SDG 8 on sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and full and productive employment for all is core to the International Labour Organisation’s mandate. To inform ongoing efforts to contribute to SDG 8, ECOPER was commissioned to conduct a synthesis review of nearly one hundred ILO projects evaluated between 2019 and 2020. The review first considered each project’s level of alignment and contribution to the SDGs, before thirteen were selected for more in-depth analysis in response to six research questions. The questions aimed to ascertain how the projects had aligned with constituents needs and national plans and strategies, and how they had contributed to the SDGs in terms of their effectiveness, impact and sustainability. A key aim of the review was to establish how projects had been affected by and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The synthesis review was commissioned as part of the ILOs contribution to the UN’s annual high-level political forum on sustainable development in 2021. The review will aid in understanding advances towards SDG8 at a time when the COVID-19 crisis is creating considerable and novel challenges for actors in the sustainable development agenda.