Senior Specialist on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

Introduction

The position is located in the ILO Country Office for Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Togo (CO-Abidjan) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.  CO-Abidjan provides high-quality, timely and integrated technical support to ILO constituents in the countries under its geographical competence in the design, implementation and monitoring of Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCP’s) within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and outcome-based work plans. Promoting fundamental labour rights, in particular tackling the root causes of child labour and forced labour, is an important component of its development cooperation (DC) projects portfolio.

The incumbent serves as lead senior technical specialist on fundamental principles and rights at work in the African region and is responsible for managing activities focussing on high-level technical and policy advisory services; advocacy of new strategies, policies, approaches and programmes to promote the five fundamental labour rights, as stated in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in 1998 and amended in 2022.

The incumbent will work in close collaboration with technical specialists and project managers in the region and play a key role in promoting respect for fundamental principles and rights at work and strengthening the capacity of our constituents in this field. The incumbent will cooperate with local counterparts, UN bodies and other relevant regional institutions and initiatives on issues pertaining to fundamental principles and rights at work in the region.  

The position reports to the Director of the ILO Country Office Abidjan. The Senior Specialist will receive technical guidance and support from the Chief of the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch (FUNDAMENTALS), within the Governance and Tripartism Department (GOVERNANCE) at ILO headquarters.

Specific Duties

1. Provide advice at senior technical and policy-making levels and build the capacity of institutions to respect, promote and realize the principles concerning the fundamental rights at work, in conformity with ILO core labour standards.
2. Plan, define, lead and coordinate regional, sub-regional and national priorities and initiatives in line with ILO’s overall strategy to promote fundamental rights at work. This includes, among others, providing support to south-south cooperation and to regional integration bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union on fundamental rights at work.
3. Provide guidance on partnership initiatives, in particular related to Alliance 8.7 interventions in Africa (the global partnership for eradicating forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and child labour around the world) and the effective implementation by pathfinder countries, in coordination with FUNDAMENTALS and other ILO technical departments and field specialists.  Provide technical guidance, whenever needed, to business network activities in the region, in particular the Child Labour Platform and the Global Business Network on Forced Labour.
4. Initiate, design, supervise, conduct and publish action-oriented, gender-mainstreamed analytical research on a wide range of policy questions related to the effective promotion of fundamental rights at work, in particular in high-risk sectors or for vulnerable categories of workers and the impact assessment of national policies and action plans.
5. Contribute to the monitoring of trends and progress of the region towards achieving the relevant targets of the sustainable development goals, with particular attention to SDG 8.7. Support the development of IPEC+ in the region and contribute to its strategic design, monitoring and governance.
6. Provide policy advice to labour administrations with a view to strengthening their organizational capacity to design, develop and implement comprehensive fundamental rights at work policies and programmes including with respect to prevention, protection and remediation strategies.
7. Support resource mobilization for the design and drafting of result-oriented project proposals in line with ILO strategic outcomes and DCWPs, including in response to recommendations made by the ILO’s supervisory mechanisms to provide technical assistance to Member States. Review and adjust project proposals to ensure consistency with regional and national priorities.  Assist in identifying donor priorities, exchange information required for project formulation with donor agency representatives and follow up on donor negotiations. 
8. Identify opportunities for cooperation with other relevant organisations, institutions or donor agencies for the formulation and implementation of fundamental rights at work development cooperation programmes. 
9. Develop and lead/coordinate the development of initiatives and strategies and a range of original and evidence-based technical and policy knowledge products and tools responding to constituents’ needs and priorities. Promote and facilitate their dissemination at regional and national levels with a view to sharing lessons learnt and good practices. Build networks at the regional, sub-regional and national levels.
10. Develop diversified capacity-building strategies for different audiences, especially ILO constituents and sub-regional institutions; develop and adapt training materials and other tools, as well as conduct high-level conferences and workshops at national and sub-regional levels.
11. Perform other relevant duties as assigned.

These specific duties are aligned with the relevant ILO generic job description, which includes the following generic duties: 

optional section (only if needed)

Generic Duties

1. Lead, organize, plan, supervise and control the work of a technical unit (including managerial functions).
2. Design and promote a wide range of special subject-matter-related programmes, This involves analysis of complex or conflicting data, statistics, information or policy guidelines in a manner requiring the advanced application of principles of a recognized technical specialization. 
3. Develop and review an institutional framework, in which social partners can best improve, implement and evaluate efficient and equitable ILO action programmes.
4. Assume full responsibility for policy formulation and providing policy advice to ILO’s constituents on institutional strengthening, the application of ILO standards and the promotion of development cooperation activities.
5. Develop project design, review proposals, formulate, revise and submit project proposals and negotiate funding.
6. Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the project activities.
7. Lead technical advisory missions.
8. Conduct seminars, workshops and technical meetings.
9. Prepare recommendations and guidelines for discussion and adoption as ILO recommendations on related technical fields.
10. Write manuals and training guides on related topics.
11. Disseminate information on action programmes through publications and press releases as well as ensuring representation at donors’ meetings, international, regional and national fora and advocacy campaigns.
12. Monitor and coordinate research carried out by junior technical officers and external collaborators.
13. Provide technical inputs to office documents (sectoral meetings, technical committees, conference reports, Director General’s report to ILC).

Required qualifications

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in law, labour or development economics, social sciences or other relevant field.   A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in one of the afore-mentioned fields or other relevant field with an additional two years of relevant experience, in addition to the required experience stated below, will be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Experience

At least ten years of experience, including at the international level, promoting rights at work, in particular fundamental principles and rights at work. Work experience in policy formulation for the elimination of child labour and/or forced labour would be an advantage. Experience with development cooperation project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and in the area of resource mobilization would be an advantage.

Languages

Excellent command of French or English with a working knowledge of the other language. A knowledge of Portuguese would be an advantage. 

Competencies

In addition to the ILO core competencies, this position requires:

Technical competencies

Ability to: Provide demonstrated and recognized technical and /or managerial leadership in carrying out the objectives and policies of the related work unit, demonstrated technical expertise to devise new methods, concepts, approaches and techniques, leading to the development of ILO standards and technical guidelines and ability to prepare ILO strategy reports in the related field for programme development, the ability to provide policy advice and the ability to manage large projects to coordinate activities among projects. Ability to provide authoritative advice to constituents with respect to public policy formulation and implementation, legislative and regulatory processes, enforcement, governance and inter-Ministerial co-ordination including of sub-national authorities and access to justice for individuals and groups who are denied their fundamental rights at work, coordinate and lead
research activities, initiate and manage networking, campaigning and advocacy with ILO constituents and like-minded groups (eg. International Non-Governmental Organizations, media, UN agencies, donor governments and foundations, etc.) in order to keep fundamental rights at work high on the agenda, initiate and implement development co-operation programmes and activities with ILO constituents and NGOs, including negotiation skills with governments, social partners, international donor agencies and countries engaged in south-south cooperation.

Behavioural competencies

Ability to: act with tact and discretion, take ownership of all responsibilities, act with integrity and transparency by maintaining social, ethical and organisational norms, and meet all commitments within the prescribed time, cost and quality standards; lead and work effectively in a team, promote knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office, and to focus and guide others to meet objectives at individual and group level; Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender-sensitive and non-discriminatory behaviour and attitudes.