During the workshop, participants were given an overview of the core components of joint programming under the PROSPECTS partnership, supported by the Government of the Netherlands. Working sessions also provided an opportunity for partner agencies to give an update on related interventions planned in the programme’s areas of intervention.

In addition to sensitizing LEDC members on technical assistance interventions targeting both refugees and host community members, the workshop introduced critical planning tools and approaches to help the LEDCs verify, validate, and monitor the work taking place on the ground, which is particularly important in view of the limited field presence of the agencies in remote field locations.

Under PROSPECTS, the LEDC’s have been established to assist the Partnership in helping to strengthen the economic and organizational structures that will anchor technical assistance interventions and outreach initiatives targeting Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDP) and their host communities in programme locations in East Darfur (Nimir Camp and Assalayaa settlements) and West Kordofan (Keilak/Kharasana corridor and Al Meiram). The LEDCs are comprised of FDP and HC members, which allows partners to have a dual track and field level coordinating and monitoring mechanism.

Over the course of PROSPECTS’ implementation, the LEDCs will be capacitated to verify and monitor the implementation of education, employment, and protection related activities and will work with the other partners to ensure that interventions and outreach activities maximize community benefits and service delivery. Furthermore, through capacity building and awareness raising, LEDCs will be provided with critical direct assistance that will enable them to take up income generating activities that will help to ensure their sustainability beyond the project’s end date.

In support of the ILO, the LEDCs will work in close collaboration with state and local authorities for better planning and monitoring of skills trainings, for the construction and rehabilitation of public assets and infrastructure, as well as to help to ensure the proper and effective use of donor funding. By establishing and working with the LEDCs, the ILO (and its sister agencies) will benefit from a platform that ensures strong community ownership of planned interventions and a fairer representation of women, youth, and other marginalized groups in planned activities.

The action plans developed during the workshop will play an important and critical role in helping the PROSPECTS partnership achieve its programme objectives in the underserved targeted areas in East Darfur and West Kordofan. The ILO hopes to engage with the LEDCs to ensure that quality field level information leads to better decision-making, which will allow for a more effective allocation of resources and ultimately better socio-economic outcomes for forcibly displaced persons and the communities that host them.