After a regional workshop in 2015, which resulted in the implementation of national activities to strengthen the socio-economic analysis capacity of trade union leaders in 12 countries of Francophone Africa, an evaluation workshop of the program designed to strengthen the democratic management of trade unions is taking place at the Fopadesc Center in Lomé from 13 to 17 March 2017.

About 20 trade union leaders from Mali, Gabon, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Congo, Benin, Togo, Guinea, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire and CFDT representatives are attending this workshop organised by ITUC-Africa with the support of CFDT France and the ITUC.

The objective of the workshop is to develop the participants’ skills to better perceive and identify the impacts, the socio-economic trends and the deficiencies in the democratic functioning of the trade union organizations in their country. Hence, they will be better equipped to propose remedies to the identified issues.

This workshop will also enable unions to strengthen their internal democracy by involving all the structures into the decision-making bodies with a focus on women and youth.. A regional action plan will also be available on activities to implement at regional and national level in coordination with the ITUC-Africa and the CFDT.

It should be noted that this program is in line with the priorities outlined in ITUC-Africa’s 2016-2019 strategic plan, which centers its actions on "Organising" for a stronger and more representative trade union movement.