Session 5 - 18th Regional Seminar for Labour-based Practitioners
Summary of the discussions at the 18th Regional Seminar for Labour-based Practitioners held in Tunisia on September 9-13, 2019
18th Regional Seminar for Labour-based Practioners “Towards sustainable and inclusive local development: local resource-based approaches and decent job creation”, 9-13 September 2019, Tunis, Tunisia.
Session 5: EIIP Approach in the context of fragility - peace and resilience, Thursday, September 12
1. Mr. Federico Negro from ILO HQ moderated the panel discussion. He drew the attention of the audience to the relevance of the ILO’s activities in the context of fragility, with a reference to the Jobs for Peace and Resilience flagship programme (JPR) and the Recommendation 205 on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience.
2. Mr. Federico Barroeta from ILO Country Office in Mauritania pointed out the situation of food insecurity in Mauritania that affects approximately 25% of the total population. He then presented the “chantier école” model of employment-intensive investment towards youth employment creation, which incorporates both theoretical and on-the-job practical trainings, with the selection process specifically targeting the vulnerable young groups and their capacity development. With some concrete examples from the PECOBAT project, he underlined the possibility to replicate this model, as demonstrated in the growing number of interested donor in recent years.
3. Mr. Christopher Choueiri and Mr. Tomas Stenstrom from ILO Country Office in Lebanon introduced the multi-objective of EII approach of intervention in Lebanon as a way of strengthening resilience in host communities through improving their livelihood at the same time as providing job opportunities for Syrian refugees, which simultaneously contribute to the national infrastructure development. With a particular attention to the vulnerable groups and women inclusion, the Office has built the capacity of over 80 private companies through a package of trainings pertaining to practical bidding and resource mobilization procedures etc. They also introduced the environmental and social safeguard framework: an instrument aligned with the national laws as well as relevant international conventions, with which an ILO-trained staff monitors its adherence on the project site.
4. With a reference to an alarming trend of increasing unemployment rate in the country that was significantly affected by the regional crisis, Mr. Bashar El Samarneh from ILO Country Office in Jordan, demonstrated the inclusion of EIIP approach in the municipal services as a way to develop the institutional capacity, while paying due attention to local communities and their social cohesion.
5. Ms. Maha Kataa from ILO Country Office in Lebanon complemented the information provided by her colleagues in the Office with the introduction of the strategic pillars of ILO response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan (i.e. strengthening labour market governance, improving private sector productivity and decent work creation, and immediate decent work creation) which is guided by the ILO Programme of Support to the Jordan Compact. She pointed to the necessity to seek synergies between projects for scaling up, as well as to strengthen partnership with national stakeholders, whose culmination can be witnessed in the ILO’s successful legislative intervention to enable the provision of work permits for Syrian refugees.
6. Mr. Abenet Mengistu Kassaye from Agency for Refugee Returnees Affairs (ARRA) brought to the attention of the audience the situation in which Ethiopia is placed whereby refugees from 26 countries are being hosted with a growing number of refugee camps. Despite the circumstance, he referred to the introduction of a new legal instrument in the country which allows refugees to obtain work permits, access to education and legal registration, which opened up many opportunities for the employment-intensive type of programming.
Session 5: EIIP Approach in the context of fragility - peace and resilience, Thursday, September 12
1. Mr. Federico Negro from ILO HQ moderated the panel discussion. He drew the attention of the audience to the relevance of the ILO’s activities in the context of fragility, with a reference to the Jobs for Peace and Resilience flagship programme (JPR) and the Recommendation 205 on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience.
2. Mr. Federico Barroeta from ILO Country Office in Mauritania pointed out the situation of food insecurity in Mauritania that affects approximately 25% of the total population. He then presented the “chantier école” model of employment-intensive investment towards youth employment creation, which incorporates both theoretical and on-the-job practical trainings, with the selection process specifically targeting the vulnerable young groups and their capacity development. With some concrete examples from the PECOBAT project, he underlined the possibility to replicate this model, as demonstrated in the growing number of interested donor in recent years.
3. Mr. Christopher Choueiri and Mr. Tomas Stenstrom from ILO Country Office in Lebanon introduced the multi-objective of EII approach of intervention in Lebanon as a way of strengthening resilience in host communities through improving their livelihood at the same time as providing job opportunities for Syrian refugees, which simultaneously contribute to the national infrastructure development. With a particular attention to the vulnerable groups and women inclusion, the Office has built the capacity of over 80 private companies through a package of trainings pertaining to practical bidding and resource mobilization procedures etc. They also introduced the environmental and social safeguard framework: an instrument aligned with the national laws as well as relevant international conventions, with which an ILO-trained staff monitors its adherence on the project site.
4. With a reference to an alarming trend of increasing unemployment rate in the country that was significantly affected by the regional crisis, Mr. Bashar El Samarneh from ILO Country Office in Jordan, demonstrated the inclusion of EIIP approach in the municipal services as a way to develop the institutional capacity, while paying due attention to local communities and their social cohesion.
5. Ms. Maha Kataa from ILO Country Office in Lebanon complemented the information provided by her colleagues in the Office with the introduction of the strategic pillars of ILO response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan (i.e. strengthening labour market governance, improving private sector productivity and decent work creation, and immediate decent work creation) which is guided by the ILO Programme of Support to the Jordan Compact. She pointed to the necessity to seek synergies between projects for scaling up, as well as to strengthen partnership with national stakeholders, whose culmination can be witnessed in the ILO’s successful legislative intervention to enable the provision of work permits for Syrian refugees.
6. Mr. Abenet Mengistu Kassaye from Agency for Refugee Returnees Affairs (ARRA) brought to the attention of the audience the situation in which Ethiopia is placed whereby refugees from 26 countries are being hosted with a growing number of refugee camps. Despite the circumstance, he referred to the introduction of a new legal instrument in the country which allows refugees to obtain work permits, access to education and legal registration, which opened up many opportunities for the employment-intensive type of programming.