Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) holds ambitious time-bound aims for the eradication of forced labour by 2030 and the elimination of child labour by 2025. The 8.7 Accelerator Lab is an initiative of the ILO to accelerate progress on the eradication of forced labour and the elimination of child labour by optimizing the effectiveness of development cooperation interventions. This ILO programmatic framework focuses on fostering a shift from funding of individual projects to the financing of transformative change to achieve Target 8.7. This includes activities at "system level": critically reviewing and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of how projects are delivered; and activities at "intervention level" by delivering projects at assessed against six acceleration factors.
The first independent evaluation was planned for 2023 and covered the period between the launch of the Accelerator Lab in December 2020 and July 2023. PPMI was contracted to conduct this first evaluation, focusing on both system and intervention levels.
The evaluation covered the six OECD/DAC criterion and relied mostly on a large interview programme (at global level, and in the four intervention countries: Ghana, DRC, Indonesia and South-Africa). Two countries were selected for additional case study research, focusing on personal stories of beneficiaries, namely Indonesia and Ghana.
The results of the evaluation provide important insights into the effectiveness of the Accelerator Lab so far - which will help shape the Lab in terms of its expansion and future work. Given that the Accelerator Lab is funded by multiple donors (Multi- Partner Funding Mechanism) there are many potential users of the evaluation and lessons learned can be used more broadly to influence all work on combating child and forced labour.