Individual consultant opportunities

The ILO engages individual consultants (“external collaborators”) to perform a specific well-defined task or set of tasks, if the output can be considered as a specific end product (e.g. a study, a report, an IT design project, a research assignment or a translation), or if the task is of an advisory or technical nature.

External collaborators are independent contractors and not considered as ILO officials. The implementation of external collaboration contracts is governed solely by the terms and conditions of the contract, including the standard clauses and the additional stipulations as applicable.

Since 1 July 2025, ILO external collaborator opportunities are published on United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM). Interested individuals must first register themselves under the “individual consultant” track on UNGM, then apply to open opportunities via UNGM to the ILO e-Sourcing platform. Guidelines are available for the UNGM registration process and the process of submitting your application on the ILO e-Sourcing platform.

Payment and daily fee ranges for individual consultants

External collaborators are paid according to the terms of reference of the assignment and the applicable fee structure. The applicable fees are determined based on the nature of the work and the external collaborator’s country of residence.

The ILO publishes separate daily fee range tables for different types of assignments. Individuals preparing to submit an offer should consult the relevant tables below. All tables are updated every six months.

1. General external collaboration assignments

External collaborators performing general consultancy assignments will be paid according to the pre-defined complexity level of the assignment and their country of residence.

Please consult the daily fee range table for general external collaboration assignments.

2. Non-official translation work

External collaborators engaged to perform translation work, but not directly by the Official Meetings, Documentation and Relations Department (RELMEETINGS), will be paid for the number of days worked on the basis of a daily output of 1,650 words per day.

The fee rates are determined according to the external collaborator’s country of residence and the nature of the work, including whether the work is normal or complex translation and whether it is with or without editing.

Please consult the daily fee table for non-official translation work.

3. Copy-editing, proofreading, and layout work

External collaborators contracted to copy-edit, proofread or carry out layout work for ILO publications will be paid based on the number of days worked, calculated according to daily productivity targets.

The daily fees are determined according to the external collaborator’s country of residence.

Please consult the daily fee table for copy-editing, proofreading and layout work.

Ethical conduct

While under contract with the ILO, external collaborators must act at all times in a manner befitting their relationship with the ILO and may not engage in any activity that is incompatible therewith. They must not, while performing the work contracted for or at any time thereafter, utilize in any manner prejudicial to or incompatible with the interests of the Organization any information of a restricted or confidential nature which may come to their knowledge in connection with the performance of their contractual obligations (Standard Clauses of ILO external collaboration contract). Further requirements for ethical conduct can be found in the additional stipulations.

Minimum requirements

The ILO requires that all deliverables submitted meet minimum standards, including those related to ILO terminology and visual identity; and that external collaborators follow applicable technical requirements (e.g., https://digitalprinciples.org, ISO/IEC 27001 or equivalent) as set out in the additional stipulations and/or eventual terms of reference.

Mandatory trainings for external collaborators

BSAFE training

The online security awareness training by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) constitutes a mandatory course for external collaborators engaged by the ILO. It is available on the UNDSS website and must be completed by all individuals submitting an offer. BSAFE training needs only to be completed once as BSAFE certificates do not expire. The training takes approximately one hour.

PSEA Training

The online training programme on the “Prevention of Sexual exploitation and Abuse by UN Personnel” (PSEA) is mandatory for external collaborators engaged by the ILO. It is available on United Nations e-learning site (inspira). Please consult the instructions for accessing and enrolling to mandatory learning courses by external users. The training takes approximately 90 minutes.