Countdown to Samoa Commonwealth meeting begins

This occasion marked the start of our countdown to IOSH attending The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (or CHOGM) in Samoa, two weeks from now.

On Monday 21 October 2024, IOSH President-Elect Kelly Nicoll, Head of Strategic Engagement Alan Stevens, and Strategic Engagement Manager Marcel Le Roux will begin a packed schedule. They will attend meetings to advocate for good occupational safety and health across 56 Commonwealth member states representing approximately one third of the world’s population – 2.7 billion people. IOSH has members in 38 of the 56 member states.

These meetings happen only every two years, each time in a different Commonwealth state. It’s the second time IOSH has had the opportunity to attend since we were granted the status of an Accredited Organisation (AO) to the Commonwealth in November 2020 in the category of ‘Professional and Civil Society Organisations’.

Being at CHOGM signifies for IOSH a tremendous opportunity to engage and influence. It offers direct access to heads of government and state, foreign ministers, finance ministers, as well as the director generals of the most influential UN agencies, and chief executives from some of the most powerful corporations in the world.

While there, Kelly, Alan and Marcel will:

• network and raise awareness of the occupational safety and health profession, IOSH, and our policy positions among the Commonwealth delegates
• participate in the four Commonwealth fora, ie Women’s, People’s, Youth and Business
• represent IOSH at the Business Forum Roundtables – as a key partner of CWEIC, the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, leading and supporting round table discussions on global standards, SMEs and economic growth, and skills migration and labour market dynamics
• showcase the four projects we’re supporting to mitigate occupational safety and health risks among female workers in parts of Ghana and Kenya, and how other global partners are aligned with these
• meet representatives of large businesses from the Commonwealth
• attend Ministerial meetings and roundtables with, for instance, Foreign Ministers 
• meet other Accredited Organisations and their delegations.

We will also co-host side events with partners such as the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network, Commonwealth Trade Union Group and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative on:

• Gender Based Violence – presenting IOSH’s stance and policy positions, and
• the Right to OSH – focusing on ILO conventions 155 and 187, explaining why it is important for countries to ratify the conventions and put in place national OSH policy frameworks.

This is just the latest IOSH engagement with The Commonwealth. IOSH has developed and consistently supported activities including three webinars on ‘Empowering YOUth’ between April and September. We’ll share more news from Samoa while we’re there.