With the evolving situation of the 2020 humanitarian crisis, BUSINESSMED noticed that BSOs are grappling with how to ensure their business continuity, to continue serving their members and to better comply with the new working conditions. Taking that and the travel restrictions into consideration, BUSINESSMED redesigned its academies planned in the framework of the EBSOMED project.

To address these challenges, the academies were redesigned to debate the agility and resilience of the BSOs to ensure business continuity in different area of work. To do so, BUSINESSMED conceived a cycle of webinars and mobilized international organizations with regional expertise and conducted their recovery plan to give share their knowledge   and formulate recommendations to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. The   cycle was called “Building back resilience: the role of Employers’ and Business Association in shaping the new normal” and was divided into 4 online events.

The four webinars organized with the implication of the UFM; called representatives of the private sector to get involved in the debates on how organisations and SMEs can take full advantage of the crisis and improve their services using the opportunities offered by technologies.  

The debate webinar “Correcting Labour Market Imbalances and Promoting Employment and Employability through Social Dialogue between Employers’ and Trade Union Organisations” was held on November 16th, 2020 and fed into renewed cooperation amongst social partners, leading to tangible improvements for the Mediterranean businesses, workers, and citizens alike. It was an opportunity to explore the important role that social dialogue plays to tackle widespread unemployment in the Mediterranean from social partners perspectives.

The webinar gave insights into the way Social Dialogue can support Employers and Trade unions develop and implement gender-responsive employment and labour market policies in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also highlighted the employment policies needed to tackle widespread unemployment and underemployment from Trade unions and Employers perspectives. The intervention of the ILO representative gave the opportunity to explore the ways social dialogue was able, on some of their initiatives, to address employment, employability and decent work-related issues.

The debates and consultations led to the elaboration of a recommendation paper available through this link.