INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO PROMOTING TRANSITIONS TOWARDS FORMALITY

The informal economy absorbs six out of ten workers and eight out of every ten economic units in the world. The vast majority of employment in Africa (84 per cent) is informal. Asia and the Pacific (66 per cent) has a slightly higher level of informality than the Arab States (54 per cent). Informal employment accounts for 37 per cent of total employment in the Americas and 1 in 5 workers in Europe and Central Asia. Today, there is a need to accelerate and scale up the operationalization of Recommendation No. 204 by constituents building on innovative approaches that have the potential to do so. Within this context, the 2023 Global Knowledge Sharing Forum (GKSF) constitutes a breakthrough opportunity to analyze selected promising actions to reduce decent work deficits and facilitate transition to formality across participating regions and policy areas. The GKSF is a key moment to discuss with peer colleagues and experts, paving the way for continued exchange and cooperation as well as strengthening the capacities of constituents to develop innovative policies and measures to effectively address informality and facilitate transition to formality as a public policy priority. OBJECTIVES The 2023 GKSF aimed at strengthen the technical capacities of ILO’s tripartite constituents to accelerate the development and implementation of policies to address informality and foster transition to the formal economy of workers and economic units by: • Analysing the design and implementation of sector-based approaches: outcomes and portability • Practical approaches for the transition to formality in the context of climate change and the just transition to a green economy • Innovative approaches for organizing and serving workers and economic units of the informal economy CONTENT The course included three online webinars, each showcasing two experiences illustrating one of the below three key topics: • Analysing the design and implementation of sector-based approaches: outcomes and portability • Practical approaches for the transition to formality in the context of climate change and the just transition to a green economy • Innovative approaches for organizing and serving workers and economic units of the informal economy Webinars were supported by two weeks of self-learning preparatory modules, online Forums and a knowledge repository which are all available on the ITCILO eCampus platform of the event. NUMBER OF HOURS: 12