E-course: Agenda 2030, the UN Reform and Decent Work with a South-South approach

The “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (2030 Agenda), adopted in September 2015 by the 193 Member States of the United Nations, calls for efforts at all levels to improve the coherence of socio-economic and environmental policies. In this sense, a profound reform of the United Nations development system began in 2018 to strengthen its capacities in order to better support countries in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

This course will introduce the 2030 Agenda, explain the reform of the United Nations development system, and highlight how South-South and Triangular Cooperation are part of these initiatives and key means of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the course will delve into how Decent Work and its four pillars (promoting employment, assuring rights at work, extending social protection, and promoting social dialogue) become crucial elements to achieve the multiple SDGs.

The ILO also considers it is essential to promote the value of tripartism and the role of the social partners in the reform the United Nations development system. In this regard, this course will deepen in a particular way how to involve governments and workers’ and employers’ organizations in the processes related to the “United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework” and the “Common Country Analysis”, which are fundamental instruments introduced by the reform, as well as the potential of South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the exchange of knowledge and mutual learning from different experiences of participation in these processes.


El curso se compone de los siguientes seis módulos, que deben cubrirse en secuencia:

E-course: Agenda 2030, the UN Reform and Decent Work with a South-South approach

The “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (2030 Agenda), adopted in September 2015 by the 193 Member States of the United Nations, calls for efforts at all levels to improve the coherence of socio-economic and environmental policies. In this sense, a profound reform of the United Nations development system began in 2018 to strengthen its capacities in order to better support countries in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

This course will introduce the 2030 Agenda, explain the reform of the United Nations development system, and highlight how South-South and Triangular Cooperation are part of these initiatives and key means of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the course will delve into how Decent Work and its four pillars (promoting employment, assuring rights at work, extending social protection, and promoting social dialogue) become crucial elements to achieve the multiple SDGs.

The ILO also considers it is essential to promote the value of tripartism and the role of the social partners in the reform the United Nations development system. In this regard, this course will deepen in a particular way how to involve governments and workers’ and employers’ organizations in the processes related to the “United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework” and the “Common Country Analysis”, which are fundamental instruments introduced by the reform, as well as the potential of South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the exchange of knowledge and mutual learning from different experiences of participation in these processes.


The course consists of the following six modules, to be covered in sequence:

Supplementary materials on South-South Cooperation and the 2030 Agenda: