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2010/SOM1/HRDWG/058

Agenda Item: Plenary 12

Report of the Meeting of the CapacityBuilding Network

Purpose: Information

Submitted by: CBN Coordinator

/ 32nd Human Resources Development Working Group Meeting Hiroshima, Japan
24-28 February 2010

32nd APEC Human Resources Development Working Group Meeting

Report of the Meeting of the CapacityBuilding Network

Hiroshima, 26-27 February, 2010.

  • Economies present:

BruneiDarussalam, Chile, China, Indonesia,Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, USA.

  • Apologies:

None

  • Agenda:

The agenda for the meeting was confirmed as amended.

  • Welcome:

New and long-serving members of CBN were welcomed.

  • Co-ordinator Succession

To acclamation, Japan announced that it will take up the role of CBN Co-ordinator from January 2011

  • Issues for CBN Discussion
  1. HRD Ministerial

CBN discussed the sub-themes proposed for the forthcoming Ministerial meeting, to be held in September in China.

The following ideas were discussed (some overlapping with other sub-themes):

Sub-theme 1

  • The importance of public-private partnership and engagement in the development of employment-related and sustainable macro-economic policies;
  • A focus on the importance of high quality, environmentally-sound and high skill jobs in macroeconomic settings, and consequent capacity building to promote such outcomes;
  • A focus on capacity building for SMEs around improved productivity and high-quality jobs;
  • The importance of TVET and lifelong learning for sustainable employment, and associated capacity building needs;
  • Capacity building for labour market information systems, for example, to address skills shortages;
  • Capacity building for public sector agencies seeking to develop policy for sustainable employment and inclusive, balanced growth;
  • Possible initiatives around the on-line delivery of standardised skills and professional qualifications.

Sub-theme 2

  • Capacity building interventions to develop more sophisticated management attitudes to lifelong learning and the employment of vulnerable sectors of the workforce;
  • Capacity building around best-practice social protection initiatives;
  • Development of best-practice initiatives that create incentives to move out of safety nets and, back into work successfully.

Sub-theme 3

  • Building CBN capacity to support sustainable employment outcomes from APEC projects;
  • Strong interest in public-private partnerships and their capacity to contribute to renewed growth and sustainable employment;
  • Business capacity building at industry, regional and sectoral levels for sustainable growth and employment;
  • Building perspectives that unite agendas for growth and sustainable employment with APEC’s trade and investment focus.
  1. Inclusive Growth

CBN strongly endorsed a focus in APEC on inclusive growth. It focused on the capacity building possibilities in the following:

  • The importance of SMEs in such growth;
  • The importance of engagement with the private sector and civil society around inclusive growth;
  • The identification of gaps in knowledge, policy or other interventions, which might hinder inclusion;
  • The need for a focus on vulnerable and excluded sectors, including the sharing of best practice interventions;
  • The application of CSR principles to the labour market;
  • The potential offered for inclusion by support for entrepreneurship;
  • Developing leadership skills, which understand and foster inclusion.
  1. Multi-year plans

The advantages of multi-year planning were accepted.

  1. Wiki

CBN strongly supported the Wiki and its further development, particularly in terms of project development and the dissemination of outcomes.

  1. Follow-up on the APEC EC-HRDWG meeting

CBN supported the initiative to hold a joint meeting with the APEC Economic Committee on the margins of the HRDWG. The participation of the private sector in the meeting was noted positively.

  • Discussion of SCE Independent Review of the HRDWG

The Review’s recommendations were considered carefully. CBN reached the following consensus:

Rec. 1: Agreed

Rec.2: There was some discussion about this recommendation. It was suggested that many of the desirable features of the LS noted in the recommendation were already in place. Business and management capacity building might usefully have been mentioned. The “overlap” model for the LS was seen as a good principle, but not always achievable, so some flexibility might be called for.

Rec. 3: There was considerable discussion about this recommendation. It concluded with a consensus that “Deputy Co-ordinators” were not essential, but the position of Deputy LS has merit. This outcome was achieved in the context of a wider discussion relating to the practical issues associated with succession and continuity in network and working group leadership. In particular, there was a helpful discussion about network leadership succession within an economy when a nominated person is not able to take up a position. In that case, where alternates are clearly signalled, succession to an alternate will often be a sensible and effective outcome.

Rec 4: Given the importance of the non-government perspective captured by CBN and central to the forthcoming Ministerial, given the importance given by APEC to engagement with business and the private sector, given the renovation proposed for CBN, and given the taking up of the CBN Network Co-ordinator’s role by Japan, CBN felt that this recommendation should not be approved.

Rec. 5: Agreed.

Rec. 6: Agreed, with the understanding that this is primarily a matter for EdNet.

Rec. 7: Agreed, noting that the wording speaks to “planning”, such that single-year projects, where appropriate, are not precluded from the WG’s activities.

Rec. 8: Agreed, in the context of possible investigation by the WG of models for the evaluation of downstream impacts of projects.

Rec. 9: Agreed, in the context where there is flexibility in the structuring of meetings and an appropriate balance between policy discussion and successfully-completed business.

Rec. 10: Agreed.

Rec. 11: Agreed, noting the advantages of including ABAC in the list of fora included in the recommendation.

Rec. 12: Agreed, noting that there have been significant developments and progress in this area around which the WG might usefully continue to exert pressure.

Rec. 13: CBN came to no clear view on this as the recommendation seems to have arisen around confusions associated with the transition from one project submission model to another. Circumstances have improved and may have overtaken the recommendation.

  • Report on the project “ Strategic Approach to SustainableCapacityBuilding: Meeting the Challenges of Regional Economic Integration in APEC” (Japan) and discussion of the associated Thematic Seminar

The success of the Thematic Seminar was recognised. There was a discussion of the implication of the project’s findings. Amongst the ideas canvassed were:

  • The relevance of the project’s results for activities elsewhere in the APEC system;
  • The link between these results and the themes of the forthcoming Ministerial;
  • The need to use effective capacity building to bridge the “development gap”;
  • Improved dissemination of project findings and accrued knowledge;
  • Increased engagement with civil society stakeholders;
  • Increased engagement with the business sector, in particular;
  • Mechanisms to encourage all economies to be active in project development and implementation;
  • Reports on Existing Projects and New Projects

Reports were received on the following projects

  • IPR Strategies for Emerging Enterprises: Towards Successful Entry to Global Supply Chain(Japan)
  • Strategic Approach to SustainableCapacityBuilding: Meeting the Challenges of Regional Economic Integration in APEC (Japan – see above)
  • APEC Vocational Training Program (Korea)
  • CapacityBuilding of Mining Stakeholders in APEC Economies on Corporate Social Responsibility (Philippines)
  • Symposium on developing Entrepreneurial Skills in the Out-of-School Youth (Philippines)

Two new projects were canvassed:

  • Workshop on Lifelong Skills Development and Workplace Learning (Korea)
  • TVET and HRD Training Program for Experts (2008-2011): 2nd Phase (Korea)
  • Japan on CBN in the Future

Economies heard some preliminary ideas from Japan about the direction in which CBN may move in the future. Other ideas were also raised by network members, relating to the name, objectives and levels of participation in the network. The relationship between the objectives of the network and outcomes of the forthcoming Ministerial were discussed

  • The Co-ordinator closed the meeting, thanking CBN members for their participation, good humour and wisdom.
  • Economies present showed appreciation to the Network Coordinator for his long term dedication and leadership.

Nigel Haworth

CBN Co-ordinator