The overall 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.
Since the early 1950s, the ILO has been providing technical cooperation to countries on all continents and at all stages of economic development. In the last decade, an average of some US$130 million was spent annually on technical cooperation projects. The projects are implemented through close cooperation between recipient countries, donors, and the ILO, which maintains a network of area and regional offices worldwide.
The ILO now conducts more than 1,000 technical cooperation programs in over 80 countries with the help of some 60 donor institutions worldwide. They receive support from individual governments as well as through the European Union, UN agencies, the World Bank, regional development banks, employers' and workers' organizations and industry associations. The ILO has decentralized most such activities to its regional, area and branch offices in over 40 countries.
More than half of ILO's resources are devoted to technical cooperation programs divided into four main categories:
- Labour law reform
- Labour administration and dispute settlement
- Strengthening the ability of employers’ and workers’ organizations to engage in organizing and bargaining collectively
- Awareness raising
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;
- Promote work opportunities involving a decent quality of employment and basic social security;
- Protection against vulnerability and contingency, which might take people out of work.