Overview 

The major successes of IFWEA during the period have included the development of substantial programmes in support of workers’ organisation in the informal economy, the launch of a new regional organisation for workers’ education in Arab countries (IFWEA-AC), the continuing development of the Global Network in partnership with Solidar, major preparatory work for the new global curriculum for ‘organising in the global economy’, and the launch of the international media project for workers’ education. 

We’ve been disappointed by our failure to develop a substantial global core programme of regional-based capacity-building for our affiliates to improve the quality and scope of workers’ education through training for educators, improvements in education methodologies, programme design and management, materials, and the curriculum. This is partly because of lack of capacity and prioritisation in the Secretariat and Executive Committee. But like many other national and international organisations in the labour movement, IFWEA has also been hindered by the continuing trend of governments, funding agencies and NGOs to support short-term projects with immediate development outcomes, rather than an investment into long-term capacity-building in education provision for workers. 

The launch of a formally-constituted IFWEA in the Arab Countries (IFWEA-AC) regional organisation, and the subsequent fundraising and establishment of regional events and training programmes has been an outstanding achievement. IFWEA now has a substantial and growing membership in the region, and has the potential to have a significant impact on the development of independent and democratic trade unions and workers’ associations. 

Euro-WEA on the other hand, has faced major crises over the period, and in reality was no longer effectively functioning as a regional organisation by 2006 following the closure of the Brussels office and the loss of a paid Secretary. The European workers’ education associations that originally created IFWEA sixty years ago have nearly all experienced radical change over the last five years, particularly in the funding and managerial conditions imposed by governments. International programmes and perspectives have inevitably weakened in this process, and in some cases, there has also been a significant weakening of relationships with the labour movement. Nevertheless, largely due to the efforts of ABF in Sweden, there is new energy being invested in the renewal of IFWEA’s European regional activity.

Our work in developing programmes of workers’ education in the informal economy, as agreed at our 2003 General Conference, has been developing steadily throughout the period, with regional programmes developed in Africa and Asia-Pacific, considerable investment into new materials and methodologies, and strong partnerships developed with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), its member organisations, and our affiliates active in informal economy organising (notably SEWA and StreetNet International), and with War on Want. IFWEA has the potential to play a very important role in the development of workers’ organisation in the informal economy. 

Our work with the trade union movement has concentrated on the Global Curriculum programme on Organising in the Global Economy. In partnership with the National Labor College, and with the support of the AFL-CIO, we have undertaken a major process of consultation with our own affiliates, international union federations, and other agencies, such as the Global Labour University, to assess the potential for a programme of one-year international courses designed to give knowledge, political insight and practical skills to union activists embarking on international organising initiatives. 

We have continued to work very closely with Solidar in the development of the Global Network project, which has enabled many of our affiliates in the global South to participate in political education programmes, building support for the Decent Work – Decent Life campaign. Most importantly, Global Network has provided an invaluable opportunity for regional meetings and events. The Global Network is managed by the network of regional co-ordinators based at IFWEA affiliates, along with the Brussels-based Solidar secretariat. Reports of Global Network activities are separately available.  

Finally, as agreed in 2003, IFWEA launched its project to explore the potential for co-operation between workers’ education organisations active in the field of media production. Due to the enormous investment of time and energy of Workers’ World Media Productions in South Africa and the support of FNV, in April 2006 we were able to organise an international workshop on  Workers’ Education & Workers’ Media in a Global Economy. This workshop led to the creation of a preparatory committee for the International Labour Media Network & Co-operative, due to be launched in October 2008. 

Executive Committee

At the 19^th General Conference in Albufeira, Portugal, the following members of the Executive Committee were elected:

In addition, at its first meeting in Albufeira, the newly-elected Executive Committee appointed Dan Gallin as Special Advisor. 

During the period, Giampiero Alhadeff left Solidar to take up a new position, and was replaced by Conny Reuther, the newly-appointed Solidar General Secretary. 

In November 2007, we were shocked and saddened by the death of former Sandiso Ndlovu, Director of the Ishamel Nedziwe College of Labour Studies in Zimbabwe, and former member of the Executive Committee. 

The Executive Committee met seven times:

5-6 March 2004 Manchester, UK

11-12 October 2004 Eastbourne, UK

14-15 May 2005 Lisbon, Portugal

8-9 April 2006 Cape Town, South Africa

11-12 November 2006 Nynäshamn, Sweden

4-5 June 2007 Geneva, Switzerland

10 October 2007 Geneva, Switzerland

Communications

We have electronically published an IFWEA Bulletin as regularly as time and resources permitted, and extremely grateful to all those who provided translation on a voluntary basis. A new mailing list was established specifically for the bulletin, enabling news to reach more than 500 education activists and staff within the larger affiliates and partner organisations, in addition to the formal IFWEA contacts. 

We continue to be grateful to the support extended by TSL in Finland for the hosting and maintenance of the IFWEA website and electronic mail facilities. 

Co-operation with sister organisations and international institutions 

IFWEA benefits from a strong partnership with Solidar, which continues to provide support for the development of Global Network, as well as providing our affiliates with access to networks and campaigns around the ‘decent work’ agenda. 

Strong relationships exist with the Global Union Federations: our global union affiliates of course, but also fraternal contact with education officers in others. It is with sadness that we note the disaffiliation of the International Union of Foodworkers, but retain a strong and good relationship. 

IFWEA was well represented at major meetings and conferences of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, and built a good relationship with the Trade Union Development Cooperation and. Education Unit. We were able to send a strong delegation to the founding congress of the International Trade Union Confederation, where we were also able to organise a fringe meeting on the global curriculum programme. 

We were also able to send a substantial delegation to participate in the International Symposium on the Role of Trade Unions in Labour Education, held in October 2007, organised by the Workers’ Activities Branch of the ILO (ILO-ACTRAV). 

IFWEA continues to enjoy ‘special list’ international NGO status with the International Labour Organisation, and has been represented at each of the annual International Labour Congress meetings during the period. In addition, we have worked closely with the ILO on a number of programmes, including the Global Labour University, and regional activities in support of workers in the informal economy. 

IFWEA has formal NGO status with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and has been represented at meetings of UNESCO’s International NGO conference, held every two years. 

We also work very closely with Women in Informal Employment, Globalizing and Organizing, who has been of invaluable help in advising and inspiring us in our work in the informal economy. IFWEA formally joined WIEGO in April 2006, and was represented at the first WIEGO General Assembly under its new constitution. 

More recently, IFWEA has developed a good relationship with the Labour Rights Team of Oxfam International, in discussions around new forms of organising, with specific reference to informal economy work. 

IFWEA Programmes and Projects

During the period 2004-2007 we have been directly responsible for a number of projects:

• Global Organising Education Programme
• Southern and East Africa Organising in the Informal Economy
• Informal Economy Workers’ Rights
• Support to Workers’ Education in Arab-speaking countries
• International Labour Media Network

We have also been active partners in externally-managed projects, which have provided vital additional income to the Secretariat, as well as supporting our own programme areas. 

Some of these projects have been research and education projects for trade unions in the UK on international trade union development, where IFWEA has provided advice, materials and organisation of participation of IFWEA members from other countries. This has included working with the Transport & General Workers’ Union, the General Federation of Trade Unions,  UNISON (public services union), Women Working Worldwide, and the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex. 

We’ve also had substantial involvement in European projects developing transnational workers’ education programmes, working with the Scarman Trust in the UK, and with the Trade Unions Institute for Co-operation to Development (ISCOS), Italy. In Asia, we worked closely with the ILO Asia-Pacific office in developing new education materials for trade unions on organising in the informal economy, and delivering pilot courses in Thailand, Cambodia, and Mongolia. 

Finance

Its been a tough four years. At our last General Conference in 2003, we took the unprecedented step of creating a new Secretariat for IFWEA that stood alone and was independent of any ‘host’ affiliate, therefore politically answerable only to the General Conference and the Executive Committee. At the same time, it was financially alone, having no affiliate or institution prepared to assist with cash-flow problems or underwrite debts. We had no overdraft facility. If the money in the bank ran out, the staff would be unpaid, and the Secretariat would simply close. 

Despite strenuous attempts, the financial model adopted in 2003 failed. 

Put most simply, we knew we had core income from affiliation fees of about US$100,000, and we had minimum expenditure of US$200,000. This covered the costs of a full-time General Secretary and Administrator, a small office in Manchester, and the necessary expenses of Executive Committee meetings, accounting, and minimal budgets for travel etc. It did not include support to any regional activity, programmes, seminars etc. The shortfall in the budget was to be covered by project income, grants and fees. 

From the day that the Secretariat began operation in Manchester, work was necessarily dominated by the need to cover the core budget: by constantly chasing affiliates to pay their fees, and by building project activity that could supply the additional income. For the first two years, we managed to balance the books, through generous consultancy contracts from British trade unions to support their education programmes on globalisation and international development, and through project activity designed to maximise income to the core budget. But many of the core services to affiliates, development of programmes agreed by Conference, and relationships with key international institutions and partners were necessarily not receiving the attention they deserved. This of course made it harder to justify the ever-increasing affiliation fees, more affiliates questioned the value of their membership of IFWEA, and we had to spend more time and effort chasing and justifying payment. This was a vicious circle. 

By January 2006, with the expiry of some of the most lucrative contracts and increasing cash-flow problems created by late or non-payment of fees, we were faced with closure. With enormous reluctance, our Administrator, Anne Webley, was made redundant, and the General Secretary was put on to a part-time salary. 

It was only through the intervention of the Transport & General Workers’ Union (now UNITE) that we survived. In April 2006, I was employed full-time by the union, with the understanding that I would be able to devote sufficient time to meeting my responsibilities as IFWEA General Secretary. Shortly afterwards, new project proposals were approved which enabled us to employ a full-time Education Projects Officer (Crystal Dicks) and a part-time Finance Officer (David Brookes), and the Secretariat was able to continue its work.

With the savings made possible through support from the T&G, and stringent financial controls, we were able to build a modest financial surplus in 2006 and 2007, from which we’ve been able to invest our own funds in the organisation of the General Conference. We can be proud that despite all the problems, we are meeting at the General Conference with sufficient funds to cover our liabilities, and – all being well – able to transfer a modest surplus to the next General Secretary. 

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support to IFWEA received during the period 2004-2007 from:

The Department for International Development (DFID), UK

AFL-CIO, USA

AFL-CIO Solidarity Centre, USA

The European Union

ISCOS, Italy

Scarman Trust, UK

International Labour Office

Oxfam-NOVIB (Netherlands)

Transport & General Workers’ Union (UK)

General Federation of Trade Unions (UK)

Unison (UK)

Please note that these do not include the many more development agencies and international solidarity partners that have supported IFWEA activities in the regions, including of course the Global Network, the programmes undertaken  by IFWEA in the Arab Countries (IFWEA-AC), and other programmes initiated and managed by regional co-ordinators.

The Secretariat and Staff

Staff employed at the Secretariat during the period included:

Anne Webley (Administrator).  Employed full-time by IFWEA from January 2004 to December 2005, then part-time until March 2006, at which point she was made redundant due to financial crisis. 

Crystal Dicks (Education Projects Officer). Part-time October 2004 – Sept 2005, Full-time June 2006- present. 

David Brookes (Finance Officer). Part-time April 2006-present

Libby Brookes (Conference Organiser). Part-time February 2007-present

In addition, Joe Holly was responsible for the management of a number of European projects on a daily fee basis, and provided invaluable voluntary support to the Secretariat. 

We are greatly indebted to those organisations and individuals who have provided voluntary support through translation of the IFWEA bulletin and other documents and materials, including papers for this 2007 General Conference. These have included, Liliana Santos (UGT, Portugal) Lionel Marrion (CC.OO, Spain), Peter Rother (DAA, Germany), Joël Jamet (C&L, France), and staff members at DWRC, Palestine. 

We has also benefited from the contribution of a number of volunteers and interns, including Alice Hawkes and Mark Wilding from the UK, Jens Sparbier from Germany, Park Sunghee from South Korea, and Svetlana Boincean from Moldova. 

The survival of IFWEA to reach its 20^th General Conference has only been possible through the very hard work and commitment of the staff in the Secretariat.