Employment-Intensive Investment in

Bangladesh

Employment-Intensive Investment Programme activities in Bangladesh

EIIP involvement in Bangladesh

The ILO has a long history of collaboration with the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). In the early nineties, the EIIP provided technical support to the mapping of all rural infrastructure in the districts of Bangladesh, which resulted in detailed maps identifying public facilities such as water supply, schools, clinics, irrigation, local roads, etc. Using GPS and other GIS tools, a comprehensive database of rural infrastructure assets were established in LGED.

Recognising the solid capacity of LGED in the use of employment-intensive work methods in their rural development programmes, the EIIP has been involved in a series of technical cooperation activities concerned with capacity building, training and South to South experience sharing.

In 2001, ASIST Asia Pacific, the former operational arm of the Employment Intensive Investment Programme in the Asia Pacific region, provided technical support at the request of Asia Development Bank (ADB) to work on the preparation of a rural infrastructure development project. This input was related to issues of increased effectiveness of labour based methods, the use of local materials and aspects of improved working conditions.

During a mission in April 2002, ASIST-AP assessed the possibilities for employment generation through the DFID Chars Livelihoods Programme, an organisation which aims to improve the livelihoods of extreme poor households on island chars in northwest Bangladesh. Also, the ILO explored collaborations with the Local Government Engineering Department, the Roads and Highways Department and the Ministry of Public Works.

Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters like floods and cyclones. In 2004, after severe floods, ASIST AP supported the development of proposals for the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure including housing. Cyclone SIDR caused damage in 30 districts in 2017 and EIIP supported with the development of a project to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure.

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