The International Labour Organization is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. Founded in 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN. The main aims of the ILO are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues among its 187 Member States.

Most notably, DE conducted an Institutional Evaluation of the ILO’s Field Structure in 2017. This was a high-level evaluation of the ‘fit-for-purpose’ of the agency’s field structure - which includes 5 regional offices, 40 country offices and over 600 programs in more than 100 countries - in view of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, the 2030 Agenda and ongoing reform in the UN development system. DE used mixed methods approach including completed document analysis, field missions to 15 countries on 4 continents, survey and archival data analysis.