Strategies for Decent Work and Economic Growth by the UN

This essay examines the concept of decent work and economic growth, focusing on the United Nations' (UN) structure of governance and initiatives to support these goals. It highlights the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) aimed at eradicating poverty, promoting economic growth, and ensuring full employment and decent work for all. The essay discusses the importance of stakeholder involvement, the role of the UN Peacekeeping programs, and the UN's efforts to secure the rule of law and human rights. It further elaborates on the UN's conservation measures for sustainable use of water resources, promotion of sustainable cities and towns through UN-Habitat, and the UN Principle for Responsible Management Education (PRME). The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for job creation, improved job situations, and equal opportunities for women to achieve impartial globalization and poverty eradication.

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DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
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Decent work and economic growth
Introduction
Over the past two decades, the population living in tremendous poverty has decreased
worldwide despite the prolonged impact of the economic crisis that was experienced in the year
2008 as well as the worldwide recession. Currently, the developing countries comprise of 34
percent of the middle class population with employment, a population that has trebled amid 1991
and 2015. However, the world I experiencing a slow economic growth with widening
inequalities and insufficient jobs to sustain the population. The international labor organization
reported that in 2015, at least 204 million individuals were jobless (Mawdsley, 2015 p.339-358).
The United Nations (UN) initiated sustainable development goals (SDGs) with the aim of
achieving economic growth and decent work. The Global Goals are a worldwide call to act
against poverty, sustain peace and prosperity and protect the planet. The SDGs enhance higher
degrees of productivity, catalyze economic growth, and encourage technological growth and
innovation. Inspiring entrepreneurship and enhancing jobs creation are the core to eradicate
slavery, human trafficking and forced labor (Tangcharoensathien et al, 2015 p.101). With all the
goals in mind, the vision is to attain full and industrious employment and decent work for all
without gender discrimination by 2030.

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The UN structure of governance to support decent work and economic growth
The world has transformed tremendously since the United Nations (UN) was established.
There has been enormous growth in the number of state actors and non-state actors and their
diversity as well, as compared to the situation by 1945 (Frey, 2017 p.1164-1184). The nature and
levels of threats towards global security have also been increasing. Consequently, the increasing
number and varieties of actors in global affairs have to grow with the rising number, complexity
of matters, range in the rising networked, fragmented and deeply intertwined world.
To uphold peace in the societies, the SDGs ought to reinforce investment in secure
societies centered on equitable norms (Rai et al, 2018 p.368-380). The extra focus is to end
conflicts that emerge from the extraction of resources and militarization which results to a
violation of human rights and displacement the focus of the UN is to minimize military spending,
demilitarizing oceans and lands, acknowledgement of minorities by the states and offer equal
rights for all. The aim is to reduce the fatalities caused by violence and reduce the number of
individuals that suffer as a result of violence. To achieve this goal, the United Nations has
created unionized peace keeping programs through the UN Peacekeeping.
According to Mitchel et al (1997 p. 853-882) “The principle of what really counts rely on
the assumption that managers pay a particular attention to several classes of stakeholders to
achieve a particular goal and also, the perceptions of managers decide the salience of
stakeholders”. Moreover, several classes of stakeholders can be identified depending on the
possession of either of the attributes of urgency, power and legitimacy. Conceptually and

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logically, possession of such attributes by stakeholders can be identified reliably upon further
empirical and methodological work. The analysis is crucial in identifying and justifying the
entities who should be considered as stakeholders of a particular corporate, and also provides the
set which managers can use in selecting the entities who can be considered as salient. According
to the model illustrated in figure 1, the entities without urgency, power and legitimacy in the firm
cannot be considered as stakeholders and such entities have no salience as per the firm managers.
Figure 1: Shows the model for mapping stakeholders by Mitchel et al (1997, p.873).

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There also several propositions resulting to the theory of salience among stakeholders. In
one proposition, the salience of a stakeholder will depend on the cumulative sum of
stakeholders’ attributes. Latent stakeholders are the low salient stakeholders and the possess one
of the three attributes. The moderate salient are identified by attributed possession two attributes.
The highly salient class of stakeholders possess all the three attributes of power, urgency and
legitimacy.
The Stakeholder concept was developed among various corporates as a result of growing
competition around the environments in which businesses operate. “The business activities have
become complex with the globalization of commercial activities” according to Jackson (2015,
p.350-367). The stakeholder theory is applied in business, politics, ethics, and sociology. This
has rendered an increase in the number of stakeholders that the corporates require to consider
and interrelate with around the marketplace, business networks, and the society. The stakeholder
model is as illustrated in figure 2.

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Figure 2: Shows the illustration of Stakeholders model in an organization.
In a step to secure the rule of law and human rights by the UN, the process would be
enhanced through involvement of state and non-state stakeholders to implement the measures
that would prevent the abuse of human rights through goals to eliminate forced marriage for
children, honour killings, female genital mutilation and other unfriendly traditional customs. The
rule of law can be achieved through availing confident justice practices for all, especially the
most vulnerable (Mawdsley, 2015 p.339-358.). Consistent and strengthened legal systems with
universal standards of human rights are important for better economic, cultural and social rights.
The Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) works to support the diverse
human rights through various bodies in the UN system. Such bodies include the Human Rights
Council and other mechanisms created through global human rights agreements.

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In taking conservation measures towards sustainable use of water resources, the UN has
allied various stakeholders through the High Sea Alliance. The aim is to inspire sufficient, small
and large scale fisheries and to protect water resources including locations without any national
jurisdiction. The women contribution in fisheries has been encouraged by the UN in both
developing and developed countries as marine care and consumption process need to advocate
for equal participation of gender in transforming the modern economy. The stand-alone SGDs
for seas and oceans delegations have been supported by the UN in the process of preserving the
major global life-support resources which is a key source of food, wealth, medicine, and
recreational reserves (Santos et al, 2015 p.36-58).
The UN, in achieving decent work and economic growth promotes environmentally and
socially sustainable cities and towns through the United Nations Human Settlement Program
(UN-Habitat). The UN-Habitat envisions well-governed, well-planned and efficient human
settlements with sufficient housing, clean water, proper infrastructures, and employment sites.
The UN-Habitat cooperates with High commissioner of human rights to enhance the notion of
sustainable urban growth that includes the protection of vulnerable groups, and uphold the rule
of law. The goal of human settlements and sustainable cities has been developed in all kinds of
settlements such as cities, towns, villages, metropolitan regions and districts. The aim is to
ensure that basic human rights on housing are met.
The sustainable development agenda of 2030 resolved that the UN inter-agency mission
team will incorporate 10 congresses of civil society, the scientific community and the private
sector of the multi-stakeholder unity on technology, science, and innovation as well as
operationalization of the online forum. The team will function in their personal capacity and

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independence and shall have international recognition in their areas of excellence. The
participants who have demonstrated the capability to effectively collaborate with the associates
of the civil society and the scientific community will work with a great level of representatives
comprising of all sectors on the road to attaining policy development.
To achieve the worldwide partnership for sustainable growth, on behalf of indigenous
people, women, NGOs, and other diverse stakeholders, the UN calls for some core principles and
conceptual relations. The method of implementation should address mobilization of technology
and financial resources, and the global architecture, namely the financial framework and global
trade, which highlights the ability of states to use such resources to achieve the goal of
sustainable development. All the different segments of the society such as youths, women, the
poor, elderly, indigenous people, and the small stakeholders must be involved in all methods of
mobilization towards technology and development (Kieny et al, 2017 p.537.).
The UN Principle for Responsible Management Education in achieving the goal
Education on business and management is very crucial in enhancing the skills and
approaches of the future commercial leaders and can form influential drivers of commercial
sustainability (Godemann et al, 2014 p.16-23.). The Principle of Responsible Management
Education (PRME) was established by the UN in 2007 during the worldwide leaders’ forum in
Geneva. Since then, it has become the biggest organized correlation between the business

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institutions and the United Nations. The aim of PRME is to foster business and management
training, research on leadership globally, at the same time creating awareness concerning SDGs
and developing future business leaders.
The PRME, as a body involved in the expansion of present and future managers, has
established the core principles that will guide them towards implementation and progress. The
purpose is to develop competences amongst learners to be the future drivers of sustainable
significance for commerce and the society and action towards a global economy and sustainable
growth. The program will incorporate organizational practices and suitable curricula into the
academic accomplishments as stipulated in worldwide initiatives like the UN Global Compact.
The method that will be used to achieve the goal is through the creation of educational
outlines, processes, materials, and a conducive environment that favors effective learning
practices for responsible management (Burchell et al, 2015 p.479-497). The PRME body will
initiate empirical and conceptual research that advocates understanding about dynamics of
leadership, role, and the value of corporations in the development of economic, social and
environmental values. Moreover, the body will interact with business managers of corporations
to share knowledge of the problem in accomplishing environmental and social responsibilities
and to jointly study the effective tactics towards resolving the problems. Finally, PRME will
work towards facilitating dialogue between the students, educators, government, business,
media, consumers, interest groups and civil society establishments.
The only way to eradicate poverty is through the creation of satisfactory jobs (Hibbert
and Cunliffe, 2015 p.177-188). A population approaching 2.3 billion people are living below the
1.90 US Dollar margin. The sum of the jobless population is still high and by 2017, at least 192

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million people were reported jobless by ILO. At least 470 million employments are needed
worldwide in order to increase the working population worldwide, translating to 30 million jobs
per year between 2016 and 2030. Apart from jobs creation, there is also an urgency to improve
the jobs situations for more than 783 million individuals who are currently employed, but not
able to earn sufficient money to sustain themselves and the families who depend on them. The
situation of girls and women also requires to be amended by offering equal rights to access
opportunities in the job sectors.
The community acquires more benefits when there are more productive individuals who
can contribute to the growth of their country. Decent work and a productive employment are the
core elements that could be used in the attainment of impartial globalization and poverty
eradication (Di Ruggiero et al, 2015 p.120-127). In many countries, poverty has contributed to
unrest, leading to situations that disrupt peace. Decent work by the UN PRME ensures equal
opportunities for all to work in productive sectors and brings peace around the working place, a
reasonable income, social integration, and better prospects for individual development. It is also
crucial that all women and men be offered with equal opportunities inside the economic sectors.
A prolonged absence of decent work, under-consumption, and insufficient investments could
lead to the destruction of critical social bond surrounding the democratic citizens.
The PRME Offers the young population favorable opportunities to transformation to
decent employments appeals for investment in education and coaching of the decent level
(Dyllick, 2015 p.16-33). This will give the youths with skills demanded in the labor market and
also provide them access to societal protection as well as elementary services. The United
Nations governance committee can help to create a sustainable, dynamic, innovative,

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community-centered economies, and decent work in particular. The local communities and
authorities can plan and renew their urbans and human settlements in order to build social
cohesion and most importantly, enhance innovation that could lead to employment creation
(Oldekop et al, 2016 p.55-82).
Recommendations on how corporates can achieve decent work and economic
growth using PRME
Create equality through education
One way a corporate could achieve the goal of decent work and economic growth is
through education of all stakeholders in the goal in order to achieve income equality in the
societies (Wilkinson et al, 2010 p 1-15). According to Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, most
challenges that can be associated with life in the present developed community can be tracked by
one common source. The common cause they have highlighted has the capacity to create a
healthier society, where individuals have mutual trust, where children are educated, where there
is minimum violence, where the drug consumption of drugs, and where mental illness among
people is reduced. While millions are being spent to solve each of these challenges individually,
the results are always questionable and there is one resolution that can solve all of them
simultaneously. This is through balancing of incomes among citizens.
For every individual to become better, there is a need for education in order to improve
their managerial and operational skills. The greatness of a nation relies on how it treats its
feeblest population (Kumar et al, 2016 p.1). Among some developed countries, there have been

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plans for the government to provide aid towards educating the poorest people in the community
to save them from the horrible effects of lack, while availing equal opportunities through
entrepreneurship and
The emphasis of social mobility and safety net initiatives is to try to reduce the big gap
that exist between the rich and the poor. They accomplish this by ensuring the growth of
satisfactory income individuals as a method of eradicating poverty (Krueger, 2018 p. 25-33). The
notion is to trickle down the wealth from the rich through higher taxation and spend the revenues
in financing programs that could help in improving the life standards of the poor. Thus, there is a
need for corporate and government to install measures that will facilitate equality between the
poor population and the rich population in the society. Inequality results to not only the worst
outcomes for the poor, but for everybody in general (George et al, 2016 p.1880). Taking
measures that bolster equality can ensure that all people are doing better and living a better life.
Enhancing research for better economy
Strategic research is crucial in strengthening national, regional, international and local
partnerships and intermingling experienced researchers to refer to subjects that define the fate of
national and worldwide community. The research will help in creating a better plan on critical
issues about political, social and economic developments. The research focus on creating a
healthy society, managing food security, environment and water, enhancing international
business relations, and advising the governments on means of improving employability in their
nations. Furthermore, to catalyze the achievement of decent work and economic growth, there is
a need for more research on ways of improving financial security.