Context :

1. EnablingEnvironment for SustainableEnterprises • Context: • Builds on the ILC 2007 comprehensive consideration of “sustainable enterprises” as a principal source of growth, wealth creation, employment and decent work. • Sustainable enterprises do not and cannot exist in a vacuum. They operate within a political, social and economic context and are subject to regulatory and institutional constraints. • While it is important to support enterprise-specific interventions for businesses to grow, it is equally important to look at the external environment in which they operate. The ILO has devised its own assessment tool, Enabling Environment for Sustainable Enterprises (EESE), as a basis for providing evidence-based recommendations on how to improve the business-enabling environment. This unique tool focuses on the economic, political, social and environmental aspects of doing business. • Approach: • Step 1:Analysing the existing capacity of governments and social partners to assess the enabling environment, formulate evidence-based reform proposals and carry them out. • Step 2:Analysing the prevailing conditions under which enterprises operate using both secondary and primary data sources (enterprise surveys). • Step 3: Preparing a country report based on the information gathered. The report outlines the main constraints and policy challenges facing enterprises, diagnoses stakeholders’ capacity for reform, and makes policy recommendations. • Step 4: Organizing a high-level national policy dialogue based on the report. • Step 5: Supporting stakeholders in implementing the priority actions agreed upon. Step 1Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Elements of the assessment: EconomicElements Social Elements PoliticalElements EnvironmentalElements Sound and stable macroeconomic policy and good management of the economy. Trade and sustainable economic integration. Enabling legal and regulatory environment. Rule of law and secure property rights. Faircompetition. Access to financial services. Physical infrastructure. Information and communication technologies. Entrepreneurial culture. Education, training and lifelong learning. Social justice and social inclusion. Adequate social protection. Peace and politicalstability. Good governance. Social dialogue. Respect for universal human rights and international labour standards. Responsible stewardship of the environment. Please flip the page…..

2. EnablingEnvironment for SustainableEnterprises Experiencesmade and OngoingWork: The EESE assessment tool has been fully operational since 2011. Preliminary results demonstrate that fact-based assessments of the conditions in which enterprises operate can be effective in identifying the reforms needed to create enabling business environments: Indonesia: focused on strengthening trade union capacity to do evidence-based advocacy. Swaziland: contributed to the implementation of the national investment roadmap and the new national strategy on the promotion of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as well as a national framework for women’s entrepreneurship. The work has also yielded broader benefits in terms of promoting social dialogue Occupied Palestinian territory: launched a policy framework for the development of MSMEs. The policy presents a coherent and integrated response to the challenges and opportunities facing existing and emerging MSMEs. Ongoing Work: Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Egypt, Oman , Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Malawi , Cameroon, Zambia and Honduras. Guiding Questions for discussion: A) How is enabling environment linked to your area(s) of work? B) What can we do to better integrate/coordinate our areas of work? C) Do you see an opportunity to mobilize resources with an integrated approach combining one or several areas of work?