Paraguay

The use of employment intensive technologies in public investments

In august 2005, at the request of the Ministry of Labour, the ILO presented the Employment Intensive Investment approach to the different Government organizations^*, as well as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union. The potential of the approach, as well as factors limiting its application were discussed. As a result of these discussions it was decided to carry out a study to define the potential for employment generation through the use of employment intensive technologies in public investments in Paraguay, and to identify in greater detail the possible limiting factors that exist in the country. The study concluded that of the nearly 2,600 million dollars in public investments foreseen for the period 2006-2009, a little over a thousand million dollars were suitable for the application of employment intensive technologies.

Furthermore, it was estimated that the potential additional employment generation in these investments was the equivalent of 22 thousand jobs, or 12% of visible unemployment. The study also identified a number of limiting factors to the implementation of the approach: the lack of a national employment policy, barriers in the national legislation related to public contracting, institutional capacities and capacities of the private sector.

Upon presentation of the study findings to the World Bank and the Ministry of Public Works and Communication, which were in the process of preparing a new project on “Improvement, Management and Maintenance of the road network in Paraguay”, it was decided to look at the possibility of incorporating the approach in the execution of the project, especially in the non-paved road network. To this end a legal study is currently being carried out with respect to the possibilities for contracting micro and small enterprises and community organisations in the execution of rehabilitation and maintenance works for non-paved roads. This study is looking at the legislation related with public contracting, as well as the legislation that regulates the creation of legal organizational modalities.

* Ministry of Justice and Labour (MJT), Technical Planning Secretariat (STP), Social Action Secretariat (SAS), Ministry of Public Works and Communication (MOPC), Management of the Plan for the Strategy of the Fight against Poverty (DIPLANP), Ministry of Finance (MH)

Further reading

• Estudio legal sobre la participación de Micro y Pequeñas Empresas en las Contrataciones Públicas en el Paraguay - PDF 724 KB
• Buscan dar más espacio a Mypes en las contrataciones públicas
• Paraguay: El uso de tecnologías intensivas en empleo en las inversiones públicas - PDF 450 Kb
  Nelson Aguilera Alfred y Serge Cartier van Dissel, Oficina Subregional para el Cono Sur de América Latina y el Programa de Inversiones Intensivas en Empleo, OIT, 2006
• Resumen del estudio sobre el uso de tecnologías intensivas en empleo en las inversiones públicas en Paraguay - PDF 44 Kb
  Nelson Aguilera Alfred y Serge Cartier van Dissel, Oficina Subregional para el Cono Sur de América Latina y el Programa de Inversiones Intensivas en Empleo, OIT, 2006
• Subregional Office for the South Cone of Latin America: SRO-Santiago