Session 6 - 18th Regional Seminar for Labour-based Practitioners
Summary of the discussions at the 18th Regional Seminar for Labour-based Practitioners held in Tunisia on September 9-13, 2019
18th Regional Seminar for Labour-based Practioners “Towards sustainable and inclusive local development: local resource-based approaches and decent job creation”, 9-13 September 2019, Tunis, Tunisia.
Session 6: Improvement of Sustainable Mobility through Employment-Intensive Approaches - Thursday, September 12
1. Mr. Sassi Hamnami, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport of Tunisia, demonstrated his government’s efforts to improve people’s access to public transportation. He underlined the fact that better transportation networks help accommodate the growing demands and accelerate exportation. Currently, 11% of public investments are dedicated to enhancing the national transportation system in the country. The three pillars that are indispensable for sustainable mobility, he stressed, are 1) coherent governance, 2) sustainable mechanism for funding, and 3) capacity building at a regional level.
2. Mr. Karim Daouas, CEO of la Société Nationale de Transport Interurbain of Tunisia, presented the conditions in which the transportation system could reinforce the sustainable development efforts and employment generation. Sustainable transportation, he emphasized, should: improve the access of individuals, reduce the air pollution, ensure the security of roads to reduce the number of death, and increase the fuel efficiency, which are all in line with the SDGs’ integrated approach towards social, economic, and environmental development.
3. Mr. Shailandra Kumar Jha from the ILO Country Office Nepal demonstrated his experiences with the Strengthening the National Rural Transport Program (SNRTP) in the country. He highlighted his intervention in the program to introduce the maintenance activities for road works in many of the regions in the country in collaboration with the Government of Nepal and the World Bank, presenting a variety of achievements in the program including gender parity, OSH, capacity building, social cohesion among others. He also underscored the importance of the use of digital technologies and information sharing mechanisms to efficiently address community grievances.
4. Ms. Misrak Gashaw from Ethiopia shared her study results on the impact of the Universal Rural Access Program (URRAP) in Dire Dawa City Administration of Ethiopia, which incorporated the employment-intensive approach with the aim to reducing poverty. She articulated the research methodology to conduct impact assessment with the use of statistical data, and its result found the significant correlation between the URRAP intervention and the rural livelihood and household consumption, recommending its scale up.
5. Mr. David Fonnie, from ILO Country Office Pretoria of South Africa, presented the potential of routine road maintenance activities that are suitable for the sustainability of the labour-based approach of investment. He presented the benefits of labour-intensive methods in terms of employment and income generation, as well as local economic development, climate resilience, and SME/personal capacity development. He also introduced the merit of performance-based contracting as part of transparent and measurable standards.
Session 6: Improvement of Sustainable Mobility through Employment-Intensive Approaches - Thursday, September 12
1. Mr. Sassi Hamnami, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport of Tunisia, demonstrated his government’s efforts to improve people’s access to public transportation. He underlined the fact that better transportation networks help accommodate the growing demands and accelerate exportation. Currently, 11% of public investments are dedicated to enhancing the national transportation system in the country. The three pillars that are indispensable for sustainable mobility, he stressed, are 1) coherent governance, 2) sustainable mechanism for funding, and 3) capacity building at a regional level.
2. Mr. Karim Daouas, CEO of la Société Nationale de Transport Interurbain of Tunisia, presented the conditions in which the transportation system could reinforce the sustainable development efforts and employment generation. Sustainable transportation, he emphasized, should: improve the access of individuals, reduce the air pollution, ensure the security of roads to reduce the number of death, and increase the fuel efficiency, which are all in line with the SDGs’ integrated approach towards social, economic, and environmental development.
3. Mr. Shailandra Kumar Jha from the ILO Country Office Nepal demonstrated his experiences with the Strengthening the National Rural Transport Program (SNRTP) in the country. He highlighted his intervention in the program to introduce the maintenance activities for road works in many of the regions in the country in collaboration with the Government of Nepal and the World Bank, presenting a variety of achievements in the program including gender parity, OSH, capacity building, social cohesion among others. He also underscored the importance of the use of digital technologies and information sharing mechanisms to efficiently address community grievances.
4. Ms. Misrak Gashaw from Ethiopia shared her study results on the impact of the Universal Rural Access Program (URRAP) in Dire Dawa City Administration of Ethiopia, which incorporated the employment-intensive approach with the aim to reducing poverty. She articulated the research methodology to conduct impact assessment with the use of statistical data, and its result found the significant correlation between the URRAP intervention and the rural livelihood and household consumption, recommending its scale up.
5. Mr. David Fonnie, from ILO Country Office Pretoria of South Africa, presented the potential of routine road maintenance activities that are suitable for the sustainability of the labour-based approach of investment. He presented the benefits of labour-intensive methods in terms of employment and income generation, as well as local economic development, climate resilience, and SME/personal capacity development. He also introduced the merit of performance-based contracting as part of transparent and measurable standards.