ILO and the Global Goals
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#8- Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
Decent work is the foundation of fair and inclusive growth and social justice – it is a driver of development and boosts consumption. This, along with social protection for those that can’t find or are unable to work, addresses inequality, a major drag on economic growth. The ILO’s mission to advance decent work, including rights at work, is also about improving productivity, which it pursues by promoting cooperation among governments, employers and workers through social dialogue.
The ILO champions policies that foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and the growth of small to medium enterprises. It is an advocate for greener business practices, contributing to both employment and sustainability.
The Decent Work Agenda adopts a comprehensive approach, integrating job creation, rights, dialogue and social protection to ensure no one is left behind. The organization also offers research and policy guidance on youth employment and labour migration. Intaking a leading role in initiatives like Alliance 8.7, it aims to eradicate forced labour and child labour. The ILO also leads the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, a global collaboration to move millions of young people into education, training and decent work.
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Green jobs: A solution to youth employment and the climate crisis?
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Rights migrate too
A child should go to school, not to work
Domestic workers need social protection too
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Decent work
Forced labour
Child labour
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#1- End poverty in all its forms everywhere
The ILO supports efforts to cut poverty in half by 2030 by promoting decent jobs and expanding social protection. Currently, more than 4 billion people lack any social protection. The ILO helps countries improve their social programmes and aims for universal coverage by 2030. Additionally, the ILO promotes job-focused recovery in conflict zones, aiming for social cohesion and preventing further strife. Overall, the ILO strives to ensure decent work opportunities, social protection, and just transitions for everyone.
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How to make the informal formal?
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Social Protection
Employment promotion
Poverty -
#2- End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
The ILO works to tackle informality in the agricultural economy, while helping farmers to double their productivity by 2030 through skills-building activities and support for cooperatives. It also promotes rural job growth through infrastructure projects like road building, irrigation, and market access for small-scale farmers.
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We lost our precious forest but found a way to survive
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Rural economies -
#3- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
The ILO supports countries to strengthen HIV prevention among workers and equal access to care, treatment, social protection, and support. It also advises on occupational safety and health measures and on expanding healthcare coverage for the Universal Healthcare Coverage goal by 2030. Additionally, the ILO has set and adopted 14 International Labour Standards for the safe use of industrial chemicals to protect workers and consumers.
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I am living with HIV and I have a right to work
As a sewer worker, I want respect and safer working conditions
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HIV and AIDS
COVID-19 and the world of work -
#4- Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
The ILO prioritizes education, skills training and life-long learning across a number of programmes. This includes the elimination of child labour and a special emphasis on skills for youth, women and vulnerable groups. In 2023 the ILO adopted a new International Labour Standard on quality apprenticeships with a view to improving school to work transitions. Additionally, the ILO promotes decent work for teachers, and labour rights across the sector.
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Failing in school is not failing in life
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Apprenticeships
Skills, knowledge and employability
Youth employment -
#5- Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
The ILO promotes equality of opportunity and pay and works to enhance equal employment opportunities through measures that also aim to improve women’s access to education, skills training and healthcare. It takes account of women’s role in the care economy through work–family balance measures and incentives for the provision of childcare and parental leave. A number of International Labour Standards are designed specifically to improve gender equality and Convention 190 seeks to tackle violence and harassment in all its forms.
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Can digital technology be an equality machine?
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I am not a madman, I am an early childhood teacher
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Equality and discrimination -
#6- Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
An estimated three out of four jobs are heavily or moderately dependent on water. Access to improved drinking water and sanitation facilitates job creation and a healthy, educated and productive workforce which is the foundation for growth.
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A small dam brings a village back to life
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ILO and UN Water -
#7- Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
The ILO promotes improvements in energy efficiency and enhanced access to energy for businesses as a way of stimulating the creation of decent new jobs. The ILO's Green Jobs programme helps businesses transition to lower-carbon energy sources as a means of stimulating the creation of new, environmentally friendly jobs. The ILO supports the creation of green enterprises, particularly in developing countries, through training programmes that teach young entrepreneurs how to start and run green businesses.
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An apprenticeship changed my life
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Green jobs -
#9- Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
The ILO has a long history of providing sustainable approaches to local and community infrastructure development in ways that spur the creation of decent jobs. The ILO promotes inclusive and sustainable industrialization throughout the world through expert policy advice geared towards the creation of decent jobs. The ILO’s value-chain development methodologies are state of the art tools for job creation, particularly in the case of small-scale enterprises.
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I want to be a leader for Gambian youth
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Industries and sectors -
#10- Reduce inequality within and among countries
The ILO aims help boost income growth for the poorest 40% of the world’s population by promoting decent work for all and eliminating workplace discrimination. Its Decent Work Agenda and country programs focus on non-discrimination and gender equality, involving governments, employers, and workers in policymaking. The ILO also studies the impact of financial market fluctuations on workers and advocates for fair globalization. It guides countries in crafting beneficial migration policies and works to lower remittance costs for migrants.
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Sweet success for a honey trailblazer in Côte d’Ivoire
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Labour migration -
#11- Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
ILO projects in several developing countries help to stimulate the creation of decent jobs by providing affordable housing to low-income communities. The ILO promotes social dialogue in the public transportation sector as well as the safety and health of public transport workers. The ILO Green Jobs initiatives help businesses in least-developed countries use local materials to build safe and sustainable homes and workplaces.
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Indigenous people in cities have rights too
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Decent work in the transport sector
Circular Economy -
#12- Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
The ILO is part of a UN group focused on sustainable consumption and production. It sets standards for safe chemical and waste management in workplaces, aiming to limit environmental impact. Through social dialogue, the ILO encourages businesses to adopt and report on sustainable practices. It focuses on enhancing skills in developing countries to promote sustainable development and collaborates with the hospitality sector to monitor sustainability while fostering decent jobs.
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Tackling the productivity challenge
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Environment and Green Jobs
Future of work -
#13- Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
The ILO’s Green Jobs Programme promotes a just transition to resource efficient and low-carbon societies. This means promoting policies for decent green job creation and access to skills training for youth and those who need to change jobs as action on climate change moves forward and social protection measures to buffer transitions. The ILO also leads on the global Climate Action for Jobs Initiative that aims to deliver decent jobs and advance social justice. The ILO's Jobs for Peace and Resilience Programme helps countries prepare for and respond to natural disasters through job-intensive activities that protect the livelihoods of impacted communities.
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Green jobs: A solution to youth employment and the climate crisis?
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A just transition to a new, greener life
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Environment and Green Jobs
Future of work -
#14- Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
The ILO collaborates with FAO to improve fisheries management, livelihoods, and food security through decent work. It aims to formalize fishing jobs, eliminate labour abuses, and ensure good working conditions via its Work in Fishing Convention. In Small Island Developing States like Mauritius, the ILO supports green job creation as part of sustainable development initiatives.
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Fair Seas – From ship to shore and back again
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Maritime labour convention, 2006 -
#15- Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
The ILO is supporting decent work in the forestry sector through the transition from informal to the formal economy, combatting child labour and promoting Occupational Safety and Health policies, contributing to better and more sustainable management of the forests.
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I dreamed a forest into life
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Forestry, wood, pulp and paper sector -
#16- Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
ILO International Labour Standards and supervisory mechanism provide a strong legal framework for protecting human and labour rights and promoting peace and justice. Its Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work programme works to end labour exploitation in all its forms.
As the world's foremost advocate of labour standards, the ILO continues to promote the rule of law in the workplace and beyond. The ILO works with its tripartite partners to build and support effective labour market institutions to ensure just and decent working conditions and fair and peaceful societies globally.
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They were taking nearly everything I earned, I lived in fear
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Work, peace and resilience -
#17- Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
With over 50 years of experience in development cooperation on all continents and at all stages of development, the ILO has some 700 active programmes and projects in more than 130 countries – with the support of 120 development partners. Development cooperation builds bridges between the ILO’s standard-setting role and women and men everywhere. It supports the technical, organizational and institutional capacities of ILO constituents to enable them to put in place meaningful and coherent economic and social policy and help ensure sustainable development.
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As a refugee, my new skills have given my family hope
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Partnering for development