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A two-day workshop on labour-based approaches was held in Abuja, Nigeria, from 1st – 2nd June 2011 under the theme: Mainstreaming Labour-Based Technology in Government Operations to develop strategies for mainstreaming these approaches in government infrastructural development in Nigeria.
Some 248 participants, including practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and development partners involved in infrastructure development from the Federal and State governments attended the workshop.
The objectives of the workshop were also to further demonstrate the technical feasibility and social acceptability of the Labour-Based method of construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of infrastructure as to sensitize stakeholders on the need for concerted effort in developing partnership for resource mobilization.
Five papers were presented and discussed on Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) Overview;Employment-Intensive Investment in Infrastructure; Strengthening the implementation Capacity of Labour-Based Methods in Nigeria;Decentralization, Local-level Planning and Employment Generation;Mainstreaming Employment-Intensive Investment in Government Operations.
Participants agreed on the need for the Government to rapidly develop and implement relevant policies that will favour upscaling, mainstreaming and optimizing the employment of LBA in order to ensure adequate support and sustainability. These policies should clearly guide the procurement and engagement of local contractors.
Key Government Training institutions should include in their curricula for training the concept of LBA in their course content as a means of enhancing the integration and mainstreaming of LBA as part of training.
The Abuja Workshop calls on Government to make budgetary provisions for LBA interventions as part of their statutory provisions and at the same time call on local financial institutions to provide credit facilities in order to ensure sustainable access to funding by LBA practitioners.
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