UN works with Liberian Government to generate jobs
The United Nations Mission in Liberia is supporting efforts by the Government to create more than 1 million days of work for labourers from small communities in the country, where employment has been linked to stability since the end of the civil war returned thousands of former fighters to the civilian workforce.
The United Nations Mission in Liberia is supporting efforts by the Government to create more than 1 million days of work for labourers from small communities in the country, where employment has been linked to stability since the end of the civil war returned thousands of former fighters to the civilian workforce.
The joint road rehabilitation initiative is being led by UNMIL with the World Bank, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) and aims to generate 1 million days of work for 50,000 locally recruited labourers by the end of June 2008, which marks the end of the dry season.
“We cannot over-emphasize the need for road reconstruction because it means security, jobs and investment,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative, Alan Doss. “These joint initiatives are a very good example of how we must come together as partners in support of projects that make a real difference to peoples lives.”
Workers hired through the scheme include ex-combatants, returnees, and young men and women who are recruited from communities along the various roads that are being rehabilitated. In addition to providing for many families in the area and reconnecting communities with each other by improving road conditions, the income workers receive also helps to boost economic revitalization in rural Liberia, UNMIL said.
During last year's dry season a similar initiative provided 700,000 working days.