Damascus, Syria (ILO News) ILO Regional Director for Arab States Ruba Jaradat affirmed ILO’s readiness to provide early recovery and livelihood support in Aleppo, during meetings with tripartite constituents and UN partners in Damascus to discuss collaboration in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Türkiye.
The ILO will implement an emergency employment scheme in Aleppo, which combines rehabilitating destroyed infrastructure with immediate decent job creation for women and men who have lost their livelihoods in the aftermath of the disaster.
“The ILO will adopt its employment intensive infrastructure approach in implementing emergency projects to restore infrastructure in destroyed areas and provide livelihoods in affected communities,” said Regional Director Jaradat. “The approach builds on the ILO’s experience in implementing similar projects in other countries in the region, to help create jobs and improve the local environment and infrastructure, while building the capacity of local institutions and partners to promote Decent Work principles.”
Regional Director Jaradat continued to explain that a team of ILO engineers will conduct an initial assessment of the affected sites to identify priority locations in which to implement the projects.
The Regional Director met with Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Mohammed Seif El-Din, Head of Planning and International Cooperation Commission Fadi Al Slayti Khalil, representative of the President of the General Federation of Trade Unions in Syria Jamal Al Hjaly, and President of Damascus Chambers of Industries Mohamad Ghazwan Al Masri. A meeting also took place with United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim for Syria El- Mostafa Benlamlih to discuss coordination with other UN agencies on the recovery response.
Constituents welcomed ILO’s approach, stressing the critical need for job creation and income generating opportunities for people in affected communities.
The ILO recently reinstated its physical presence in Syria, with the appointment of Country Coordinator Tomoki Watanabe, who will act as the ILO representative in the country and oversee the implementation and coordination of activities on the ground.
Watanabe met with the Governor of Aleppo Hussein Diab to discuss the ILO's response plan to the earthquake and avenues for cooperation in implementing an emergency employment scheme, with the aim of securing immediate job opportunities for residents who lost their livelihoods due to the earthquake, and rehabilitating and restoring damaged public facilities while building skills within the community.
The ILO has a long-standing technical cooperation with Syria, which has been a member of the ILO since 1947 and has ratified 50 ILO Conventions, including all eight core Conventions.
In recent years, the ILO has been providing technical support in several key areas such as child labour prevention, labour inspection, Occupational Safety and Health and social protection.
The presence of a Country Coordinator will allow the ILO to expand its work in Syria, and work closely with constituents and UN to promote decent work principles and increase employment opportunities.
Emergency Employment Scheme in Aleppo
The ILO is set to implement an emergency employment scheme in Aleppo, to help restore the livelihoods of people in affected communities in Aleppo
Through its employment-intensive investment (EII) approach, the ILO offers ways to restore the livelihoods of people in affected communities through short-term and mid to long-term objectives. In the short-term, wage payment schemes serve as an immediate income security measure to vulnerable people affected by a crisis. In the middle and long term, rehabilitated infrastructure and individual skills built through the EII approach become assets that stimulate the local economy and generate local multiplier effects.
The approach builds on ILO’s experience in implementing similar interventions in other Arab States. In the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut blast, the ILO mobilized its Employment Intensive Infrastructure Programme to help clear the wreckage, and in the process created decent jobs for citizens and refugees. Similar approaches have also been implemented in Jordan and Iraq, to help create jobs, improve the local environment and infrastructure, and build the capacity of local institutions and partners to promote Decent Work principles.
