New ILO-EU-UNESCO Collaboration Focuses on Jobs and Cultural Heritage in Iraq

The International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the European Union (EU) have launched a new program that will use employment-intensive approaches to create jobs for internally displaced persons, Syrian refugees, and host community members. The program will also try to preserve and rehabilitate cultural heritage sites at the same time. 

The collaboration will help generate around one thousand job opportunities for skilled and unskilled workers who will be employed to safeguard and rehabilitate cultural heritage sites, including the Erbil Citadel – a World Heritage site. Some of the jobs include cleaning and maintaining sites, including clearing away vegetation and rubble, installing shaded areas, and rehabilitating access roads and parking areas. 

The program will help provide short-term jobs that are associated with labor rights according to the international and local standards but also create jobs that contribute to tourism and promote local culture. 

The ILO in Iraq has also joined forces with local authorities in the Governorate of Dohuk to implement integrated employment-intensive investment program (EIIP) interventions aimed at creating more than 180 decent jobs. 

Some of the targets of the program with EIIP include: 

• Creating 184 short-term jobs equivalent to around 10,000 worker days.

• About 50% of those employed will be women.

• EIIP interventions will help improve 50 KM of irrigation channels and support the sorting of 240 tons of solid waste per day for 6 months.

• The projects will engage the local community in different areas, such as recruitment processes, prioritizing needs, and adopting sustainable practices (such as sorting from source).

• The EIIP team is working on other sectors as well to create decent jobs for forcibly displaced persons and host community members. Sectors include transportation, municipal services, and public maintenance, linking these works with skills development opportunities and empowering private sector contractors.

International Labour Organization Becomes a Full Member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI)

There is a growing number of United Nation agencies and international development bodies that are committed to promoting greater transparency in the use of development and humanitarian resources to address poverty and crises. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has recently become a full member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), which brings together governments, multilateral institutions, the private sector, and civil society organizations to increase the transparency and openness of resources flowing into developing countries. By making the data easily accessible, the IATI Standard supports improved accountability on the use of resources and what they achieve, which will benefit both the ILO’s constituents and the international development community. 

Starting from January 1st, 2021, the ILO will continue to strengthen its information, monitoring, and reporting to IATI, and also work to progress work outcomes and achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). IATI membership gives the ILO greater opportunities to share knowledge and tools, to improve its own data management and transparency. 

According to ILO, improving transparency means:

• establishing an evidence-based for results achieved

• providing insights on how, where, and for what ILO uses its resources

• ensuring value for money

• putting in practice internationally recognized principles for effective development cooperation enhancing coordination between recipients and contributions of ILO