A Joint initiative on youth employment of the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the ILO is at the heart of this collaborative effort. Bilateral activities involving ILO and AfDB have started in Senegal and Burkina Faso for a diagnostic study on youth employment.

Work on labour migration in Africa takes place at three levels: regional, sub-regional (with Regional Economic Communities) and country level.

Africa is the continent where the greatest proportion of the population does not have access to adequate health care and where the incidence of infant mortality is highest. These are only some of the social risks and adversities being faced in day to day life, but Africa is also the continent where the coverage of social security is at its lowest. Why is this? There is a clear deficit between social security needs and the capacity to meet those needs.

Regional capacity building initiatives are focused on familiarizing constituents with the ILS system and strengthening their capacity; promoting the application of ILS in the informal economy; providing legal professionals with the knowhow on applying ILS in national systems and equipping media professionals with ILS application.