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This section highlights some ILO successes in
technical cooperation and provides links to key information on trends
in ILO technical cooperation, evaluation, and its financing.
The period 2008-09 was marked by global crises. The world’s most vulnerable populations, already hit by food and fuel price rises in the first half of 2008, were further hit by a fall in world trade, a slump in demand and rising unemployment resulting from the financial and economic crises. The effects of the crises are likely to be felt into the next biennium, representing a unique challenge for international development assistance. With the deadline for the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) barely six years away, and following commitments made in the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) and the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development (2008), the ILO is fully committed to “eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development” (Doha Declaration on Financing for Development).
The ILO’s technical cooperation (TC) programme is one of its principal means of action for achieving Decent Work outcomes, meeting the MDGs, and responding to the economic crisis though the implementation of the Global Jobs Pact, adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2009. A large number of countries
lack the fiscal space to finance discretionary stimulus measures for employment and social protection. While the IMF has expanded its concessional lending to low-income
countries, more assistance is required, particularly for employment and social protection. New initiatives are needed for multilateral and bilateral aid to support employment and social protection programmes.
Within the framework of the Declaration on Social Justice for Fair Globalization (2008) [pdf, 1.6MB], the ILO is strengthening its TC programme with a focus on increasing its impact and efficiency through better results-based work planning, more rigorous programme and project design, enhanced resource mobilization, and improved knowledge
sharing.
Outcome-based workplans
 In order to enhance the impact of its technical cooperation, the ILO is embarking on a process of results-based planning for the upcoming biennium (2010-11) which will specify how Office-wide resources are used to achieve Decent Work outcomes. These outcome-based workplans (OBW) will establish priorities and strategies and help determine the resources required in order to reach the targets specified
in the Programme and Budget for 2010-11. The OBW will identify the resource gaps faced in pursuing DWCP outcomes, thereby providing a system for prioritizing the use of available resources and guiding resource mobilization efforts.
The OBW exercise will also facilitate collaboration and policy coherence by providing a transparent means of recognising and rewarding joint work, with a focus on the achievement of outcome-level results. The Office-wide exercise will promote enhanced services to constituents in line with the Declaration on Social Justice for Fair Globalization where the four strategic objectives of the Decent Work Agenda are “inseparable, interrelated and mutually supportive”.
Quality and oversight
The ILO has established an appraisal mechanism whereby all extra-budgetary proposals are screened for quality control before their approval and submission to donors. This mechanism ensures that new proposals meet minimum ILO quality standards; are designed according to results-based management methodologies; are based on clear needs as expressed in the Programme and Budget and Decent Work Country Programmes; and contribute to mainstreaming gender equality, tripartism, and respect for
international labour standards.
During the first two quarters of 2009, 46 proposals were reviewed for final appraisal by PARDEV, representing a combined total budget of US$83 million. The appraisal system has enjoyed rapid success and is considered a valuable mechanism by ILO officials. A recent survey found that 44 per cent of users felt it had greatly enhanced the quality of their proposals, 56 per cent reported that it had enhanced proposal quality ‘to a certain extent’, and no users considered that appraisal had
failed to improve proposals.
In addition to appraisal, support is provided to help improve implementation monitoring and results tracking, including their expected contribution to DWCP outcomes. The capacity of ILO units and field offices will continue to be improved through targeted training and guidance material.
Enhanced resource mobilization
In line with the Declaration on Social Justice for Fair Globalization, resource mobilization efforts seek to ensure that funding is channelled to Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) and Programme and Budget outcomes in order to reach established targets. Results-based implementation allows for better alignment of all resources with the
priorities set out in the Programme and Budget for 2010-11, as well as the identification of resource gaps for decent work outcomes. More and more donors are moving towards
un-earmarked, predictable and inclusive multi-annual partnership agreements and contributions to the Regular Budget Supplementary Account (RBSA) in order to allow the Office to reduce the gaps between available resources and those needed to implement the Decent Work Agenda. We are grateful to the Governments of Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom for their strategic and generous contributions
to the RBSA in 2008-09, which allowed this innovative
mechanism to become an integrated part of the efforts of the ILO and its constituents to promote decent work for more women and men.
 Although 2009 is not yet over, there is every reason to believe that the combined contributions from the ILO’s extra-budgetary donors in the biennium 2008-09 will exceed half a billion US dollars. This represents a significant increase over past biennia. It is a reflection of the trust placed in the ILO, and of the clear recognition of the important role of the ILO in a reformed United Nations system.
While the global jobs crisis is underscoring the importance of the ILO’s mandate and agenda,
it is also forcing some donors to decrease development aid budgets. In response, the ILO has stepped up its strategic dialogue with key donors and development partners. A strategy for the active promotion of public-private partnerships as well as South-South collaboration is currently being implemented, and intense engagement with the World Bank and other development partners is actively being promoted. Increasingly, funds from development partners and the UN are being accessed at the local level, where the ILO
is contributing to the more than 90 UNDAFs that are expected to be rolled out between 2009 and 2011.
Background
The purpose of ILO technical cooperation
is the
implementation of the Decent Work Agenda at a national level, assisting
constituents to make this concept a reality for all men and women.
ILO’s technical cooperation and capacity-building programmes help to
build bridges between the ILO’s standard-setting role
and the people. An extensive network of offices throughout Africa,
Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East
provides technical guidance on policy issues, and assistance in the
design and implementation of development programmes.
The ILO now conducts more than 1,000 technical
cooperation programs
in over 80 countries with the help of some 60 donor institutions
worldwide. The ILO has decentralized most such activities to its
regional, area and branch offices in over 40 countries.
The ILO’s standard-setting and technical
cooperation are reinforced
by an extensive research, training, education and publications program.
It has established two specialized educational institutions: the
International Institute for Labor Studies in Geneva, and the
International Center for Advanced Technical and Vocational Training in
Turin, Italy.
The ILO’s strategic objectives of rights at work,
employment, social
protection and social dialogue are translated into capacity building
and technical cooperation in several areas, for example:
Promote
and apply the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at
Work, which covers -
- Freedom of
association and the right to collective bargaining;
- Elimination of
forced and compulsory labour;
- Abolition of child
labour;
- Elimination of
discrimination in the workplace.
Create
greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and
income, including -
- Reconstruction and
employment-intensive investment;
- Investing in
knowledge, skills and employability;
- Boosting employment
through small enterprise development.
Enhance
the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all, including -
- The ILO’s SafeWork
programme, which improves security and productivity through safety and
health at work;
- Social security
tailored to the needs of poor people.
Deepen
tripartism and social dialogue by strengthening the capacities and
knowledge base of the social partners
Reflecting these standards, the ILO’s goal of
decent work, in a context of fair globalization, involves capacity
building -
- to improve rights for
all workers, whether in the formal or informal sectors;
- to promote work
opportunities involving a decent quality of employment and basic social
security;
- to protect against
vulnerability and contingency, which might take people out of work.
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