Technical Support to the MSSRP to assess, monitor and increase the labour-intensity of its capital investment


Background

Responding to the request of the Government of Jordan to address the impact of the large influx of Syrian refugees on Jordanian host communities, the World Bank launched the Emergency Services and Social Resilience Project (ESSRP). The project was approved on October 11, 2013 for US$ 52.7 million, with the objective of helping Jordanian municipalities and host communities address the immediate service delivery impacts of Syrian refugee inflows and
strengthen municipal capacity to support local economic development.

The first additional financing of US$ 10.8 million was approved in December 2016 to scale up project activities, which increased the total project amount to US$ 63.5 million, contributed by six donors over four years.

The second additional financing entails a scale up and a restructuring aimed at continuing the support to deliver municipal services in communities that are hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees.

The second Additional financing will also:

(i) Expand the project's scope to include additional municipalities that have been impacted by the crisis but did not receive any financial support under the ESSRP.
(ii) Place increasing focus on deepening the capacity strengthening efforts to achieve more sustainable, transparent and accountable service delivery.
(iii) Focus on financing investments that provide employment opportunities for Syrians and Jordanians and foster collaboration with non-governmental organizations and the private sector through an additional sub-window, ‘innovation funds’.

The second Additional Funds will be financed through donor contributions to a new Multi- Donor Trust Fund – the Municipal Services and Social Resilience.

The objective of the project is to Support Jordanian municipalities affected by the influx of Syrian refugees in delivering services and employment opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians.

ILO’s main role in the project is to support and build capacity of MSSRP and its implementing agencies [Ministry of Local Administration, Cities and Villages Development Bank and Municipalities to assess, monitor and increase the labour-intensity of its capital investments.

MSSRP Components:

1- Municipal Grants (Cycle 1, Cycle2)

Municipal grants for 28 participating municipalities in different categories Ex. (Infrastructure projects like roads opening and asphalting existing roads, investment projects, machineries/Equipment’s, social services like rehabilitation of parks, energy projects …etc) which are selected based on community consultations.

2- Innovation Fund:

Under municipal grants that provides project-based financing to municipalities on a competitive basis. As such, the second additional financing will help further achieve the project’s objectives while also supporting the Government’s commitment towards ‘turning the Syrian crisis into a development opportunity’ and ‘rebuilding Jordanian host communities. To better reflect this developmental approach and added emphasis on enhancing the quality-of-service delivery and its impact on longer-term development.

ILO Role:

1- Capacity Development
The ILO through national and international experts is providing the required capacity development for the inclusion of Employment Intensive Approaches within the Municipalities programmes and strategies in general and at the MSSRP interventions in specific.
Provide trainings, workshops, intensive seminars and joint preparations on the various fields of employment intensive methods, to both governmental officers/ engineers and private sector contractors and design offices.
2- Employment Intensive Guidelines
To ensure creating convenient platform for applying employment intensive approaches in the MSSRP, ILO provided targeted guidelines and manuals for the MSSRP, and social safeguards for the employment intensive works. Also the ILO revised and adjusted the MSSRP operations manual and contracting documents for the purpose of applying labour intensive technologies within its processes.
3- Monitoring the Employment generation indicators
On the implementation part, ILO developed monitoring framework and reporting mechanism for the employment generation indicators in the MSSRP. Providing necessary assessments, templates and training for the implementing partners for the monitoring works.
MSSRP is planning to create 110,000 Working days with 70% Jordanian workers, 30% Syrians workers and to cover the 10% Female and 3% People with disability.
4- Youth monitoring Component
The MSSRP is applying Youth Monitoring approach for the labour-intensive works activities under innovation fund component, which is projects with high labour intensity, with the objective to complement regular monitoring efforts with additional information, thereby strengthening the overall monitoring and evaluation system used by the project.
The YM approach involves monitoring by young community members in partnership with the project management structure and Partners for good. ILO is leading this component through training the youth regarding the use of data collection forms, data analysis, and reporting standards and supporting the establishment of a sustainable liaison between the Youth and municipalities and follow up mechanism for the monitoring process.

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