As Guinea advances an ambitious economic transformation, a new initiative is working to ensure that growth translates into decent jobs, stronger social protection and greater security for workers and their families.
Launched in Conakry on 21 July 2026 by the Government of Guinea and the United Nations, the programme will support the creation of productive employment, expand social protection and help manage economic and social transitions in a fair and inclusive way.
It marks a new stage in Guinea’s implementation of the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, an initiative launched by the United Nations Secretary-General to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
Turning national ambition into opportunities for people
Guinea joined the Global Accelerator on 10 June 2024, reaffirming its commitment to place decent work, social protection and inclusion at the centre of its economic and social transformation.
The programme will bring the Government and its partners together around three priorities: accelerating job creation and the expansion of social protection, advancing coherent reforms grounded in social dialogue, and mobilizing the investment needed to implement them.
It will support Guinea’s National Employment Policy and strengthen public employment services and programmes. It will also promote skills development, training, access to employment and the formalization of economic activities.
Particular attention will be given to progressively extending social protection to informal economy workers and people living in poverty or vulnerable situations.
Together, these efforts aim to improve access to productive and decent work while helping workers and their families become more resilient to economic shocks.
Connecting economic growth with social progress
The programme is closely linked to Simandou 2040, Guinea’s national transformation programme, which seeks to turn the country’s natural resource revenues into sustainable, inclusive and broadly shared human development.
For the Government, employment and social protection must be fully integrated into this wider economic vision. At the launch, Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Protection Mory Condé called for the Global Accelerator roadmap to be systematically aligned with the 122 flagship projects of Guinea’s national transformation plan.
“There must not be, on the one hand, the major vision for economic transformation embodied by Simandou 2040 and, on the other, social initiatives developing in parallel. There must be one and the same national ambition.”
This alignment will help ensure that the country’s economic transformation creates decent jobs, reduces inequalities and delivers lasting improvements in people’s lives.
Bringing partners together around national priorities
The programme is implemented under the technical leadership of the International Labour Organization, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. It is funded by the Joint SDG Fund and the World Bank.
Other members of the United Nations Country Team, including the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization, will contribute their expertise to its implementation.
At the launch, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guinea Diego Zorrilla reaffirmed the commitment of his office to strengthen collaboration among partners, promote integrated solutions and help mobilize additional resources.
“This programme demonstrates the capacity of the United Nations system and its partners to act in a coordinated manner in support of national priorities.”
Nearly 80 representatives from government institutions, United Nations entities, technical and financial partners, workers’ organizations, the General Confederation of Guinean Enterprises and civil society participated in the launch.
Their involvement reflects the central role of social dialogue in shaping policies that respond to the needs of workers, businesses and communities.
Moving from commitment to action
The next step will be a national diagnostic workshop bringing together the programme’s partners to assess Guinea’s employment and social protection landscape, identify gaps and agree on shared priorities for just transitions.
The findings will guide the development of a national roadmap for implementing the Global Accelerator and connecting its actions with Guinea’s broader development priorities.
Closing the launch, Minister Mory Condé emphasized that the programme’s success will ultimately be measured by the results it delivers for workers and people in vulnerable situations.
“The launch of this pilot programme under the Global Accelerator is not an end in itself. It is the starting point of a demanding process that must result in decent jobs being created, social protection being extended, particularly to those working in the informal economy, and a Guinea where economic growth goes hand in hand with social justice.”
By bringing employment, social protection and economic policy together, Guinea is working to make growth a driver of decent work, greater resilience and more inclusive development.
Originally published by the ILO.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds, and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
