The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) signed a partnership deal aimed at creating decent jobs in our increasingly digital world. The collaboration comes as artificial intelligence and automation reshape entire industries, often leaving workers scrambling to keep up. Their focus is on helping the people who typically get overlooked – young people, women, and communities that don’t have access to good training or technology.
The Digital Cooperation Organization brings together 16 countries representing $3.5 trillion in economic output and 800 million people, with 70% under age 35. This deal combines the ILO’s expertise on worker issues with the DCO’s digital economy knowledge. Together they’ll run training programs, conduct research, and help governments navigate the shift to digital economies without wrecking people’s careers.
Work is changing so fast that millions of people can’t keep up. Jobs that were stable for years are vanishing while new positions need skills most workers don’t have. The partnership wants to fix this through better training and making sure technologies like artificial intelligence actually help workers instead of just pushing them out of their jobs.
DCO Director General Hajar El Haddaoui emphasized how this fits into broader development goals. The collaboration aims to ensure digital transformation actually helps people instead of making inequality worse. Meanwhile, ILO Deputy Director-General Celeste Drake highlighted their shared vision of using digital change to drive inclusion rather than division.
The partnership will organize global discussions between governments, tech companies, and worker representatives to shape policies that protect people during this technological shift. By combining policy expertise with on-the-ground labor experience, they hope to create frameworks that help countries build digital economies that work for everyone, not just tech elites.
