Livelihood recovery

Japanese Government donates US$3 million to help Typhoon Haiyan victims

The Japanese Government is to fund a US$3,000,000 project to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan rebuild their livelihoods.

Press release | BANGKOK | 13 March 2014
© ILO / M. Crozet
BANGKOK (ILO News) - Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Yolanda) struck the southern Philippines on 8 November 2013. More than 6,000 people were killed at least 14.2 million people were affected, including 6 million workers. Of these around 2.6 million were in vulnerable forms of employment and it is these people in particular that the ILO aims to support.

The grant will fund a new project, “Integrated Livelihood Recovery for Typhoon Haiyan Affected Communities”, that is expected to provide employment support, including creating new jobs, for approximately 6,740 poor and vulnerable workers affected by the Typhoon. This amounts to approximately 90,000 work days to be created before the end of 2014. The project work will build on the ILOs existing work in Tacloban, Ormoc/Leyte province, Northern Cebu/Negros Occidental, Bohol and Coron, Palawan. Together with the contributions made through this project the ILO expects to be able to reach out to just over 20,000 workers.

This project will focus on the transition phase of the recovery, moving from emergency response to the long-term and sustainable recovery of livelihoods. The ILO’s integrated approach to livelihood recovery combines labour-based rehabilitation of public infrastructure, developing vocational skills that can offer alternative livelihoods, and re-establishing micro, small and medium-sized businesses. The project will also work to ensure workers benefit from existing government standards on minimum wages, occupational safety and health standards and social protection.

Yoshiteru Uramoto, Regional Director of the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said. “I am grateful for the contribution made by the Government of Japan to the ILO. This contribution is critical in restoring employment of the vulnerable population in the areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda that hit the western Philippines last December. Employment is the top priority of ILO at the start of any emergency and also the indicator for successful recovery from a disaster."

Lawrence Jeff Johnson, Director of the ILO Country Office for the Philippines, said that by building on previous disaster experience, the project would ensure decent work and working conditions were an integral part of the recovery process.

“The Government of Japan’s funding supports the Philippines in placing decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods at the forefront of disaster response” he said. “Decent work and working conditions are not only a matter of human rights, they help put dignity and dynamism back into local communities and economies”.

For further information please contact:

Ms Sophy Fisher
Senior Communications Officer, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Tel.: +662 288 2584
Email

Ms Minette Rimando
Senior Communication and Public Information Assistant, ILO Country Office for the Philippines
Tel.: +632 580 9905
Email