The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the United Nations specialized agency devoted to advancing opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity. Its main aims are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities for all including migrant workers, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue in handling work-related issues.
BACKGROUND
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has been implementing a multi-sectoral inter-agency partnership programme for host communities and forcibly displaced people with a vision of enhancing skills for better labour market opportunities and strengthening decent work in countries affected by forced displacement to mitigate stress and support access to labour markets plus empowerment of host communities and forcibly displaced populations. One of the key components of the Programme is the promotion of Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) principles and work methods, to maximize employment outcomes for at-risk communities.
The ILO EIIP supports countries in the design, formulation, implementation and evaluation of policies and programmes aimed at addressing unemployment and underemployment. The Programme promotes public investment, typically in infrastructure development and environmental works with a focus on the use of employment-intensive and local resource-based approaches to produce public assets in a range of areas such as road construction and maintenance, water and drainage, irrigation infrastructure, reforestation, and soil conservation. Implementation modalities range from public works programmes where individuals are hired directly to the contracting of small and medium enterprises (contractors) and communities. EIIP produces transformative public assets that create employment, skills learning and business opportunities for local communities.
Several initiatives were rolled out under the EIIP component in the last five years, particularly in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The ILO is now looking for a new geographic front in the Amhara region aiming to support peacebuilding and social cohesion through the promotion of employment and livelihood opportunities for refugees and host communities. The proposed intervention will address the lack of access to basic infrastructure and economic opportunities for forcibly displaced persons and host communities in the target areas. In this regard, the ILO will promote an employment-intensive and green works approach for the provision of priority socio-economic infrastructure and will work towards addressing unemployment, decent work deficits and lack of access to livelihoods within the host and refugee communities, which are key contributing factors to conflict.
The ILO, UNICEF and UNHCR organized a joint scoping mission on 15-17 February 2023 to the Alemwach settlement to identify possible areas of joint intervention aimed at providing immediate access to refugees and host communities to basic needs and services in the settlement and neighbouring Dabat town. Accordingly, priority areas were identified in consultation with local authorities and target communities. This included provision of improved housing/shelter, sanitation, market infrastructure, access roads as well as education and health facilities. The ILO is proposing to undertake some of these works to help address decent work deficits and lack of opportunities for livelihood and build resilience of both host and refugee communities against socio-economic shock. This is done through the provision of basic socio-economic infrastructure, the creation of market linkage and livelihood opportunities in the Dabat settlement area.
Some of the proposed interventions entail:
Accordingly, a 2.3km road was identified and the design is currently being done by a government agency, Lihiket Design and Supervision Corporation. The road upgrading work will be executed by local contractors trained in labour-based construction methods.
It is in this light that the Roads2SDGs project proposes the hiring of a Road Design Engineer, who will be the focal person to deliver capacity development interventions on road design.
In light of this, the ILO is seeking to hire a seasoned road construction engineer-National consultant, who will monitor and supervise the day-to-day road work in Dabat town.
For more and detailed information, please use the document linked below:
ToR- Excoll-Road construction engineer Dabat