Increasing Access to Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Urban Population in Basra City in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

The ILO and UN-Habitat are working together to increase employment opportunities for young women and men in underserviced settlements in Basra, through three main pillars: applying Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP) to improve access to services and create decent job opportunities; improve employment services through the establishment of an employment service centre linked to a digital employment platform; and introducing ILO’s Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) training programme, designed to support small-scale entrepreneurs to start or grow their businesses.

The collaboration is part of UN-Habitat’s broader project, “Increasing Access to Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Urban Population in Basra City in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis,” funded by the European Union. The project targets around 21,000 people living in three underserviced neighbourhoods of Al-Ahrar, Al-Kubiyah, and Jurf Al-Melah, by providing basic services such as water, waste management and access roads in urban and informal settlements, creating job opportunities, and enhancing the skills and capacities of vulnerable urban populations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Basra City.

The agencies will work closely with the Directorate of Labour and Social Affairs, to improve access to employment services. The ILO will build the capacities of career counsellors and case managers employed by the Directorate to deliver services in the centre, which include skills development, career and job search guidance, and job placement. It will also engage with local employment service providers, including TVET centres, development partners and civil society organisations, to strengthen collaboration in the delivery of services.

The EIIP component of the programme will contribute to improving services and infrastructure, while strengthening the capacities of local contractors and young engineers on EIIP methodologies and ensure the application of Decent Work principles through the developing different tools.

SIYB is one of ILO’s flagship business and entrepreneurship training programmes. Under this project, the SIYB training will contribute to improving the capacity of entrepreneurs in the selected communities and give them the opportunity to improve their SMEs by referring them to the employment services centre, which could connect them with organizations that offer business grants or other needed support.

Objectives

The ultimate objective of this project is to increase access to employment opportunities for young men and women in the three neighbourhoods of Basra.

Activities

Improving Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP) and Decent Work

• Developing labour standard conditions, contractual clauses and monitoring tools;
• Developing the capacities of private sector contractors on Labour Resource-Based (LRB) technologies; and
• Increasing the skills and knowledge of 50 young engineers on EIIP methodologies.

Improving employment services through an employment centre and a digital employment platform for employed and unemployed young women and men

• Establishing an employment centre in Basra that is connected to a digital employment platform;
• Providing tailored employment services including career guidance, support to develop and tailor their CVs, guidance on job searching, identifying suitable employment opportunities, and making referrals to other institutions of service providers, or conducting job placements; and
• Registering around 600 jobseekers in the employment centre and providing tailored employment support to jobseekers.

Enhancing the skills and capacities of vulnerable urban populations and SMEs in Basra City to increase their employability and productivity

• Training 50 informal waste collectors and Small and Medium Enterprises engaged in waste collection on business skills and safety nets;
• Providing vocational training in construction and other identified sectors to 450 young women and men who are unemployed; and
• Training 150 entrepreneurs on ILO’s Start and Improve your Business training programme.