Publications

ASIST Bulletin no. 11, July 2000

ASIST-Africa and the future

By Jane Tournée, Director, ASIST

What of the future—more of the same or completely different? The signs are that the next phase of ASIST will be somewhere in between. A proposal is under preparation for a further three year programme (2001 _ 2003). The exact level of funding for the future ASIST is not known and this will influence the range and nature of services which the new programme can be expected to deliver.

There are many aspects of employment intensive investments and improved accessibility that ASIST is working on at present, and these must continue and be further developed in the future phase. However the context in which we all work never remains static and there are new developments and challenges continually facing ASIST and ASIST partners.

In this short contribution to the Bulletin, I should like to outline the major areas that the next phase of ASIST is expected to address.

Policy and legislative support for employment intensive investments

ASIST aims to increase its support to partners in terms of working with them to create a conducive environment for promoting technology choice, employment friendly investments, labour standards, and small scale local enterprises. This favourable environment can best be achieved through national and regional level awareness creation, continued co-operation with universities and other higher level learning institutions, and the establishment of national level policy planning units and policy and legislation development.

This approach results from experience of successful projects and programmes on the ground being unsustainable due to lack of policy support at a central government level. However if policy makers are to be convinced, they will need to have access to demonstration sites or on-going programmes to experience the positive results of the employment intensive investment approach for themselves. This policy work has started under the present phase of ASIST, but will be given increased importance in the future.

Strengthening of partnerships, particularly in light of decentralisation policies and in support of improvements in low-income urban areas

With financial and capacity constraints often evident at local authority level, maximum use must be made of partnerships and localprivate sector capacities.

Partnerships can involve communities, private sector, local authorities and other branches of government, funders, professional institutions, workers' organisations, and employers' organisations. The thrust of ASIST's work will be to develop the partnerships into formal arrangements and contracts to ensure that all partners are aware of their responsibilities and are bound by them.

Introduction of appropriate planning systems and procedures at community and local authority levels

This will continue the work already carried out on the development of Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP), and support the increased use of `bottom-up' planning techniques in both the urban and rural settings. It will also expand the co-operation with universities and other institutions of higher learning.

Appropriate technical standards and procedures developed to design, manage and maintain infrastructure works including good labour practices

ASIST is traditionally seen as being a programme dealing with labour-based methods in rural road construction. From the above three points it should be clear that the mandate is now much broader. Road construction and maintenance will continue to play an important part in the work of ASIST, due to the potential for increasing employment. However, in the future there will be a greater emphasis on spreading the employment intensive and local resource use approach to other infrastructure sectors, (i.e. agricultural infrastructure, water supply, sanitation, rural and urban

access infrastructure). This will require awareness raising, training, technical advice, development and dissemination of guidelines. In addition this will be linked to the important work of diversification of the local labour-based contractors and the re-orientation and training of local consultants, in the use of local resources in diverse types of infrastructure.

The information base, capacity and skills are further developed

With the expansion of the use of labour-based methods to different types of infrastructure, the information needs for these sectors will need to be assessed and information proactively sought to fill the gaps. New and revised training courses will be developed with partner institutions to address gaps in the ever-evolving working environment both in the rural and urban sectors. Information sharing with ASIST-Asia and other EIIP specialists in francophone Africa and South America will continue, and demand is expected to rise.

Capacity increase and skills development is particularly relevant for the private sector, but also for the management skills required of the public sector in effectively tapping into these resources. In particular new emphasis will be placed on the re-orientation and training of consultants.

Research into suitable standards for rural and urban infrastructure and the implication for maintenance and whole-life cycle costs is an area which ASIST, in partnership with others, will be actively pursuing.

Systems for ensuring adequate flow of funds

In the past ASIST has concerned itself with the optimum use of funds once available. What is now anticipated is that ASIST will enter the debate with partners such as financial institutions and governments as to the deployment of funds at a national or regional level to optimise employment opportunities in the construction sector. As staff turnover in both government and donor agencies is very high, this is a continual process and cannot be viewed as a one-off initiative.

So, what else is new?

As can be seen from the above points the future work will involve many new partners and access and dissemination of information will be more demanding due to the location and diversity of partners. However, this is viewed as a pleasing challenge as it indicates the spread of interest in employment intensive investment.

ASIST will also continue the recent trend of developing more working relations and stronger connections with other parts of the ILO structure in addition to the EIIP Branch. There is increasing co-operation with the multi-disciplinary teams in the region and closer contact with the Regional Office in Abidjan. On a professional level, the increase in activity with regard to labour standards and social protection is enhancing links to the departments and specialists working in this area. This is also true for co-operation with enterprise development specialists, particularly in the urban sector.

The ILO now has an in-focus programme on crisis response and recovery, which focuses on the effects of crises (e.g. natural disasters, post conflict situations etc.) on employment and the interventions necessary to recreate employment opportunities during the recovery period. Links are being established with this programme, as there is a common goal to direct as much of the funding being offered for reconstruction to employment intensive interventions where appropriate.

Where will ASIST be?

Now this is a good question! The current proposal is to continue having a presence in East Africa (Nairobi), especially with links to KTC, and for the provision of information services. However there have been strong recommendations that all the advisers should work from one office allowing better synergies and complementarity of effort, and that the main information centre should be in the same office and available directly to them. At present it is suggested that this should be Harare,

but keep watching for more news on that decision.

Who will be in ASIST?

Fresh job outlines will be created for the new programme, and while it is important to retain continuity and experience, it will also be important to match the job outlines to what the next phase of ASIST is expected to deliver.