Bangkok--Jun 27--International Labour Organization
India
In Tamil Nadu, a skills development training programme for women from tsunami-affected fishing communities was initiated as a modest immediate response by extending activities of an ongoing project. Two training and production units were established in Pudupattinam and Oyalikuppam hamlets in Kalpakkam near Chennai. 170 women from the two affected hamlets were trained in incense stick production. Another 200 women from Nagapattinam District have been trained in incense stick production over a month-long period.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment and the ILO are, as an initial step, focussing on revamping 3 existing employment exchanges and following up on selected recommendations of an ILO study on restructuring the National Employment Service in the three affected states to expand their services to the informal economy.
Together with 3 local and national employers’ organizations, the ILO initiates pilot activities on livelihoods programme for fishers; entrepreneurship development, including Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programmes, Business Development Services, especially for women and young people; and working with local associations of trade and industry.
With local and national workers’ organizations, pilot activities on skills development for income generation and alternative livelihoods, awareness on available government and other schemes and on rights and self-help groups have been initiated.
The highest human losses were in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. ILO is partnering with a well-established NGO, which has been working in the Islands since immediately after the Tsunami struck, to work on livelihoods training and and strengthening the existing network of fishermen with participation of youth and women.
A joint UNDP/ILO programme formulation mission was undertaken in selected areas in May-June 2005 to formulate an area-based programme for alternative (non-fishing) livelihoods.
Indonesia
Reconstruction of Aceh Province will take many years, but the people of Aceh have shown amazing resilience and are courageously restarting their lives.
The Government of Indonesia has developed a “Master Plan for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation”. The ILO has been working with the Provincial Government and the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Board (BRR) to implement this Plan through a number of major programmes including the establishment of Employment Service Centres. A network of four Employment Service Centres is now operational across Aceh province and more than 35,000 people have been registered in Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Calang and Lhokseumawe. The Centres have targeted employers with vigorous marketing and placement campaigns and more than 700 registered job seekers have found employment.
The focus is now on filling new jobs which are emerging in the construction sector. These include both semi-skilled and unskilled work (for whom the ILO has organized ‘cash-for-work’ schemes). Skills gaps are also being identified and, where possible, short-cycle skills training is being offered in subjects like English and computer skills. Around 300 people have already taken part in the English training programme.
As part of the labour-based rehabilitation of infrastructure programme, intensive courses in concrete and masonry works and the supervision on debris removal are underway, benefiting more than 200 people in Banda Aceh and Malabo. Working with district officials and the Public Works Department, ILO is also building up the capacity of small-scale local contractors so that they can handle bidding, contracting and implementing infrastructure projects.
The ILO, working with local and national NGO’s and trade unions, is also providing enterprise development services, including the highly successful ‘Start and Improve Your Business’ course which helps both new and restarting entrepreneurs. Small restart grants are also being given to selected businesses on the condition they create jobs.
The ILO is working with the Government to provide technical assistance for the Labour Force Survey (planned for February 2006). The data gathered will help track the recovery and reconstruction process in Aceh.
Sri Lanka
The ILO’s Needs Assessment Survey for Income Recovery in May 2005 (covering Colombo, Galle and Hambantota in the south, Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee in the east, and Mullaitivu and Jaffna in the north) found that nine out of ten people in the tsunami-affected areas lost their jobs, mainly in fisheries, manufacturing, services, trade and handicrafts. The survey also found that 60 per cent of people have regained some source of income and are not reliant on aid. More men (55 per cent) than women (40 per cent) are back at work.
The results of the survey will be used in the planning and delivery of government and non-government livelihood assistance, under the umbrella of the Rapid Income Recovery Programme (RIRP). The Government and the ILO have also been working to create a strategy that will give the affected people some measurable income security, ensuring protection for those who can’t work and jobs for those who can. The strategy combines income transfer and rapid job recovery mechanisms and focuses on three main types of intervention: cash transfers, “Cash for Work” and helping people get back to business.
The ILO, with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), is supporting the institutional framework for the RIRP, through the Programme Management Unit. The ILO is also helping with employment-intensive reconstruction of essential community and public infrastructure, so helping create work for low-income and other affected groups.
Using US Department of Labour funding, educational and training activities are being undertaken for affected children in two districts.
Thailand
Between the end of January and the beginning of March, the ILO co-sponsored several workshops that allowed affected workers (including migrants and informal economy workers) to voice their needs and concerns to government officials. These were organized with the assistance of labour unions and NGOs.
At the end of May, the ILO reached an agreement with the Thai Ministry of Labour and UNDP to implement a project to help tourism industry workers who have lost their jobs and livelihoods, either because of the physical destruction of the tsunami or the economic aftermath and the slow rebound of the tourism industry. The project, which covers Phuket and Phang Nga, will also provide guidance on recovery in the Phi Phi Islands
The project covers the industry from formal large resorts to informal beach sellers. In the formal sector, the ILO has hosted bipartite meetings (with labour unions and the hotel associations) to identify ways to upgrade skills during the tourism low season while also helping laid-off workers survive until the sector picks up. Informal economy operators will also receive help with skills, entrepreneurial development and marketing their products inside and outside the tsunami-affected areas. Special attention is also being paid to helping newly-disabled workers.
The project will help small and micro enterprises (SMEs) get access to financial services by working with financial institutions to develop systems appropriate to SME needs and the post-tsunami economic situation. HIV prevention and awareness will also be addressed — targeting sex workers related to the tourism industry. End.