Feature - "Dignity through work"

"Restoring dignity through work". This how the International Labour Organisation (ILO) describes a project underway in war-torn Somalia to give residents a feeling of worth and show that there are alternatives to the cycle of violence in which so many people become swept up. The ILO's Promotion of Economic Recovery Project in Somalia (PERPS) began in April 2002 in Hargeysa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, and has since spread to areas of Puntland and the ravaged capital Mogadishu. "We are getting people to help themselves and also trying to bridge the gap between relief aid and development," explains Joe Connolly, the project's chief technical adviser. "We have to change the status quo and move beyond these conflict situations." CLEANING MOGADISHU'S STREETS The project has been particularly successful in anarchic Mogadishu, where traditionally it has been difficult to overcome the conflicting interests of faction leaders and their militia groups. Some 600 of the city's poorest people were hired, cutting across clan and gender lines, to remove mounds of rubbish littering Mogadishu's streets. This community-based employment was implemented with a local partner, SAACID, and the workers were paid US $2 a day. Local disputes and problems with the militia were handled by district committees comprising a cross-section of society. As there had been no garbage collection for 12 years, the heaps were often 10 metres high, with the constant danger of unexploded ordnance hidden under the filth.

Mounds of rubbish can reach as high as 10 metres

"People are sick of war," Connolly told IRIN. "This project - employment - is not just about jobs and income. It empowers local communities and restores hope and self-dignity. "Employment is a critical factor in any social reintegration. It can act as a neutral forum to bring people together." Although limited in scope, Connolly hopes to build on the success of this first phase and move towards more ambitious plans aimed at repairing Mogadishu's devastated infrastructure. "UNIQUE DATA" Another element of the project was to collect data from the workers which, the ILO believes, "provides a unique insight into the poor of Mogadishu". Some of the main findings indicated that nearly 39 percent of the participants were internally displaced people and 50 percent had received no education (of these, 62 percent of women said they had received no education). Only 35 percent of women could read and write, compared to 73 percent of the men. About 30 percent of the participants indicated they had no previous job experience at all. Other findings showed that the average number of family members was nine. Some 55 percent of participants indicated they had no understanding of HIV/AIDS, and 53 percent did not know how to protect themselves from the disease. OVERWHELMING RESPONSE Connolly says the response from people in Mogadishu and from other parts of Somalia has been overwhelming. Such projects, he notes, can create a "critical mass" of grass-roots support in favour of peacefully resolving conflict. He acknowledges there are problems of sustainability and raised expectations, which is why, he stresses, it is so important to keep these projects moving along and to maintain the momentum. The ILO emphasises that access to decent work "reorients people's minds from conflict and destructive activities to constructive thinking", but criticises many conflict prevention and post-conflict programmes for giving "inadequate attention" to this issue. It also wants such employment projects to form a core element of future recovery activities such as Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR). "Employment influences attitudes, hearts and minds," Connolly told IRIN. "The psychological value is enormous. Ordinary people just want peace and the means to support their families."