|
When a country starts digging itself out
after years of destruction and begins rebuilding, what people want most
are jobs. Jobs to reclaim their lives, take charge of their families and
build communities where life is good again.
In the wake of a 1991 agreement to end
decades of conflict in Cambodia, the ILO decided to help Cambodians get
those jobs. With the country's infrastructure in a shambles, ILO
engineers went in to create sustainable employment by rebuilding roads,
bridges, canals and other sites. To breathe life back into the economy,
the ILO provided sorely needed training in a range of trades and skills
and helped set up a thriving micro-credit scheme.
The Work of Giants tells how the ILO has
changed lives. It is about the difference that roads, a water supply,
health services and education can make to ordinary people.
Much of this happened in and around the
world heritage site of Angkor, where Khmer workers had shown centuries
ago what they could do without bulldozers, cement mixers and other heavy
equipment. The Work of Giants leaves no doubt about the capacity of
modern-day Khmers to keep on building. A tribute to Khmer builders, the
title echoes a reply local Cambodians gave to a 19th century western
visitor who asked them how the great temples had come to be: they were
"the work of giants".
As a custodian of world labour standards,
the ILO considers social and economic progress inseparable. Cambodia's
reconstruction exemplifies many of those standards by providing
freely-chosen, non-discriminatory and safe work, alongside training and
the means to generate productive and sustainable employment.
Above all else, what has made this
approach to poverty alleviation sustainable is local ownership. At all
levels, this story and the energy and intelligence that have driven it
are the Khmers'. But the insights and lessons to be drawn can benefit
"infrastructure poor" people everywhere.
Chapter 1 VESTIGES
Kingdom of builders
Materials and design
Decline and abandonment
West meets east
Independence and beyond
Chapter 2 EARTH
Dangers underfoot
A heritage of devastation
Labour-based technology
Labour-based vs. labour-intensive
The building begins
Raw materials
Tools
Costs and benefits
Tourism
Chapter 3 WATER
Asia's biggest lake
Irrigation
Reviving the Baray
Chapter 4 MARKETS
Barometers of development
Roads make a difference
Delivering the goods
Two wheels more often than four
Economic impacts
Making growth sustainable
New skills
Access to credit
Economic and social benefits
Chapter 5 RIGHTS
Standard-setter or road-builder?
Equal opportunity for women and men
Helping the disabled to help themselves
Equal and fair remuneration
Decent work is safe work
Environmental concerns
Teaching standards by applying them
Chapter 6 OWNERSHIP
Infrastructure and development
Maintaining roads
Maintaining waterways
Maintaining monuments
Paying your way
Higher education
New roads
FURTHER READING |
PUBLICATIONS
