Project background

The Project was formulated in response to the devastating tsunami of December 2004 and the major earthquake of March 2005, causing severe damages on Nias Islands, which caused a tremendous loss of lives and livelihood opportunities and resulted in extensive and major damage to roads and other infrastructure. To facilitate aid delivery and economic recovery, the rehabilitation and improvement of the rural road network through the use of employment-intensive approaches received high priority.

Prior to the tsunami and the earthquake, many roads in the road network were in a poor condition due to a lack of maintenance. In this context, an integrated project was formulated that sought to contribute to economic recovery by improving road connectivity, providing local employment opportunities, building skills among the workers and contractors involved in road works, and strengthening local capacities in the use of employment-intensive local resource-based (LRB) road construction and maintenance methods and approaches.

Following an initial demonstration project, Phase I of the Project (USD 6.42 million) was implemented by the ILO from March 2006 to September 2008 and covered the districts of Aceh Besar, Pidie, Bireuen, Nias and Nias-Selatan. The Project included a major, demand-driven, capacity building component, which was strongly focused on the active involvement of communities and gave special emphasis to the inclusion of women. Starting October 2008, the Project entered into a phase II in order to extend and expand the capacity of district governments and small contractors to adopt and undertake LRB road works. An additional budget of USD 5.38 million was allocated and the implementation period was extended to September 2010. In September 2010 an extension of phase II till June 2011 was approved for the provision of technical assistance to put in place a basic exit strategy.

A summary of the Project’s main achievements and impact till June 2010 can be found here.

Project description

Starting October 2010, the Project’s current phase seeks to provide a basic exit strategy to ensure the adoption and continuation of efforts to up-scale and mainstream the Project’s outputs post-project. The approach embeds technical assistance within the local Government structure and builds on prevailing Government capacities, models, systems, procedures and regulations. The main emphasis of the exit strategy is:

1. Capacity development for the maintenance of the road network in Aceh province; and
2. Up-scaling and mainstreaming LRB rural infrastructure investment methods in Aceh Province.

To cement local ownership, the Project is facilitating the establishment and implementation of horizontal and vertical coordination and collaboration mechanisms between key stakeholders, to ensure consistency and harmony between operational practices and policy priorities.

Project strategy

A common concern and interest of the Government and development partners at various levels is related to strengthening the capacity for the implementation of appropriate technical solutions that contribute to the achievement of the provincial and national development priorities associated with employment creation, skills training, rural productivity, and local economic development.

The project’s basic exit strategy seeks to strengthen operational capacities for planning, budgeting, programming and implementing activities related to the maintenance of the rural road network in Aceh Province, particularly through the use of employment-intensive local resource-based methods. The project supports the identification and application of options for increasing resource mobilization for the village road network and putting in place effective models for the maintenance of village-level infrastructure. To support replication, the project seeks to share lessons learnt about the effectiveness and impact of various infrastructure investment strategies and approaches with policy makers and planners at various levels.

Key donors and partners

• Donor: Multi Donor Fund For Aceh and Nias (MDF)
• Partner Agency: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Implementing Agency: International Labour Organization
• Government Responsible Agency: Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration
• National Coordinating Agency: The National Planning Agency (Bappenas)
• District Government Representatives of the Public Works Departments in the participating Districts
• Representative of Local Contractors Associations