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Africa & Arab countries

Africa and Arab countries form one of the four regions in the PSI structure. Our 153 affiliated organisations in some 43 countries represent a membership of around 1.5 million people here. The regional secretariat is based in Lomé, Togo. Contact our regional offices.

PSI holds roundtable on refugees' access to public services

19 February 2019

The event held in Beirut on 15 February discussed strategies to enhance refugee assistance in Lebanon, with a view to promoting access to decent work, social protection and public services. PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli and union leaders from PSI Swedish affiliates (ASSR, Vardfordbundet, ST, Vision and Kommunal) attended the meeting alongside members from the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, Ministry of Social Affairs, ILO and UNHCR.

Human Rights, Trade Unions and Quality Public Services for Refugees and Migrant Workers (Beirut)

14 February 2019

This Roundtable Discussion is part of PSI's mission in support of Syrian refugees in Lebanon bringing together trade unions, civil society, government and international organization stakeholders to share perspectives towards strengthening refugee protection and assistance in Lebanon, with the view to promoting access to decent work, social protection and access to quality public services.

CSO Forum on “Social Protection and Transformative Fiscal and Wage Policy" (New York)

08 February 2019

This Forum has been organized to prepare civil society participants to engage at the 57th Session of the Commission for Social Development (11 to 21 February 2018 at the UNHQ in New York).

PSI mission to support Syrian refugees in Lebanon

05 February 2019

A PSI mission will be held in Beirut, Lebanon from 14-15 February. The mission is part of the project “Trade Unions, Human Rights and Quality Public Services for Refugees and Migrants in the MENA region” and is being implemented in partnership with Union to Union and PSI Swedish affiliates.

Abuja Water Summit Rejects Privatisation Projects

01 February 2019

Unions, civil society organisations and allies convened a Water Summit in Abuja on 29-30 January to call a halt to the water privatisation plans being foisted on the government of Nigeria and state governments by the World Bank, by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation and other groups ideologically committed to privatisation and market control.

Summit against water privatization gathers in Abuja

28 January 2019

Global activists, unionists and human rights advocates will meet in Abuja, on 29-30 January for a national summit that aims at achieving the human right to water in Nigeria and around the world. Participants will come from communities around the world which have been directly impacted by the damages caused by private water industry.

Right to Health - Issue 05

10 January 2019

Get the latest global news on health and social care services. People over Profit! #PublicHealth4All. Right to Health newsletter Issue 05/2018.

PSI denounces Trade in Services agreement

16 September 2013
white envelope with Top Secret stamp in black

Governments meeting this week (16 September 2013) in Geneva, Switzerland are negotiating in secret a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). The 48 countries participating in the TISA negotiation seem intent on imposing the corporate agenda of using trade agreements to bind countries to extreme liberalisation and deregulation in order to ensure greater corporate profits at the expense of workers, farmers, service users and the environment. In few words: at the expense of people.

PSI calls for international support for United Nations workers’ rights

09 September 2013

In the summer of 2013, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unilaterally decided to strip UN unions of negotiating rights and suspend the Staff Management Committee. This sends an unacceptable message to the world that unions are not valid – and is especially hypocritical coming from the global organisation dedicated to peace, social justice and upholding international conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Call for a Robin Hood Tax Now

05 September 2013

You can help send a message to European Union leaders that this tiny tax on banks is vital. It will curb harmful speculation while raising billions to end inequality. When the Robin Hood Tax is successfully adopted in the EU, it will show other nations how a small financial transactions tax can make a big difference.

PSI stands with Detroit and public workers

29 August 2013
Background image is part of a mural by Diego Rivera called Detroit Industry, North Wall at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Detroit is the largest city to file for bankruptcy in United States history. But it is not the only city in economic crisis, and what happens in Detroit matters—it matters to AFSCME members who have dedicated their working lives to providing quality public services to the city and community, it matters to workers and retirees across the United States and around the world, it matters to all public sector workers who we depend upon to provide quality public services to citizens around the world. Detroit matters to all of us and we stand in solidarity with the workers and retirees of the city.

Sign the Quality Public Services Charter

27 August 2013
Quality Public Services - Action Now

PSI invites you to join the world-wide campaigns for quality public services, the foundation of both free and equal societies, and a strong, modern economy.The common good must not be undermined by the desire of a few to increase their profits. We work to influence international organisations to put people first. And in local communities, rank and file union members deliver the same message.

Why trade agreements are a new global threat to public services

08 August 2013
New deals, new danger

Recently, the way trade deals are negotiated has changed from WTO multilateral negotiations where hundreds of countries negotiated one agreement and information about negotiations was publically available, to hundreds of separate secret negotiations held behind closed doors.

The secret nature of trade talks held outside of the WTO creates a new challenge for PSI. We must focus our activity on the key threats and better engage and support our affiliates and civil society in the key stakeholder countries.

23 June Public Services Day: A global tax justice movement to end inequality

23 June 2013

On 23 June, World Public Services Day, PSI stands with the world’s largest labour and non-governmental organisations in “putting world leaders on notice – members of civil society are uniting for tax justice everywhere.”



Public Services International leader Rosa Pavanelli says, “We are proud to be working at the forefront of the rapidly growing global movement to demand tax justice and accountability in public spending for the common good. Redistributing the wealth that workers help to create is not an option, it is an imperative.”

Healthcare is not a commodity but a public good

12 July 2017

Extract from the Civil Society Report "Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017" -the new global report assesses how privatization and corporate capture have become obstacles to progress under the 2030 Agenda.

Decent work requires decent public policies

12 July 2017

Extract from the Civil Society Report "Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017" -the new global report assesses how privatization and corporate capture have become obstacles to progress under the 2030 Agenda.

The new generation of PPPs in infrastructure – meeting the needs of institutional investors

10 July 2017

Extract from the Civil Society Report "Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017" -the new global report assesses how privatization and corporate capture have become obstacles to progress under the 2030 Agenda.

Spotlight Report: "Reclaiming Policies for the Public"

07 July 2017

Report by the Civil Society Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Reclaiming Public Services: How cities and citizens are turning back privatisation

26 June 2017

Reclaiming Public Services is vital reading for anyone interested in the future of local, democratic services like energy, water and health care. This is an in-depth world tour of new initiatives in public ownership and the variety of approaches to deprivatisation.

Manifesto of the PSI Human Right to Health Global Campaign

13 April 2017

A better Future with Public Health for All: PSI's global campaign for the Human Right to Health aims at building a mass global movement that could influence concrete policies towards attaining Universal Public Health Coverage (UPHC).

Global PSI LRG/Municipal Workers’ Network Charter

04 April 2017

The Global PSI Local and Regional Government (LRG)/Municipal Workers’ Network Charter is available for download in English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic.

Women Power Unions: Global Trade Union UNCSW Preparatory meeting (New York)

06 December 2016

Trade union representatives to attend Global Union/FES meeting in New York to develop strategy for upcoming UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW61), the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

PSI Health Task Force (Geneva)

10 November 2016
Photo: Direct Relief - Creative Commons

PSI is holding this meeting with major affiliates in the health and social services sector to review and renew the PSI health and social services strategy, and to collect views and develop a consensus on the actions that affiliates and PSI should pursue with regard to the major issues that we have provisionally identified for the sector.

Event: The Role of Public Service Trade Unions in achieving Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities

07 November 2016

Achieving Decent Work for All, and realising the Sustainable Development Goals, requires focussed work to include persons with disabilities. This PSI meeting, with the support of ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) and the Gender, Equality and Diversity branch (GED), is an opportunity to develop knowledge, awareness and advocacy relevant for a range of actors in their governance, actions and aims.

PSI 30th World Congress

25 October 2016

PSI’s 30th World Congress will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from Monday 30th October to Friday 3 November 2017, at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG).

PSI at the Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights

24 October 2016

From 24 to 28 October 2016, Public Services International, together with Governments, regional and political groups, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, NGOs and many other relevant stakeholders, will be participating in the 2nd public meetings of the Open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIWG), which could lead to the adoption of an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations (TNCs or MNEs).

First meeting of the Guideline Development Group for the WHO

10 October 2016
Community health worker - Direct Relief - Creative Commons

PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli has been invited to participate as an expert in the Guideline Development Group (GDG) for the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on health policy and systems support for community health worker programmes. The GDG will meet in Geneva for the first time on October 10-11 2016.

Video: Why PPPs don't work (UNCSW)

18 March 2015

PSI released a new report on 18 March 2015 "Why Public-Private Partnerships don’t work: The many advantages of the public alternative” at the “SDGs for Workers”, a Parallel Event sponsored by Global Unions at the NGO CSW Forum during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).

Video: Why Public-Private Partnerships don’t work

16 March 2015

In this video, PSI Deputy General Secretary David Boys introduces the new publication “Why Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) don’t work” by Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU).

This is what energy democracy looks like

10 March 2015

With climate change looming, we are facing an energy emergency. How can unions fight for change? Watch and share TUED's new animated video on energy democracy.

Video: Rosa Pavanelli at the UN High-Level session on advancing gender equality

09 March 2015

Rosa Pavanelli, PSI General Secretary, addresses the UN High-level panel session on advancing gender equality in New York, 6 March 2015.

Video: Water and power: are public services still public?

10 February 2015

This new video by the Municipal Services Project examines the question of corporatisation and how it can affect public services, specifically in the energy and water sectors.

Video: PSI names the 325 health workers killed by Ebola

25 November 2014

"Over 300 workers have died on the job in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, trying to save lives and contain the Ebola outbreak. They were doctors, nurses, midwives, cleaners, ambulance drivers, pharmacists, community health workers – among others.
PSI wants to remember all of those workers one by one, name by name. We will honour their sacrifice by pledging to ensure that all workers enjoy safe working conditions everywhere and to strengthen the fight for quality public healthcare for all."

Video: Ellen Gould - Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

17 October 2014

Ellen Gould, keynote speaker at PSI’s Global Trade in Services Forum, From GATS to TISA, held in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) network. Ellen Gould is the author of the Special Report "The Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement" which focuses on how TISA could be used to accomplish the deregulatory agenda.