Community-based project aims to promote economic recovery

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has launched a prototype community project in parts of the Somali capital Mogadishu which it hopes will be expanded to cover the entire city.

The project, implemented by a local NGO, SAACID (Somali for 'To Help'), has employed 600 local people (300 men and 300 women) and hired private sector hauliers to remove sand and garbage from the streets of Mogadishu.

The scheme, launched earlier this month, is being carried out in six of the city's 16 districts for a period of three months.

"The project is seen very much as a test case to determine whether it is possible to operate effectively in war-ravaged Mogadishu," said Joe Connolly, the project's chief technical adviser.

He said extensive discussions were held with community, clan, business and political leaders ahead of the work, and the project has generally received widespread support.

"The ILO views access to decent work as a basic human right and a critical factor in support of economic recovery, reconciliation and peace," Connolly added.

"Hopefully this relatively simple project will act as a first step for an expanded and more structured employment-intensive project that will cover all of the 16 districts," he said.

The ILO hopes the project will also act as a foundation on which to build long term community-based economic development initiatives.

Connolly noted that similar projects had already been launched successfully in post-conflict countries such as Mozambique, Bosnia, Serbia, Cambodia, East Timor and Colombia. They include core elements of local ownership, an integrated approach to addressing people's needs, gender and adherence to ILO decent work principles.

In Somalia, the economic recovery project which is financed by the Italian government, has also been implemented in Somaliland and Puntland, and it is hoped to expand it to other areas of the country.