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ASIST Bulletin no. 11, July 2000 ASIST Asia Pacific... By Mike Shone, ASIST-AP, Bangkok1
Participants at the ASIST-Asia Pacific review in October 1999, in Bangkok …Two years of rapid response to increasing demands in the region that two thirds of the worlds poor, or 900 million people, call `home'… ASIST-Asia Pacific was conceived in 1996 as part of a global ILO programme of development planning and development engineering, where local level and national level technology interventions through better knowledge would lead to decent work, reduced poverty and better living environments. The project was launched in May 1998 after a rapid preparatory and fundraising period during 1997 and is based in Bangkok with a small team comprising Mike Shone, Chief Technical Adviser (CTA), Chris Donnges, Senior Planning Specialist, Paul Munters, Associate Expert, (who replaced Jan Sakko when he transferred to ASIST-Africa in late 1999), Prayoonsri Likhitdechasakdi, Programme Assistant, and Supaporn Runtnavee, Project Secretary. While conceived before the Asian financial crisis of mid-1997, the start of the ASIST-AP project coincided with a period of severe economic downturn, and rapid increases in unemployment and poverty. The demand for the services of ASIST started at a very high level and has remained so ever since, and yet the region is really the home of labour-based work methods with particularly strong traditions still in China and the Indian subcontinent. The immediate response of the World Bank and other agencies to the Asian economic crisis was to activate Social Safety Net programmes involving `mega' public works and `greening' activities, providing short term employment. In the case of Indonesia more than three million persons have been engaged on World Bank and other such schemes with more than 500,000 in Jakarta alone. Many of these schemes in the so called `Padat Karya' programme were set up only to distribute income, and as engineering works they were often poorly planned, implemented and incorrectly targeted. ASIST-AP was then invited to participate in later missions of the World Bank for reassessment of their `public works' programmes in Indonesia and advised on a more sustainable and labour-based approach. In fact, with AusAID funding, the ASIST team has now worked with Public Works Department (PWD) engineers to develop programmes using labour-based (LB) methods which can employ 1.2 million persons from regular Public Works budgets, simply by gently moving the current equipment-based programmes towards more labour-based work methods and without radically changing current systems. ASIST-AP has focused its attention on the institutionalisation of labour-based technology (LBT) in regular recurrent national works programmes. Apart from Indonesia, ASIST-AP has achieved important progress in the institutionalisation of LB methods in the Philippines where President Estrada has signed Executive Order 94/1999 that made labour-based, equipment supported (LBES) methods the technology of first choice. Work to support the institutionalisation of LBES methods in national programmes has become a key feature of ASIST-AP's work in other countries as well. The promotion of such programmes being based on special `employment potential' studies. Targeted procurement reform is also quickly gathering support in the region. ASIST-AP has been working in a total of 12 Asia Pacific countries but at the beginning of 2000, there were only four operational in-country projects with full-time project personnel: Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines and Nepal. ASIST-AP has established good links with both the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank as well as with DfID, Sida and AusAID, all of which are major development players in the region and are well disposed towards LBT in infrastructure works. The second main focus of ASIST-AP has been local level planning or Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP), which has a significant and distinctively Asian character. With the appointment of Chris Donnges to ASIST-AP in February 2000, ASIST is already working on an expansion of IRAP activities with programme proposals now seeking funding in India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. IRAP-Asia is already at the forefront of local level planning initiatives in the region and is now being adopted as a national programme in the Philippines, Lao PDR and Cambodia. The activites of ASIST-AP differs from those of ASIST-Africa because of the experience so far of relatively larger scale labour-based operations and the generally better-resourced situations of the Asian countries and their capacity for change. LB Contractor training, as is currently being undertaken by the ILO in Cambodia for instance, does not require a great investment in plant and equipment, which are often available for hire in the local market. There is also a remarkable local capacity to build and develop and repair local small trucks and other equipment and tools. There is also a widespread interest in entrepreneurship and seldom a shortage of available labour. With the great tradition of massive labour-based and labour-intensive works schemes especially in India and China, but evident also in almost every Asian country, there is a basis on which to build even better results, even better quality, fairer working conditions and more productive results. There is also a clearer grouping of countries by wage level with US$1 per day typical in many parts of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Viet Nam and Indonesia, whereas US$4 per day is more typical in Thailand and the Philippines. ASIST's first two years have clearly shown that there is a real demand for IRAP and LBES technology services in the region and that ASIST-AP must quickly mobilize more resources. Likewise, the ILO needs to facilitate additional resource allocation to the three multi disciplinary teams (MDTs) in the region. In the past two years ASIST-AP has also gradually built up a valuable library of reports and technical materials from around the region and established a strong network of key contacts and consultants. Paul Munters has designed and established a new website for ASIST-AP (which will form part of the new EIIP website to be launched in October 2000), and is developing an interactive e-mail-based system for the ILO-AP University Network. ASIST-Africa continues to play an important role in the provision of information services and in tracking of international training programmes and works closely with its sister programme in Asia. There is now a rapidly emerging renaissance in LBES in the region and a good number of local professionals and very competent consultants committed to the advancement of the technology. The way ahead for ASIST-AP will be to support and develop these local capacities, accelerate the process of institutionalization of LBT and local level planning in regular works programmes, and to refine and improve on current `best practices'. The region now expects ASIST-AP to do just that as it did with its rapid response to the crises in East Timor and with super cyclone Orissa. 1 From October 2000, Mike Shone will be stationed in Geneva as Senior Crisis Specialist. His replacement will be announced shortly. Keep yourself updated on the Web! ASIST-Asia Pacific review 1999 By Paul B. Munters, ASIST-AP, Bangkok On the 26th and 27th of October 1999, the second regional review and planning workshop of the ILO Advisory Support, Information Services and Training project for Asia and the Pacific (ASIST-AP) took place in Bangkok, which was organised around the central themes Development, Infrastructure and Employment. Assessed were the achievements since the launch of ASIST-AP in May 1998, the needs concerning the integration of labour-based technology into national and local infrastructure planning and programmes in key countries of the region, and new priorities and funding needs for the period until 2001. The 40 participants included Government representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, representatives of key donors (ADB, AusAID, DfID, GTZ and Sida), local and international experts from ILO Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) projects and universities in the region, officials from ILO Geneva, and the staff of ASIST-AP. ASIST-Asia Pacific has demonstrated the potential of labour based technologies to create sustainable employment while achieving good quality standards of infrastructure works at competitive cost. Its contribution to private sector development, through local contracting, and to optimising the use of local resources and capacities has also been proven. The workshop reviewed the contributions that ASIST-AP has made since its launch. It has been active primarily in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as in Vietnam, Nepal, Cambodia and Lao PDR, assisting Governments in the institutionalisation of labour-based technology in their planning and implementation of regular infrastructure works programmes, and providing support to specific initiatives where labour-based technology is being applied as part of local infrastructure development. In its short life, ASIST-AP has established a solid network of part ners and contacts in priority countries in the region, and has already added value to a number of existing national and local initiatives through its technical support services. It has clearly demonstrated the appropriateness of its approach and services to the needs of Governments and agencies working to maximise the impact of infrastructure investments on employment and local development. Priorities for the futureIn the near future, ASIST-AP's activities will focus on four priority areas:
Plea for Information If any reader has information about, or experience with, constructing and rehabilitating small earth dams by labour-based methods, please contact ASIST Information Service.
Ten Years of IRAP in the Asia-Pacific region By Chris Donnges, ASIST-AP, Bangkok
The development of Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP) in the Asia-Pacific region started in 1989 in Aurora province, a remote province in the Northern Philippines. Working with the Provincial Planning and Development Office and an EU-supported area development programme, the ILO started studying rural household's travel patterns and transport demands in order to identify priorities to improve rural transport. This initial work was based on the work on rural transport and mobility in the late eighties to develop a rural transport planning discipline for Africa. The basics of this work were introduced in the Philippine pilot project. The project team working with this project soon agreed that the Asian political, economic and social context differed considerably from the African context and that a modified methodology had to be developed from an Asian perspective. This methodology became known as Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning or IRAP. The initiation of the pilot project in the Philippines soon attracted the interest of the Philippine Government, and with the support of various donors such as USAID and the Netherlands the activities were extended to 15 more provinces. In the mid-90s it was assessed that the majority of priorities evolving from the planning process were actually implemented by Local Government Units (LGUs) using their own decentralised budget. Other countries in the region became aware of the technology and requested assistance to pilot test the feasibility or adapted all or selected components of the IRAP approach with or without ILO assistance: Bangladesh (1992), Laos PDR(1995), Indonesia (1995), Sri-Lanka (1997), Vietnam (1999), Cambodia (1999). Different IRAP projects were supported by various donors to develop and strengthen special components related to the planning process such as:
As a result, a firm and technically sound methodology now exists which, with minor alterations, can be used in most countries throughout the Asia Pacific region. The trend towards decentralisation and the increased focus on poverty present an opportunity for the ILO to promote, develop and support its efforts to create employment and alleviate poverty in a sustainable manner. IRAP has been identified in the Philippines and Laos as the preferred tool for rural infrastructure planning. Both countries foresee a nation-wide application in the next few years, and LGUs and donors now often base their investment decisions on IRAP priorities. Cambodia is rapidly expanding on its IRAP programme and seeks to integrate the procedures into new rural development programmes. Government requests for implementation of IRAP components in Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh and India have been developed into project proposals, and are awaiting donor support for further development, expansion and implementation. Initial contacts with Mongolia, China and Vietnam pointed out the potential of IRAP. Donors in the region such as ADB, UNDP and Sida have indicated their interest to integrate IRAP planning tools into their supported rural development programmes. DfID recently approved co-funding of ILO's ASIST Programme in the Asia-Pacific region, including the assistance to existing IRAP initiatives, and the development of new country programmes. ASIST-AP will continue to develop its approach to IRAP through research and development and collaboration with ongoing projects and universities in the Asia Pacific region. In addition, an urban model will be developed for application in unplanned settlements.
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