Currently taking place in Arusha, Tanzania is a workshop organized by ILO ACTRAV and the Japanese trade union confederation, RENGO. This workshop is focused on building the capacities of trade union leaders on ’trade union rights and labour standards for productivity improvement in Africa’. About 20 trade unionists are beneficiaries of the workshop.

A similar meeting took place in Lusaka, Zambia in 2012 where discussions towards producing a manual on ’productivity improvement and the role of trade unions’ commenced. This follow up meeting bringing together the same set of participants has the objective of validating the draft manual which has been put together by ACTRAV.

Participants working on the validation of the manual include senior trade unionists from the African trade union organizations - ITUC-Africa and OATUU, the sub regional trade union organizations - EATUC and SATUCC and eight other national organizations.

Following this workshop, it is expected that ACTRAV would finalize the manual by June 2014.This manual which explicitly defines the concept of productivity as well as the role of trade unions in productivity improvement would be available for all trade union centers as a workers’ education guide.

Discussions over the five day workshop indicates that most African countries have established productivity centers, however, further efforts are needed to fully put into operation these centers and institutions. It is necessary that improved productivity translates to better living conditions of workers and overall, the social and economic development of Africa.

The meeting commenced on 2nd December and comes to a close on 6th of December 2013.