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The ILO in Ethiopia

Factsheet
February 2023

About the ILO

The only tripartite U.N. agency, since 1919 that brings together governments, employers, and workers of 187
member States, to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work &
advancing social justice for all women and men in the world of work.
The unique tripartite structure of the ILO gives an equal voice to workers, employers and governments to
ensure that the views of the social partners are closely reflected in labour standards and in shaping policies
and programmes.

ILO’s mission Decent work and

the Sustainable
The International Labor Organiza- Development Goals ILO Country Office -Addis Ababa
tion (ILO) is devoted to promoting
Promoting jobs and enterprise, guaran- ILO Country Office for Ethiopia,
social justice and internationally
teeing rights at work, extending social Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, and South
recognized human and labour
protection and promoting social Sudan, and Special Representative to
rights, pursuing its founding
dialogue are the four pillars of the ILO the AU and the ECA
mission that labour peace is
Decent Work Agenda.These are crucial to
essential to prosperity. Today, the
advancing the entire sustainable
ILO helps advance the creation of
development agenda.
decent work and the economic
and working conditions that give
The importance of decent work in
working people and business
achieving sustainable development is Contacts
:
people a stake in lasting peace,
highlighted by Goal 8 which aims to
prosperity and progress. Tel: +251 1 15 444344 Director’s Office
“promote sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, full and Cell: +251 911 208647 - Director
productive employment and decent +251 1 15 444480 (Executive Assistant)
work for all”
ILO’s Decent Email: [email protected] (Registry)

Work Agenda The ILO in Africa

The first office of the ILO in Africa was https://www.ilo.org/africa/
established in 1959 in Lagos, Nigeria. In about-us/offices/addis-
Productive employment and decent 1965 the ILO was the first UN agency to ababa/lang--en/index.htm
work are key elements to achieving sign a Memorandum of Understanding
@addisilo
a fair globalization and poverty with the Organization for African Unity
reduction. The ILO has developed (OAU), now called the African Union.
an agenda for the community of Postal Address: P.O. Box 2532 or
The main objectives of the International
work looking at job creation, rights 2788
Labour Organization (ILO) in Africa are
at work, social protection, and social ECA Compound, Africa Hall
to promote rights at work, encourage
dialogue, with gender equality as a
decent employment opportunities, Menelik II Avenue, Congo
crosscutting objective.
enhance social protection and strengthen Building 5th &6th Floor
dialogue on work-related issues.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Responsible: MUSINDO, Alexio - DIRECTOR
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headEthiopia Factsheet 2

The ILO in Ethiopia

Ethiopia joined the ILO in 1923 and has ratified 23 Our Top Outcomes in 2023
Conventions including the 8 Fundamental Conventions. Out Outcome 1 - Strong tripartite constituents
of the 23 Conventions ratified by Ethiopia, 22 are in force and and influential and inclusive social dialogue
1 Convention has been denounced. Decent Work remains a
feature of contemporary labour markets in Ethiopia. Outcome 7: Adequate and effective
protection at work for all
Our Constituents Outcome 8: Comprehensive and
sustainable social protection for all
Outcome 3: Economic, social and
environmental transitions for full,
productive and freely chosen employment
and decent work for all
Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises as
generators of employment and promoters
of innovation and decent work
Outcome 5: Skills and lifelong learning to
facilitate access to and transitions in the
labour market

DWCP Priorities for Ethiopia:

Our Funding Sources
• DWCP Priority 1: People
Multi/Bilateral Donors
• DWCP Priority 2: Prosperity
Private/ Non state actors
• DWCP Priority 3: Industrial relations,
United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund social dialogue and
tripartism

ILO’s work in Ethiopia is supportted by:

 Running head Summary of Projects Under Implementation 3

1. Addressing Drivers and Facilitating Safe, Orderly

and Regular Migration in the Contexts of Disasters
and Climate Change in the IGAD Region (MDCC)

Duration: 01 MAR 2021 - 18 May 2023

This is a joint programme which is technically co-led by the International Organization for
Migration (IOM ) and ILO, and in partnership with UNOPS (Platform on Disaster Displacement -
PDD) and UNHCR.
The overall objective of this joint programme is to contribute to facilitating pathways for
regular migration in the IGAD region and minimizing displacement risk in the context of climate
change, environmental degradation and disasters in line with the vision and guiding principles
of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).
ILO focus and is providing support to migrants and climate affected communities have
enhanced pathways for regular migration and access to protection services, improved access
to sustainable livelihood and green job opportunities that prevent climate change induced
displacement and forced migration

Development Partners:

Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF)

2. Advancing Decent Work and Inclusive

Industrialization (ONEILO, Siraye)

Duration: 21 Dec 2017 - 31 Dec 2024

The overall development objective is to advance decent work and inclusive industrialization in
Ethiopia. The intervention is expected to lead to:
1. Improved worker wellbeing in terms of income, safety, equality, rights, voice and representation.
2. Higher industry productivity and competitiveness.
3. Enhanced accountability and transparency in labour administration.
The programme brings together ILO’s key technical departments and programmes such as
BetterWork, Vision Zero Fund, SCORE, LABADMIN and INWORK to strengthen factory level
action, build labour inspectorate capacity, improve working conditions, wage setting mechanism,
promote sound industrial relations and, ultimately, provide a blueprint for the rollout of decent
work practices not only in the garment and textile but also into other industries.

Development Partners:
SIDA, ADA, Multi donor Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) & Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation (Norad), Multi-donor funding to the Vision Zero Fund, Multi-donor support for Better Work, Multi-donor support for
Advancing Decent Work and Inclusive Industrialization in Ethiopia
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3. Better Regional Migration Management (BRMM)

Duration: 15 Sept 2021 - 31 Mar 2025

The project aims at strengthening the capacities of countries in East Africa to govern labour
migration by using evidence-based policies, enhancing migrant workers’ qualifications and skills, and
actively engaging the social partners for improved development outcomes.
The project will cover 3 inter-related pillars of intervention:
1. Established and strengthened foundations for enhanced labour market and migration information
systems (LMMIS)
2.Better skills matching, recognition, and development along specific migration corridors
3.Strengthened capacities of the social partners to engage in labour migration policy development
and implementation. The imperative to strengthen each of these 3 pillars has been recognized widely
by both countries of origin and destination, as well as by employers and workers’ organisations,
providing a basis for dialogue and action within and across countries.

Development Partner:

United Kingdom -Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office

4. FAIRWAY Programme

Duration: 15 Sept 2021 - 31 Mar 2025

The FAIRWAY Program is a four-year inter-regional development cooperation project that aims to
improve conditions of labour migration across migration pathways from Africa to Arab States. It
intends to better protect all migrant workers in vulnerable situations within the Arab states region,
thereby enabling migrant workers to contribute more fully to sustainable development in both
countries of origin and destination.
Focusing primarily on key sectors in which migrant workers in vulnerable situations are engaged
(including the domestic work and construction sectors) the project seeks to address the interlinked
structural, behavioral and practical barriers to improve labour migration outcomes through four
objectives:
1. Private sector, employers’ and workers’ organizations engaged for decent work for migrant workers;
2. Gender-responsive policy frameworks are developed or strengthened for fair recruitment and decent work and
regulatory compliance;
3. Discriminatory attitudes towards women and men migrant workers are diminished; and
4. Migrant workers have improved access to information and support services throughout the migration cycle.

Development Partner:

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperationudget

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5. Global Programme on Skills and Lifelong Learning

Ethiopia Component

Duration: 01 Jan 2023 - 31 Dec 2024

The objectives of the project is to enhance the capacity of constituents to anticipate skills
needs and to develop and implement inclusive skills policies and programmes improving
employability of youth, vulnerable groups, and forcibly displaced people in Ethiopia.

The program targets constituents and stakeholders with training and capacity
development in skills need anticipation and matching and sustainable investment; use of
LMI platform for skills needs analysis and matching; skills demand for the green transition;
running a sector skills council; core work skills to deliver pre-employment core skills and
work readiness training and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) training.

Development Partner:

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

6. Improving Synergies between Social Protection and

Public Finance Management (ILO component)

Duration: 01 Oct 2019 - 31 May 2023

“Improving synergies between Social Protection and Public Finance Management in Ethiopia” is
jointly implemented by ILO and UNICEF. With a country-specific objective of improving the social
protection system in Ethiopia through enhanced sustainable financing, this project aims to achieve
this goal through three focus areas:
1. Producing a financing strategy for social protection with short-term and medium-term
options;
2. Extending social security to informal economy workers and supporting wage legislation
related to social protection; and
3. Building the capacity of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) to effectively
monitor the social protection system.

Development Partner:

The EU, European Union

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Summary of Projects Under Implementation 6

7. ProAgro – Promotion of Decent Work in Agribusiness

Duration: 15 May 2020 - 14 June 2024

ProAgro Ethiopia is an ILO project that puts forth an integrated strategy, combining policy support, skills
development, value chain development and entrepreneurship training in the agribusiness sector to create
jobs and training places in Africa to improve local working conditions and promote sustainable economic
growth. It will be implemented in Ethiopia, for over a period of four years in two selected regions namely
Amhara and Sidama.
The projects aim to support the Government of Ethiopia by contributing to the creation of more and better
jobs in the agribusiness sector. Its approach is based on two principles: it will both “push” people into the
labour market, by providing them with the skills needed to access employment or start their business, and
“pull” them, by supporting enterprise and value chain development so that the private sector can grow and
provide more and better jobs.
The project is based on two interrelated and mutually reinforcing pillars:
1. Foster a conducive environment for decent job creation and sustainable investment
2. Value chain and enterprise development

Development Partner:

Germany, Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

8. PROSPECTS - Inclusive jobs and education for refugees

Duration: 28 Oct 2019 - 30 June 2023

The project objective is to strengthen decent work in Ethiopia in order to mitigate stress factors and
support inclusive socio-economic enablers for access to labour markets and empowerment of forcibly
displaced persons and host communities.

PROSPECT is a four-year innovative inter-agency partnership between the Government of

Netherlands, the World Bank, IFC, ILO, UNHCR and UNICEF. The goal of the partnership is to
strengthen the socio-economic enabling environments of communities that host different forcibly
displaced populations (IDPs and refugees) to ensure sustainable decent work, training and education
opportunities, as the policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks facilitate this integration process.
The programme aims to accelerate efforts to find sustainable solutions for countries confronted with
large influxes of refugees. It also aim to develop and implement evidence-based solutions, tailored to
each context – as well as to test, and learn from, innovative operational solutions, including improving
the availability, collection and use of data and evidence.

Development Partner:

Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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9. Strengthening Ethiopia’s capability to address 7

forced labour and human trafficking

Duration: 30 November 2021 - 31 March 2023

The project will provide technical support to

national and regional stakeholders to mainstream
internationally aligned forced labour and human
trafficking indicators in national data collection
instruments and to strengthen a whole-of-society to
the problem of human trafficking and forced labour
in Ethiopia.internationally aligned forced labour
and human trafficking indicators in national data
collection instruments and to strengthen a whole-
of-society to the problem of human trafficking and
forced labour in Ethiopia.

Development Partners:

Germany, Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

Contacts:
Mr. Alexio Musindo, Director
Email: [email protected]

Homa Mulisa, Sr. Communications and Information

Management Asst.
Email: [email protected]

Addis Ababa
Menelik II Avenue, UNECA Compound, Congo Building

ILO Country Office - Addis Ababa

ILO Country Office for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan,
and South Sudan, and Special Representative to the AU
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ILO Country Office - Addis Ababa

ILO Country Office for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan,
and South Sudan, and Special Representative to the AU
and UN-ECA