Individual consultant opportunities

The ILO engages individual consultants (“external collaborators”) to perform a specific well-defined task or set of tasks, if the output can be considered as a specific end product (e.g. a study, a report, an IT design project, a research assignment or a translation), or if the task is of an advisory or technical nature. 

External collaborators are independent contractors and not considered as ILO officials. The implementation of external collaboration contracts is governed solely by the terms and conditions of the contract, including the standard clauses and the additional stipulations as applicable. 

Starting from 1 July 2025, ILO external collaborator opportunities will be published on United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM). Interested individuals must first register themselves under the “individual consultant” track on UNGM, then apply to open opportunities via UNGM to the ILO e-Sourcing platform. Guidelines are available for the UNGM registration process and the process of submitting your application on the ILO e-Sourcing platform.

The external collaborators will be paid for the number of days contracted to complete the deliverables described in the relevant terms of reference. The ILO applies daily fee ranges (excluding travel costs) based on the pre-defined complexity level of the assignment and the external collaborator’s place of residence. The daily fee range table, published every six months, should be consulted by individuals when preparing to submit an offer for a potential external collaboration contract.

Ethical conduct

While under contract with the ILO, external collaborators must act at all times in a manner befitting their relationship with the ILO and may not engage in any activity that is incompatible therewith. They must not, while performing the work contracted for or at any time thereafter, utilize in any manner prejudicial to or incompatible with the interests of the Organization any information of a restricted or confidential nature which may come to their knowledge in connection with the performance of their contractual obligations (Standard Clauses of ILO external collaboration contract). Further requirements for ethical conduct can be found in the additional stipulations. 

Minimum requirements

The ILO requires that all deliverables submitted meet minimum standards, including those related to ILO terminology and visual identity; and that external collaborators follow applicable technical requirements (e.g., https://digitalprinciples.org, ISO/IEC 27001 or equivalent) as set out in the additional stipulations and/or eventual terms of reference.

Mandatory trainings for external collaborators

BSAFE training

The online security awareness training by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) constitutes a mandatory course for external collaborators engaged by the ILO. It is available on the UNDSS website and must be completed by all individuals submitting an offer. BSAFE training needs only to be completed once as BSAFE certificates do not expire. The training takes approximately one hour.

PSEA Training

The online training programme on the “prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) by UN Personnel” (course ref: LMS-2398) is mandatory for external collaborators engaged by the ILO. It is available on United Nations e-learning site (inspira).  Please consult the instructions for accessing and enrolling to mandatory learning courses by external users. The training takes approximately 90 minutes.