Between 40 to 67% of workers in the EU's southern neighbourhood are part of the informal economy. Informal work is associated with poorer working conditions, lower pay, and lower productivity compared to formal employment. Without labour rights protections, informal workers lack access to minimum wages, maternity protection, and social security.
From March 2021 to December 2024, the ILO and the European Union partnered to promote the project "Social Dialogue for Formalization and Employability in the Southern Neighbourhood Region" (SOLIFEM) to strengthen the capacity of the ILO tripartite constituents in the region, with particular focus on Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and OPT. The project aims to achieve two distinct outcomes:
- Outcome 1: Enabling national policy frameworks to facilitate the transition of informal economy workers and economic units to the formal economy in place, developed through dialogue between the tripartite constituents.
- Outcome 2: Strengthened skills development systems that enable young people and women in the informal economy to access formal employment.
In October 2024, the ILO contracted PPMI Group to conduct the final evaluation of the SOLIFEM project, to assess the overall performance of the project, the achievement and quality of the results, with emphasis on results-oriented approaches and the contribution towards achievement of the SDGs. The evaluation covers the full time and geographical scope of the project, focusing on the six OECD/DAC criteria and the cross-cutting concerns of ILO.
