Social dialogue as an instrument of change has undergone several adjustments in the Mediterranean countries, leading its actors to be more and more involved in the social, economic, and environmental decision-making process.

Both Northern EU Member States and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries have been implementing dialogue strategies and policies that can take various forms in terms of actors involved and efficiency of the solutions proposed to specific labor market-related and societal issues, these processes being shaped by national contexts and social dialogue practices.
Moreover, social dialogue as a clearly established platform for labour-related discussions and collective bargaining purposes with official channels and recognized representatives tends to be given particular attention in times of uncertainty as social demands usually increase, seeking a more socially inclusive environment and secure livelihoods, and calling for substantial changes in economic growth and development models as a response to unprecedented challenges.

In this context, the Union for the Mediterranean partnered with BUSINESSMED, an organization that has long worked on the promotion of social dialogue, with the support of the European Commission, to improve the involvement of Social Dialogue when addressing the challenges that labour markets face in the Mediterranean region. As representatives of governments and employers in the region, both organizations have devoted increasing attention to social dialogue matters, along with their respective partners from intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, trade unions, local authorities and economic and social councils. The challenge being ultimately to be able to come up with suitable regional solutions relying on widespread buy in, in a post-pandemic context that is increasingly calling for more country-tailored policies.

In this framework, The Union for the Mediterranean, the European Training Foundation, BUSINESSMED and the GIZ are  co-organizing open dialogue event in order to address the increasing skills challenge in the Mediterranean region through Social Dialogue practices.

The  “UfM-Regional dialogue: enhancing skills for better employability” will be held online on  July 8, 2021
This event will take the form of three panels that will bring together social partners, international organizations, institutional partners and cooperation agencies to discuss specific challenges related to skills mismatch at the national and regional level and the solutions that social dialogue offers to respond to them.
Participants will look into practical examples, with a particular attention given to most fragile businesses and populations facing the backlash of the global pandemic.The discussions will provide an opportunity to build on past efforts towards more inclusive social policies in order to move a step further and start to envision concrete solutions to labor market issues through the window of skills policies in a social dialogue environment. The overall objective in terms of outcome will be to deliver solid recommendations that could feed into the UfM Ministerial Conference on Employment and Labour that is set to take place in 2022.

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