International Labour Organization (ILO)

Performance evidence

Overview

MOPAN released its most recent assessment of the ILO in 2021.

The mandate of the International Labour Organization (ILO) – a specialized agency of the UN - is to advance social justice and promote decent work. The Decent Work Agenda, endorsed by the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization in 2008, translates the ILO mandate into action. The agenda has four strategic objectives: employment, social protection, social dialogue and tripartism, as well as fundamental principles and rights at work, with gender equality and non-discrimination as cross-cutting issues (ILO, 2016a). The ILO serves its tripartite constituents through:

the creation of international labour standards backed by a system to supervise their application;
the formulation of international policies and programmes to promote basic human rights, improve working and living conditions and enhance employment opportunities;
a programme of international development co-operation formulated and implemented in partnership with constituents to help countries put these policies into practice; and
training, education and research activities to help advance these efforts.

The ILO has a strong normative mandate that includes the adoption, ratification, supervision and implementation of international labour standards. The organisation’s normative function forms its core activity. The international labour standards take the form of conventions and recommendations; conventions are legally binding on ILO member states that have ratified them, whereas recommendations serve as non-binding guidelines.

The year 2019 marked an important point for the ILO. The organisation celebrated its centenary, consolidating its relevance and strategic position as it entered its second century. The ILO invested in reflection and consultation to understand future needs in the world of work and adopted a human-centred approach embedded in the Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work to address these needs. The reinforced mandate and long-term vision provided by the Declaration, together with internal reforms initiated in 2012, provided a fertile ground for change and innovation. All of this meant that when the COVID-19 crisis struck, the ILO was in a good position to adapt and respond with agility.

Performance rating summary

ILO organisational performance wheel — Organisational performance

Key findings

The ILO has a robust strategic framework guided by the Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work that provides a clear long-term vision and a roadmap for the organisation.
The ILO’s technical expertise in the world of work, experience in social dialogue and tripartism, and its convening power are strong assets which it brings to the UNDS.
The organisation has proven its organisational agility and capability to understand and address the needs of beneficiaries through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ILO remains committed to cross-cutting issues of human rights, gender equality, and social dialogue and tripartism, and has integrated them better into its interventions.
With a commitment to diversify partnerships and funding sources, the ILO is increasing its collaboration with NGOs, the private sector and other partners beyond its tripartite constituents.
The ILO’s independent and quality-focused evaluation function has solidified the evidence-based character of its policies and interventions.
Through its flagship programmes, the ILO puts normative goals into practice and enhances their impact, thereby complementing its normative role.

The ILO has yet to prioritise the “green recovery” or serving the world of work by addressing the climate crisis.
The organisation could increase its impact through large-scale interventions with multi-donor participation and attain more sustainable results.
The ILO needs to improve intervention design and monitoring practices through the consistent use of baselines and theory of change, take more timely action on underperformance, and streamline business processes that directly affect its projects and programmes.
Strengthening field capacity with technical expertise remains a challenge, but the ILO can achieve this by building on remote solutions developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accelerating actions to establish a fully-fledged system to prevent and respond to SEA is essential in the context of increasing interventions targeting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
The ILO lacks clear and robust standards and procedures for accountability to end beneficiaries, an area that is gaining in importance with increased staff interaction with vulnerable workers.
The ILO has focused on developing an innovation culture and investing in innovation across the organisation, but would benefit from a more systemic approach in this regard.