Migrated Content
We have recently updated the ILO website and are in the process of rebuilding a number of pages. You might encounter layout issues on pages as we work on them. Thank you for your understanding while we improve your experience.

Multilateral Cooperation Department (MULTILATERALS)

The ILO headquarters are located in Geneva, where the ILO’s Member States government, employer and worker representatives meet three times a year at the ILO’s Governing Body and annually at the International Labour Conference (ILC).

Under the leadership of the Director-General, the ILO has approximately 3,500 officials who work on its agreed programmes and activities as set out in the Programme and Budget, across 107 countries in five regions: Africa, the Americas, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia each with a Regional Director.

ILO’s work is organized around four clusters, each overseen by an Assistant Director-General:
  • Manuela Tomei – Governance, Rights and Dialogue
  • Mia Seppo – Jobs and Social protection
  • Laura Thompson – External and Corporate Relations
  • Hao Bin – Corporate Services
Research, statistics, publication, and training activities, as well as four Priority Action Programmes are led by a Deputy Director-General, Celeste Drake:
  • Transition from the informal to the formal economy
  • Just transitions towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies
  • Decent work outcomes in supply chains
  • Decent work in crisis and post-crisis situations

Reporting to the Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships, the Multilateral Cooperation Department (MULTILATERALS) leads, coordinates and promotes the ILO’s active involvement in the UN system and  cooperation with other multilateral organizations. In carrying out its work, the Department collaborates closely with the ILO Offices in New York and Washington, as well as in other locations hosting international organizations, including Paris for the OECD. 

In close cooperation with the ILO’s Policy portfolio, MULTILATERALS promotes the Decent Work Agenda in the UN system and ensures a pro-active and coordinated ILO approach to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, in particular regarding Goal 8 and other interconnected SDGs. As recognized by the UN General Assembly resolution endorsing the Centenary Declaration, “full and productive employment and decent work for all is one of the key elements of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth” and “it requires a multidimensional focus that incorporates Governments, the private sector, civil society, non-governmental organizations, employers’ and workers’ organizations”, among others.

The UN development system continues to reform to be fit for purpose. The Department supports the ILO’s and its tripartite constituents’ involvement in the process to bring about a more coherent and coordinated UN System.

MULTILATERALS also manages the ILO’s relationship with the international financial institutions in close coordination with the ILO’s Policy portfolio who leads the collaboration with those institutions on policy, research and data, as well as with the ILO Office on Washington. As highlighted by the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, a strengthened cooperation with the multilateral system is critical  “to promote policy coherence in pursuit of a human-centred approach to the future of work, recognizing the strong, complex and crucial links between social, trade, financial, economic and environmental policies”.

Staff list

Mr. Christophe Perrin Director
Ms. Tania Caron Senior Multilateral Relations Officer
Ms. Sharon Dubois Administrative Assistant
Mr. Massimiliano La Marca Senior Economist
Ms. Margaret Mottaz-Shilliday Senior Coordinator for Multilateral Affairs
Ms. Nathalie Plo Senior Secretary
Ms. Kirsten Maria Schapira-Felderhoff Senior Multilateral Cooperation Specialist
Mr. Wolfgang Schiefer Senior Coordinator on UN and Sustainable Development

Contact Us