Paris 2024 – Creating social change through a decent work Olympics

The Olympic and Paralympic games are not just a major sporting festival, they are also a massive procurement, construction and employment project, and often play a key role in urban regeneration.

This year's Paris Games organizers have gone one step further. They created a Social Charter, which links the entire games delivery process with social goals that are inspired by the ILO's decent work agenda. The Charter, which was adopted early in the preparation process, brought together Olympic organizers with trade unions and employers, with the aim of using human and sustainable development as guiding principles for delivering the games.

The Charter’s signatories adopted 16 commitments, all linked to the ILO’s decent work criteria. They include decent wages, minimum guarantees for working conditions, action on discrimination, and help to ensure that small and medium sized businesses and social enterprises could take part in the Olympic procurement processes. Their common aim, ultimately, is to ensure that the legacy of the games is not just in sporting, but in lasting and sustainable social change too.