A Year of Solidarity in Action

First of all, best wishes to all people involved in the development of Solidarity!
2012 should be a year of achievements for our Network and its members.
With the adoption by EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL’s Congress of the resolution on social protection education, we now have a strong legitimacy and an unanimous support from the Education community to develop our actions in the fields of social protection schemes and social protection education.
In the same time, the Social Protection Floors initiative has received the support of both G20 states and the UN. This provides for a solid ground to the development of our actions, in link with ILO and other social protection actors at global level.
Finally, the European and International Day at MGEN, founder with EI and AIM of ESN, has proven that the alchimy between all these stakeholders is working! ESN members like the Australian Teachers Health Fund, US National Educators’ Association or French UMR have proven by their involvment in recent activities that ESN is now on the right track.
2012 should therefore be a year of concrete results at the service of local Educators and communities. In the next weeks, we’ll work on a first area of implementation of social protection education in South America, on a new Mutual society project in Moldavia and continue the valuable job done on health at work and retirement funds by 4 members. And ESN will continue its advocacy job at the next Social Protection Floor Initiative meeting in New York.

Rencontres du Mt Blanc

ESN’s CEO was in Chamonix, France, for the 5th Rencontres du Mt Blanc, a meeting of social economy leaders which takes place every 2 years.
In a workshop, facilitated by Thierry Weishaupt, about “social economy and citizenship”, the central topic became citizens’ Education about economy and the transmission of knowledge and values. Conclusion was that this topic should be a major entrypoint for further RMB actions and advocacy.
We’ll play our part in this!

European Platform against Poverty and social Exclusion : A change of paradigm is needed!!

Participating in the first annual meeting of the Platform, one would imagine a quite concrete and constructive process. But there is a strong need to change processes and vision.

On vision, the discussion always give the feeling that

1 fighting poverty and social exclusion is an annex task to the mainstream work on economic matters,

2 the search of the old-fashioned growth is the “must”, where we tend to think that we could shift to the growth of Human inclusion and development.

More concretely, the need for citizen inclusion in the process to solve poverty and exclusion problems is a motto, but lacks substance. Identically, the importance of education and capacity building to help work on these issues is not much taken in account.

The Network has a role there, working on citizens’ empowerment and education / capacity building to promote and implement solidarity based social protection, with the mobilization and support of Education professionals.

Let’s globalize Solidarity!

The financial and economic Summer was hot! Not a week without bad news about the negative consequences of a globalization not at all under control.
In the same time, the process to advance a Social Protection Floor continues, and the Education community brought its contribution through the adoption of an EI (Education International) resolution advocacing social protection education. As a member of the Education & Solidarity Network put it during our AGM in Cape Town, we need to rebalance the financial and economic globalization by a globalization of Solidarity.
For ESN, this means a deepening of its work on the support to the creation and development of solidarity based social protection schemes. It also means that we must mobilize educators all over the World to promote Education programs including the principles of Solidarity and social protection for all.

IE unanimous to engage in social protection education!

At the last day of its Congress in Cape Town, EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL, the umbrella body of all democratic unions gathering Education professionals, unanimously adopted a resolution presented by UNSA Education (France) and supported by Confédération Syndical du Quebec (CSQ, Canada).

This resolution will engage Unions and IE to promote solidarity based social protection nationally and internationally, with an accent on the specific added value of Education professionals: education and training programs.

The resolution, is taking in account the paradoxal period we are in, both promising by the engagement of G20 and ILO / UN in the promotion of a social protection floor, and perilous due to cuts made in social protection programs due to financial difficulties.

It is putting emphasis on the active role educators and their organizations should play to support citizen initiative by helping train and educate people, with a focus on the future generations. Their is a need, as the resolution put it, to create a “culture” of social protection and solidarity! Unions and EI should also advocate social protection education in the various countries and at international level.

The resolution also focus on the need of a good social protection for Education professionals, as an important condition to guarantee the quality of their work and life.

As Patrick GONTHIER, General Secretary of UNSA EDUCATION, and Réjean PARENT, President of CSQ, reminded in their speeches, it is important for the unions to invest in social protection schemes as a mean to serve their members, including the use of mutual societies (Réjean PARENT spoke about MGEN, the French Health Mutual created and managed by Education Professionals in France).

Finally, the actions to be undertaken by EI and Unions in line with the resolution will benefit of the support of the Education and Solidarity Network, created by EI with AIM (Association Internationale de la Mutualité) and MGEN.

Sharan Burrows, SG of ITUC, emphasis role of social protection at IE Congress

Sharan Burrows, Secretary General of ITUC, addressed the IE Congress yesterday in Cape Town. Putting emphasis on the individual and collective rights of Union members, she insisted on the importance of social protection.

Sharan Burrows especially underlined the key moment we are living this year with the G20 on the verge of endorsing the Social Protection Floor and the ILO working on a recommendation about social protection for next year. The Unions must take this opportunity to push for their rights.

During a brief interview with the President and the CEO of ESN, Sharan Burrows showed her interest in the question of social protecion education and the mobilisation of the Education professionals to ensure their own social protection. ESN will send ITUC a memo about relevent initiatives, including the resolution to be adopted on Monday by IE on social protection education and the role of Education professionals and their Unions in this field.

ESN’s GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Let’s challenge economic globalization by globalizing solidarity!

ESN’s first ordinary General Assembly, was held ahead of the EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL WORLD CONGRESS, on July 20th in Cape Town.

The event, meant as a very open arena for Education professionals, was the opportunity to put emphasis on 2 very important topics during round tables held in the morning :

-       the ways to tackle health problems and their financial consequences through prevention and Mutual societies,

-       the importance of Education programs about social protection in a context, described by ILO’s representative Victoria GIROUD as favorable to the creation of a universal social protection floor (horizontal dimension) and to the extension of social protection (vertical dimension).

In the afternoon, the formal General Assembly elected the new Board for the coming 4 years. Jean-Philippe HUCHET, Vice President of MGEN was reappointed as President.

As a conclusion, and as a delegate from Jordania quite accurately put it : « Let’s challenge economic globalization by globalizing solidarity ! »

 

 

 

ESN and Mutuality a driving force in ISSA Working Program

ESN’s President and CEO, as members of the Mutuality delegation, were part of the working sessions of ISSA (International Social Security Association) last week in Geneva. As part Of the Technical Committee (TC) on Mutuality, following contributions have to be delivered in the following months:

- The TC Mutuality had its first meeting to work on the reports to be written on the contribution Of Mutuality to the extension of social protection.

- TC Mutuality will contribute to the TC on Empowerment and Responsibility with a report on the conditions to empower and responsabilise Citizens on social protection.

- Social Protection Education and Training Centers Network (SPEDUCEN) has officially and practically been endorsed by ISSA in ITS program in the field Of Education and Capacity building, and an ISSA Representative will be part of the working team to develop the network until April 2012.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of ITUC, in favour of social protection floor

In an interview, dated June 14th, in Le Monde , a French leading newspaper, Sharan Burrow mentionned that the United Nations, ILO (International Labor Organisation) and ITUC (International Trade Union Council) wish the construction of a social protection floor in the World. She estimates the cost of it as limited at around 2% of GDP, but with a strong effect on millions of people who would exit the poverty trap.

G20 : la cause du socle de protection sociale avance !

Deux étapes importantes ont été franchies pour que le socle de protection sociale devienne une priorité du G20, reconnue comme telle lors du sommet de novembre.

D’une part, Nicolas SARKOZY a confirmé, le 23 mai dernier, lors de la conférence de haut niveau sur le thème “Renforcer la cohérence pour améliorer la dimension sociale de la mondialisation”, son engagement pour que le “développement de socles de protection sociale” devienne une priorité pour le G20. La démarche proposée par le Président de la République française est de “faire en sorte que la mondialisation s’appuie sur le progrès social pour renforcer le progrès économique.” Par ailleurs le président français a rappelé le caractère de “stabilisateur économique” de la protection sociale. De même, il a confirmé l’importance qu’il accordait aux travaux du Comité Bachelet.

En parallèle, lors du sommet de Brasilia, 3 membres sud-américains du G20, le Mexique, le Brésil et l’Argentine, ont officiellement appuyé la démarche de “socle de protection universel”, et devraient être rejoints par l’Afrique du Sud, la Chine se montrant plutôt favorable. Reste à convaincre les Anglo-Saxons et les Indiens, les plus réticents !

Lors d’une réunion de la Plate-forme Assurance Maladie au Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, la semaine dernière, les personnes qui suivent le dossier du socle pour la France dans les travaux du G20 ont indiqué que la dynamique ainsi créée sera poursuivie lors de réunions à venir. Le Réseau Education et Solidarité va remettre la semaine à venir des contributions aux négociateurs français, ainsi qu’à Mme BACHELET.