About the Sectoral Policies Department

Cross-cutting through Decent Work: the ILO sectoral approach

 
The Sectoral Policies Department (SECTOR) is responsible for providing support to ILO constituents in addressing employment and labour issues in specific economic and social sectors at the global, regional and national levels. The sectoral approach is cross-cutting throughout the entire Decent Work Agenda and it allows the ILO to respond comprehensively to sectors’ specific needs.

The work of the Department includes:
  • promoting social dialogue and building consensus among sectoral constituents at global, regional and national levels to reach policy and action-oriented recommendations in relation to emerging topics of special importance for the sectors through global, regional and national  tripartite meetings;
  • promoting the ratification and effective implementation of international labour standards, with particular attention given to those of a sectoral nature;
  • developing and sharing knowledge on emerging trends and challenges at industry level through the collection and analysis of sector-specific data, focused research, and publication of reports and working papers;
  • strengthening the capacity of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations at country level in advancing the decent work agenda at the sector-specific level, through the implementation of action programmes and technical cooperation projects, as well as through the provision  of technical assistance and training; and
  • enhancing policy coherence on key sectoral issues through strategic partnerships with other United Nations agencies and multilateral organizations, many of which operate at the sectoral level.
SECTOR is also responsible for the coordination of Office-wide efforts on the promotion of decent work in the rural economy and contributes to the ILO’s work on the promotion of decent work in global supply chains, the implementation of the Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work and the Global Call to Action for a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.