The ILO and the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions

The Global Accelerator is a joint initiative launched by the United Nations Secretary-General in September 2021 to accelerate progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and direct investments to address the decent jobs and social protection worldwide gap.

According to the ILO Monitor on the world of work, in 2023, the global jobs gap is projected to stand at 453 million people and 4 billion people are still excluded from social protection. The Global Accelerator aims to respond to that gap by helping create millions of decent jobs, primarily in the green, digital and care economies, and extend social protection to the billions of people who are currently excluded.  

The International Labour Organization (ILO), together with FAO, UNICEF, UNDP, UN WOMEN, and WFP, is part of the Technical Support Facility, which is a UN coordinating mechanism that supports the implementation of the Global Accelerator.

The ILO, as the UN specialized agency in the world of work, actively supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through policy advice, technical assistance, and the promotion of international labour standards. Decent work is the foundation of fair and inclusive growth. This, along with social protection, promotes a more inclusive model of development founded on social justice. 

Addressing deficits in decent work, social protection and fundamental rights are not just important for achieving the SDGs, they are an essential part of the architecture of social justice. This is where the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions can play an important role."

ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo

The ILO’s mandate to advance social justice is more relevant today than ever. Collective, coordinated and coherent action at the national and global levels is essential to prioritize social justice at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The ILO’s Programme and Budget for 2024-25, approved the International Labour Conference in June 2023 sets forth a global social justice programme in which the Global Accelerator is promoted as one of the main pillars of the Global Coalition for Social Justice aiming to strengthen global solidarity, policy coherence and concerted action, leveraging the momentum created by the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions in supporting countries to develop and implement integrated strategies and policies to create decent jobs, extend protection, and facilitate just transitions; and establishing four Priority Action Programmes (APs) to increase internal coordination of activities and policy coherence, thereby supporting constituents in key crosscutting policy areas each of which are expected to contribute to the aims of the Global Coalition and Global Accelerator.

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Get involved: Contact@UNGlobalAccelerator.org