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Over the past year, several of these teams have exchanged views with national labor unions, including the following:

• In Korea, the team discussed inequality with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), including recent inequality trends, the high incidence of low pay, job insecurity, and high youth unemployment due to duality.
• In the Czech Republic, they met with the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS) to discuss gender issues such as the level of female employment, the gender wage gap, and the introduction of dedicated paternity leave.
• In Nicaragua, they discussed climate with representatives from most of the country’s labor unions—topics included the impact of climate change on health, and the need for technical assistance and transfer of climate-friendly technologies from the international community.

Several other IMF country teams conducting pilots studies have also exchanged views with national labor unions, or plan to do so in the coming months.

This year’s Townhall took place on Wednesday, October 11 and was moderated by Abdel-Rahman El Mahdi, founder and President of the Sudanese Development Initiative. Around 350 CSOs attended in person, with more viewing the event via livestream in English, Spanish, and French. Issues such as the role of civil society’s engagement with the IMF and the World Bank Group, gender and income inequality, corruption and how international financial institutions can help countries affected by natural disasters were discussed.

17 participants from Indonesia and representing regional CSO networks based in Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Singapore attended the two-day seminar. It was an opportunity for participants to get a better understanding of the role of the IMF, especially in the region, and to exchange views and thoughts with IMF staff on important issues in their countries such as fiscal policy, gender and income inequality, anti-corruption, jobs and employment. This workshop was also a way to listen to the views and concerns of CSOs and strengthen the relationship between the IMF and Civil Society from the region ahead of the IMF-World Bank- 2018 Annual Meetings that will take place in Bali, Indonesia.

21 participants from Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea attended the two-day seminar. It was an opportunity for participants to get better understanding of the role of the IMF, especially in the region and to exchange views and thoughts with IMF staff on important issues in their countries such as fiscal policy, debt, anti-corruption, use of natural resources, and jobs and employment. Civil Society participants published a statement at the end of the meeting.

Seventy labor union representatives from 30 countries met with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and staff to discuss key issues including: the global outlook, policy tools to support jobs and growth, labor market policies, income and gender inequality, and climate change/energy issues. These biennial High-Level Meetings are part of the IMF's regular interactions with labor unions at global, regional, and national levels. Listen to the podcast interview with Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary.

They also discussed how the IMF could support them in areas where it operates (technical assistance, lending, policy advice and surveillance). The meeting was very productive. They exchanged views on wide ranging issues such as governance, fiscal policies and international taxation. The Managing Director also introduced the new IMF report 

This year, the topic was on the cost of corruption and the role of youth in combating it. This town-hall style event moderated by Roberto Ferdman from Vice, featured a distinguished panel of young leaders from various global institutions working on addressing corruption (Cissy Kagaba, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda; Sergejus Muravjovas, Transparency International Lithuania; Emilia Diaz Struck, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) as well as senior staff from the IMF (Sean Hagan, General Counsel IMF). They discussed the substantial direct and indirect costs of corruption, including low growth and greater income inequality. The conversation highlighted how corruption can have a significant impact on youth, as it can negatively affect their employment opportunities and hamper their access to basic services, including education. They also made the point that fighting corruption is not just about the rule of law and institutions, but about building values and changing societal norms. You can watch a video of the seminar The Cost of Corruption: Youth Perspectives.

In the lead up to the event, the IMF launched a social media campaign asking youth worldwide to recommend three ways to address corruption. Youth worldwide shared insightful ideas on how to combat corruption such as the need for more transparency and access to information, the idea that countries could leverage technology to streamline processes, the importance of education to empower citizens and raise awareness; and the need for the rule of law. Check out the hashtag #IMFYouth on Twitter to see more.

For videos on previous Youth Dialogues see Bridging the Unemployment Gap through Education and Inclusion and Inclusive Growth and Entrepreneurship through Education, Innovation and Passion.