bureaucratic nature of decision- making in both Transnet and MPDC; (vii) The ambitious geographical scope – especially in light of limited human and financial resources of the project.

success:

The project has significantly demonstrated that social dialogue and HR development are fundamental and mutually reinforcing elements towards decent work for organized labour, increased productivity and competitiveness of the ports to the common benefit of all including workers, management and other port stakeholders. As a result, social dialogue has been welcomed and is increasingly being applied by organized labour and management in the beneficiary ports. Albeit slower than initially anticipated, it has also significantly contributed to improvements in the level of trust and dialogue between workers and management - which is a major transformation from the earlier situation where inter-party relationships were characterized by immense mistrust between the parties. The much success that has been achieved to date is mainly attributed to retention of phase 1 CTA during phase 2 and the overall hard work and commitment of the PMU staff to project development aspirations and planned activities.

context:

This from the point of view of giving the project a head start and reducing operational risks.

description:

Retention of Key Staff of Previous phase: Retaining the same CTA under phase 1 during was valuable to the project.

administrative_issues:

Social dialogue interventions in the project area were surrounded by mistrust and suspicion and retention of staff of the previous phase – with whom stakeholders had already built some level rapport with.

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/219142

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location:

country:

Africa - regional

region:

Africa

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eval_title:

Promotion of Decent Work in Southern African Ports (phase II) - Final Evaluation