Employment-Intensive Investment in

Pakistan

Activities of the Employment Intensive Investment Programme in Pakistan

EIIP in Pakistan

EIIP related activities in Pakistan started as part of the ILO assistance after the earthquake in 2005. The bulk of this support was provided as technical assistance through two projects, one funded by the European Union and the second by the World Bank, consisting of technical and managerial support to the reconstruction works. The application of employment-intensive work methods proved to be and effective means of livelihoods restoration. Equally, the use of community contracting for rehabilitating and reconstructing access roads and other community infrastructure proved to be an effective arrangement to early recovery works when the capacity of the regular construction industry was stretched.

CBLRP project
With financial support from the European Commission, the ILO was a key partner along with UNDP, UNIDO and FAO in the Community-based Livelihoods Recovery Programme (CBLRP) in Mansehra and Muzaffarabad Districts. The ILO provided support to three components - (i) skills development, (ii) reconstruction of rural roads and (iii) employment generation services – with the aim to restore income generation activities of the affected population and support the rehabilitation of community infrastructure related to livelihoods recovery and economic development. A total of 140 km of rural roads were rehabilitated using employment-intensive work methods, two new vocational training centres were established, two employment information centres were developed and 9,000 men and women were trained and mobilised through a community based mechanism.

CBLRP project
From 2007 to 2010, the EIIP provided technical assistance to the World Bank funded Earthquake Additional Financing Project in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Project activities consisted of the reconstruction and repair of government office buildings, primary schools and village access roads in four districts affected by the earthquake. The ILO technical assistance focused on three activities, (i) general management support to the project implementation office, (ii) technical support to the road works and (iii) organising the rehabilitation of local roads and schools through community contracts.

While the bulk of the EIIP involvement has been on post-disaster reconstruction works, support was also provided during the early recovery works using debris clearing as a means of providing short-term employment and cash income. This was the case immediately after the earthquakes in Kashmir and Baluchistan as well as after the floods in 2010 and 2011.

In 2010 the ILO joined the UN Country and Humanitarian Teams and was involved in Cash for Work schemes and took the lead in the Non-Farm Employment Livelihoods Sector of the Community Restoration and Early Recovery Cluster. In addition, the ILO was a core part of the Disaster Needs Assessment. ILO’s focus was on strengthening existing community-level organisations, in particular village committees and self-help groups through short-term employment creation.

In the late 2000s, the EIIP also conducted extensive discussions with the Planning Commission on how to enhance the employment intensity of on-going rural infrastructure programmes in the country. Activities included a comprehensive study of the sector including several workshops to discuss how the ILO can play a more active role in this field.

Further Reading