From data to impact, ILO Pretoria showcases innovation in Southern Africa

The ILO’s first Innovation Day marked an important step in fostering a culture of innovation across the organization. Bringing together colleagues from headquarters and field offices, the event created a platform to showcase practical solutions, share new ideas, and promote collaboration across regions. It underscored the ILO’s commitment to evolving how it works embracing innovation not only through technology, but also through new ways of thinking and delivering impact in a rapidly changing world of work.

Within this global exchange, the Pretoria team contribution consisted in a focused session presented by Maria Payet, Amanda Mejía Cañadas, and Nyasha Muchichwa. Their presentation highlighted how collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is transforming the monitoring and advancement of decent work across the region.

• Maria Payet, Senior Statistician emphasized progress in strengthening labour market data systems by promoting adherence to international statistical standards and aligning national Labour Market Information Systems with the SADC Labour Market Observatory. ILO supports both the national and regional LMO implementation, and this approach is improving the quality and comparability of data, enabling stronger monitoring at both national and regional levels
• Amanda Mejía Cañadas, International Labour Standards and Labour Law Specialist for Eastern and Southern Africa, explored how International Labour Standards can be more effectively implemented through regional mechanisms. By supplementing the work done at country-level with regular regional assessments, embedded within SADC processes, and supporting biannual reporting, this approach helps identify shared challenges, encourages peer learning, and enhances coordinated technical support across Member States, while also allowing for a more comprehensive follow-up in non-SADC Member States of Eastern Africa.
• Nyasha Muchichwa, who is a Policy Officer, highlighted a shift toward embedding ILO expertise within regional institutions rather than relying on fragmented country-level interventions. Using the construction sector as a pilot, this integrated model strengthens evidence-based policymaking and builds institutional ownership, allowing impact to scale across the region.

Together, the Pretoria team’s presentation demonstrated how innovation at the ILO is being translated into practical, regionally driven solutions that strengthen systems, enhance cooperation, and advance decent work in a sustainable and scalable way.