Francesco D’Ovidio

Director, ILO Country Office for the State of Qatar

© ILO

© ILO

Mr. Francesco d’Ovidio is the Country Director of the ILO Office for Qatar. The ILO has been working closely with the Government of Qatar on a comprehensive labour reform agenda since 2018.

From 2022 to 2025, he was the Head of the Development Partners Relations Unit of the PARTNERSHIPS Department in ILO HQ, coordinating ILO relations with multi-bilateral partners.

From 2017 to 2022, he was the Head of the Solutions and Innovation Unit of the Fundamentals Principles and Rights at Work Department in ILO HQ, supervising the field operations of the ILO on Child Labour, Forced Labour, Non-Discrimination and Freedom of Association.

From 2015 to 2017, he was Country Director of the ILO Office for Indonesia and Timor Leste, based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

From 2011 to 2015, he was Country Director of the ILO Office for Pakistan, based in Islamabad, Pakistan.

From 2009 to 2011, he was Chief Technical Advisor of a large programme on the elimination of Child Labour in cocoa sector in West Africa, based in Accra, Ghana.

From 2007 to 2009, he was Chief Technical Advisor of a large programme on the elimination of child labour in Madagascar, based in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

From 2005 to 2007, he was a Child Protection Specialist at the UNICEF Office for West Bengal and Assam, based in Kolkata, India.

From 2003 to 2005, he was coordinating a large inter-regional project on child soldiers, based in ILO HQ.

From 2001 to 2003, he was a technical officer for a regional project on the elimination of Child Trafficking for labour exploitation, based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

From 1999 to 2001, he was a Junior Professional Officer on International Labour Standards based in ILO Turin Center and ILO Regional Office for Africa, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Previous to UN experience, he worked for an INGO, based in Dakar, Senegal, on Child Protection.

Mr d’Ovidio is an Italian national. He has a Master in Law from the Univeristà Cattolica of Milan, Italy and a Master on Advanced Studies, from the University of Law of Fribourg, Switzerland.