Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP)

Ambitions job-creation for the poor can be realized by the adoption of labour-based approaches in construction. The Copenhagen Social Summit recognised that EIIPS can have a measurable effect on peoples livelihoods and on the economy, by applying, where appropriate, labour-based methods which enable low-income countries to create twice to three times as many jobs, for two-thirds of the price of equipment based methods. A more generalised local-resource-based approach, involving a shift towards a more systematic use of local materials, locally manufactured equipment, etc. would have an even greater impact by building up local capacities and saving on the countries' scarce foreign exchange.

The following country examples illustrate this:  

a.Ghana: Small Contractor Development Project

This project provided comprehensive business and management training to implement labour-based road rehabilitation projects creating numerous employment opportunities for unskilled labour of poor households in rural Ghana. Important achievements of the project were the training of the staff of 93 of small construction companies and of over 100 Government engineers and foremen. The nationwide expansion of the project resulted in the rehabilitation of over 1,500 km of roads and 3,500 culverts in the period August 1989 to December 1996, and during these first 8.5 years of implementation, the programme created some 4.4 million workdays (or 20,000 work years) of temporary employment. At an average wage rate of approximately one dollar per day, some US $4.4 million was injected into the rural economies as direct cash wages. The project had substantial indirect spin-offs in terms of employment creation through investments in housing improvements, local production of hand tools, farm rehabilitation and social expenditure.

b.Tanzania: The Hanna Nassif Community Based Settlement Upgrading Project

Hanna Nassif is an urban unplanned settlement located 4 km from the Dar es Salaam city centre. The settlement is a low-income area with about 20,000 inhabitants. The Hanna Nassif community organized itself into a Community Development Association (CDA) to address its main problem: flooding. ILO assistance was provided for a community and labour-based project to construct main drain, roads and side drains to prevent flooding and to improve access (first phase 1994 - 1996),and to improve drainage, roads and footpaths in the remaining part of the settlement, as well as to provide water, sanitation, solid waste management services and credit schemes for micro-enterprises (second phase as from 1997).

The most important achievements for the poor urban households in Hanna Nassif settlement included, during its first phase, the training of a Community Development Association (CDA) and of staff members of the Dar es Salaam City Commission in labour issues and community-based construction and maintenance techniques; the employment and skills development for numerous inhabitants of Hanna Nassif through the construction activities for the main drain, roads and side drains which now prevent flooding and have improved access to the settlement. The setting up of a road toll, approved by the City Commission, ensured sustainability of the infrastructure by providing sufficient local funds for maintenance. Various workers found jobs in construction and maintenance works after completion of the works. During the second phase of the project CDA members were trained in management, bookkeeping, leadership skills etc., which strengthened and legalized the organization of the CDA to such an extent that it has become a strong representative of the community that is defending its interests. The settlement's drainage, roads and footpaths were improved and water, sanitation, solid waste management services and credit schemes for micro-enterprises are now being provided, which is contributing importantly to better living and working conditions in the settlement. The City Commission and donors are now replicating the approach in other settlements.

c. Mozambique: Feeder Roads Programme

Since 1984, the ILO has assisted the Government in Mozambique, in setting up a labour-based road betterment and maintenance brigades. In 1992, as part of a post_conflict rehabilitation programme, a nation-wide employment intensive Feeder Roads Programme (FRP) was initiated to rehabilitate some seven thousand km of tertiary roads by the year 2002. The opening of feeder roads creates access to markets, stimulates the use of cash crops and provides access to services for the local communities. The use of labour-based methods creates employment and enlivens the rural economy by ensuring that much of the road work's inputs, in terms of wages and local materials, remains with the local rural populations.

Poor households in rural Mozambique, particularly affected by civil war, benefited from the project's main achievements which include the rehabilitation of 3500 km of road (end 1998); the training of 34 work brigades including small contractors, and of government engineers and foremen in labour-based road rehabilitation; the building up of a culture of fair working practice and consideration of working rights in provincial and national nuclei dealing with gender and social concerns of the workforce; an increased women participation in the works, from an initial 2% in 1992, to 20% of the workforce by the end of 1998; the creation of 1.4 million workdays of temporary employment in 10998, equivalent to some 7.800 jobs sustained by the programme in that year (including supervisory staff). The dissemination of practices of the programme at the national level has been promoted through its participation in a National Roads Board and other institutional reform processes.

d. Madagascar: Rural Labour Based Infrastructure Programme

A total of twenty million dollars was spent on labour-based infrastructure projects creating, in 1995, 35.000 additional jobs, two-thirds indirectly through the multiplier effect by injecting cash wages in the local economy. The 3.5 million workdays created directly, in 1995, under the labour-based construction programme in 1995 were equivalent to 13.600 full-time jobs, or 30% of non-agricultural employment generated in the country's formal sector. The Malagasy government has adopted the labour-based approach as part of its development strategy.