Funding

The ILO funding base consists of both assessed contributions from member States and voluntary contributions from a wide range of funding partners. These are used in an integrated framework to support the delivery of ILO results:

Voluntary non-core contributions support specific global, regional and national programmes. This includes earmarked project-based funding with a clear timeline and pre-defined geographic focus and lightly earmarked funding for broader ILO global or country outcomes. In the 2018-2019 biennium, voluntary non-core contributions to the ILO totalled US$ 772 million – a 26 per cent increase over 2016-2017.

Un-earmarked voluntary core contributions (funding the Regular Budget Supplementary Account – RBSA) provide the ILO with a pool of flexible resources allocated to strategic areas and emerging country priorities including, for instance, COVID-19 and refugee response). In 2018-2019, the ILO received over US$ 27 million in RBSA contributions from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

The Regular budget (assessed contributions) is provided by all ILO’s Member States by virtue of their membership. Countries’ contributions are based on the United Nations allocations assessment. The total regular budget of the ILO in 2018-19 amounted to US$ 784 million.

Detailed information about the full portfolio of voluntary core and non-core contributions is available on the ILO Development Cooperation Dashboard. Results achieved during the 2018-2019 biennium are detailed on the ILO Decent Work Results Dashboard and evaluations of ILO’s work are available in i-eval Discovery.