About Us

The ILO Cairo Office was established in 1959 with a mandate to oversee ILO activities and relations with constituents (government, employers’ and workers’ organizations) in Egypt and Sudan, and has been expanding ever since in size, scope and geographic coverage.

The 1993 ILO Active Partnership Policy aimed at bringing the ILO closer to tripartite constituents established the North African Multidisciplinary Advisory Team (NAMAT) within the Cairo Office, composed of four to six technical specialists.  

• In 1998, in addition to Egypt and Sudan, NAMAT coverage was extended to Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
• In 2003, the Office became ILO’s Sub-regional Office for North Africa (SRO-Cairo).
• In 2005, SRO-Cairo’s geographical coverage was further extended to include Eritrea.
• Today, SRO-Cairo covers seven countries in North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. It relies on five senior technical specialists based in Cairo who provide technical assistance in the areas of international labour standards, employment, vocational training, enterprises and occupational safety and health (OSH). It can also count on additional technical support from ILO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Regional Office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in all areas of ILO expertise.

How do we work?

SRO-Cairo priorities and areas of intervention are identified in close collaboration with tripartite constituents in the sub-region. These priorities, once determined, are to be translated into Decent Work Country Programmes for each of the seven countries in North Africa.

Increasingly, our activities and programmes involve local and international civil society and are implemented in coordination with the UN and other international agencies operating in the sub-region.