New Board for FUE and initiation training

DECP continues its support in these various areas, to strengthen the role and the functioning of FUE.

During a mission end of May, several concrete initiatives have been taken. 

FUE elected a new Board. At the request of FUE leadership, a one day training was organized for the new Board members, to clarify and interactively discuss key aspects such as the role of employers’ organisations in policy influence and services delivery and the role of the Board as a governance mechanism and its relationship with the operational roles of the secretariat. The meeting was very well attended and reflected a high degree of involvement of engagement  by the CEOs and HRM in presence. The Board has very clear and ambitious objectives, which it will define in specific figure based goals to attain, and which will be based upon benchmarks and comparisons with other employers’ organisations. The broad experience of DECP with most of the east African employers’ organisations helped to transfer also good practices from elsewhere in the region.

Much time was also spend in critically examining the membership policies and strategies which are at present developed by FUE, in order to define additional, practice based and easy to implement ways and solutions to increase membership. FUE is improving in membership, but still faces important challenges in getting membership paid, in retention, in recruitment and in the management of potential members. Also using good data collection and -analysis to underpin the membership approaches is still an issue in spite of the existence of a sound CRM system. The technical and financial DECP support to enhance a more “scientific approach” to membership, based upon the use of marketing principles, is strongly appreciated.

Furthermore the theme of TVET and the role of employers’ organisations and social dialogue in the reform policy, which is being set up at in these very months, was the subject of long discussions. FUE plans to re-activate social dialogue with the trade unions, and also to play a more active role, in order to make TVET more demand and labour market needs oriented.