Africa

The ILO in Africa supports 54 countries to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues. Together with our worker, employer, and government partners we strive to achieve a human-centred future of work built on social justice for all.

Constituents on the African Continent have committed themselves to making decent work a reality for Africa’s people, through a series of priorities identified by them.

Algeria

Angola

Benin

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Comoros

Congo

Côte d’Ivoire

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya (State of)

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Morocco

Mozambique

Namibia

Niger

Nigeria

Republic of Chad

Rwanda

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa

South Sudan

Sudan

Togo

Tunisia

Uganda

United Republic of Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe
Regional Office for Africa

Abidjan: ILO Country Office for Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Togo

Abuja: ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone

Addis Ababa: ILO Country Office for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, and for the Special Representative to the African Union (AU) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

Algiers: ILO Country Office for Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia

Antananarivo: ILO Country Office for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles

Cairo: Decent Work Team (DWT) for North Africa and ILO Country Office for Egypt and Eritrea

Dakar: Decent Work Team (DWT) for West Africa and ILO Country Office for Senegal, Cabo Verde, the Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau

Dar es Salaam: ILO Country Office for the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda

Harare: ILO Country Office for Zimbabwe and Namibia

Kinshasa: ILO Country Office for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo and Gabon

Lusaka: ILO Country Office for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique

Pretoria: Decent Work Team (DWT) for Eastern and Southern Africa and ILO Country Office for South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini

Yaounde: Decent Work Team (DWT) for Central Africa and ILO Country Office for Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe and Equatorial Guinea

Regional priorities

To strengthen the labour market and enable more women and men to access productive employment, we must create inclusive skills ecosystems that integrate education, training, and lifelong learning into economic and social policies. These ecosystems, informed by robust labour market data and the latest technological advancements, will align and anticipate skills needs, to foster decent and productive employment for all in Africa.
The vast majority of Africa's labour force and enterprises are part of the informal economy, marked by low wages and productivity, and prevalent decent work deficits. With 60% of Africans living in rural areas facing high informality and climate vulnerabilities, the ILO is committed to aiding in the design of coherent strategies for a just transition that enhances decent work opportunities and ensures social justice for all.
Many African countries have enterprise promotion and support agencies that need strengthening by expanding their focus to include not only SMEs but also microenterprises in the informal economy and social enterprises, aiding their formalization. The ILO therefore will continue to support the full implementation of the 2017 Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration) across Africa, including through support to the tripartite constituents on the continent.
Social dialogue requires free, independent, strong and representative employers’ and workers’ organizations, able to exercise the right to freedom of association and enjoy the right to collective bargaining. It also needs well-resourced labour administrations and robust institutions. The ILO supports these bodies to include the informal economy, strengthen labour administrations to tackle decent work challenges, and ensure their active participation in dialogue and UN reform processes.
Only 18 per cent of the African population receive at least one social protection benefit. Most of those excluded work in the informal economy and many are locked in a vicious cycle of vulnerability, poverty and social exclusion. This necessitates a focus on supporting member states to provide universal access to comprehensive, adequate and sustainable social protection.
The effective implementation in law and practice of international labour standards promotes a cycle of human-centered development, boosting productivity and living standards. The ILO will continue to encourage and support African governments to ratify and apply current standards, particularly around the promotion of gender equality, offering technical assistance, enhancing labour administrations' capabilities, and strengthening social partners and dialogue structures to ensure effective labour market governance.