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Social dialogue for formalization and employability in the Southern Neighbourhood Region (SOLIFEM)

eval_number:

2351630

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2351630

location:

country:

Lebanon

region:

Arab States

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country:

Algeria

region:

Africa

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country:

Egypt

region:

Africa

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country:

State of Palestine

region:

Arab States

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eval_title:

Social dialogue for formalization and employability in the Southern Neighbourhood Region (SOLIFEM)

recommendations:

date:

2026-06-03 00:00:00.0

themes:

theme:

Organizational issues

category:

Planning and programme design

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action_plan:

The new intervention on formalization is not designed as a regional project. However, particular attention has been given to the systematic consultation of national partners prior to the introduction of any activity involving a regional or cross-country exchange dimension. In line with the ILO’s principles of inclusive and demand-driven technical cooperation, national partners have been closely engaged in identifying relevant opportunities for peer learning and experience-sharing with other countries. In this context, partners have expressed strong interest in participating in a regional workshop on the measurement of informality and undeclared work, including the sharing of experiences with European countries. Furthermore, the project has ensured close coordination with the national partner to identify relevant international experiences in the area of simplified legal and administrative frameworks—particularly schemes comparable to the auto-entrepreneur status in Algeria. This consultative process has enabled the strategic identification of a set of countries with promising practices, ensuring that any prospective exchange is both relevant and beneficial to national stakeholders. This approach ensures that international cooperation initiatives are fully aligned with national priorities, grounded in country ownership, and designed to maximize learning, relevance, and impact, in accordance with the ILO’s mandate and operational framework.

management_response:

Completed

progress:

Achieved

admin_units:

RO-Arab States/DWT-Beirut

title:

Recommendation 2. Enhance the link between the regional project concept and the national context. Various interviewees expressed concern that the four countries of SOLIFEM were too different for one project concept, particularly after the escalation of the war in the OPT and Lebanon. While the overall outcomes can be targeted towards the same challenges (e.g. informality and weak social dialogue), the priorities, outputs and activities should be flexible to ensure that ILO staff and stakeholders can agree on what steps are needed and most relevant in their country. In the case of SOLIFEM, the project design was grounded in background research, but some stakeholders felt insufficiently consulted in the design and felt that the activities did not reflect the main priorities (e.g. in OPT, especially after the escalation of the war). Furthermore, the difference among countries, and their spread over two ILO regions, created certain challenges for coordination and regional cooperation. Therefore, future regional projects should: - Ensure that key national stakeholders (ILO, Donor, constituents) can co-design the priorities and activities under a project, relying on the expertise of the key stakeholders and allowing them to set their priorities for the project. - Explore in project design not only whether project countries face similar difficulties, but also whether the composition of countries facilitates efficient project coordination and technical backstopping (e.g. limiting the coverage of different ILO regions).

project_symbols:

INT/20/02/EUR

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/recommendations/2351712

information_source:

Country Office

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