The global financial and economic crisis has further emphasized the need to fully integrate ILO’s decent work approach in a broader economic and social strategy to stave off the slowdown, stimulate recovery and shape a fair globalization. The Policy Integration Department collaborates with other ILO Departments in assisting constituents to incorporate Decent Work in national economic, social and environmental policies and programs. Building partnerships and promoting the Decent Work agenda in the programmes and activities of other UN and multilateral agencies is a key strategy to improve Decent Work outcomes at the national level. Through awareness raising initiatives, research, policy dialogue, technical support and capacity building, the Policy Integration Department contributes to the development of tools, materials and know-how for constituents, policy makers and other multilateral agencies to understand and mainstream key decent work issues.
The UN Chief Executives Board, a body that brings together heads of UN agencies and Bretton Woods institutions, has endorsed the Toolkit for Promoting Employment and Decent Work as an instrument to promote decent work and as a framework to achieve policy coherence and cooperation. The UN Development Framework (UNDAF) guidelines recommend using the Toolkit as an analytical tool for the UNDAF preparation. The Policy Integration Department provides technical support to other UN agencies to carry out self assessments of how their programs interlink with Decent Work and to develop action plans to mainstream Decent Work. The CEB Toolkit will be used to support ILO regional and country offices in their efforts to strengthen the institutional capacities of ILO constituents and other UN agencies to place decent work at the heart of sustainable development strategies and UNDAFs.
Integration has received the support of the EEC for a technical cooperation project to develop the CEB Toolkit within the Decent Work Campaign. The project supports the dissemination of the toolkit in the UN system, the development of a knowledge-sharing application and pilot application of the tool kit at the country-level to collect lessons-learned and further improve policy and operational tools.