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A programme executed by the Employment-Intensive Investment Branch (EMP/INVEST) of the ILO Bulletin No.10 January 2000A programme executed by the Development Policies Department (POLDEV) of the ILO Bulletin No.8 January 1999

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contentsMost of the readers of this article willbe familiar with the socio-economicbenefits of using labour-based meth-ods. Job creation for unskilled ruralpeople in rural areas is the mostobvious. Other benefits includesavings in foreign exchange; injectionof cash into the local economy; in-creasing skills in local people; and abetter chance of future sustainabilitythrough a higher sense of localownership, and through familiarisingpeople with the necessary operationsfor road maintenance.

However, it is not sufficient topresent decision-makers with asimple list of the advantages oflabour-based methods over thealternatives. At some point a meansof measurement of the comparativeadvantages is required. For this

Labour-based technology:The macro-economic dimensionBy Gary Taylor, IT Transport, United Kingdom

reason the Government of Uganda,with support from the ILO, initiateda comparative study of labour-basedand equipment-based techniques forroadworks.

The study used historical dataabout feeder road rehabilitation, spotimprovement and maintenance costsover the mid to late 1990. Data wasavailable for feeder road projectstotalling over 1,700 kilometres inlength. Some of these had beencarried out by equipment-basedmethods and some by labour-basedmethods. Examination of the datapermitted some broad conclusions tobe drawn about average costs usingthe two different methods. However,the main purpose of the study was touse methods of comparison that wentbeyond pure financial costs to meas-

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ADVISORY SUPPORT INFORMATION SERVICES AND TRAINING FOR LABOUR-BASED PRACTITIONERS

Editorial ................................................ 2

The work of ASIST ............................... 2

Socio-economics .................................... 3

Environmental issues ........................... 5

Contracting ........................................... 7

EIIP news ............................................. 8

ASIST news ........................................... 9

Information news ................................ 10

Training news ..................................... 12

Country project news .......................... 13

Socio-economic impacts oflabour-based technology

Employment creation through labour-based roadworks

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ASIST is a programme of advisorysupport, information services andtraining, within the EIIP programmeof the ILO. The Employment-IntensiveInvestment Programme (EIIP) of theILO is a large scale technical co-operation programme promoting theuse of local resource based technolo-gies in infrastructure works in devel-oping countries, and strengtheningtheir capacity to apply such technolo-gies, while creating employment withfair working conditions.

ASIST currently comprises tworegional support programmes in Africaand Asia working within the frame-work of the EIIP. Their objective is toincrease the use of cost-effectivelabour-based methods with fairworking conditions in Sub-SaharanAfrica, Asia and the Pacific, andthereby promote employment andincome generation in the rural andurban areas.

Advisory SupportASIST provides comprehensive policy,planning and technical advice. ASISTadvises on project and programmedesign, co-ordination, monitoring, andreview of both urban and rural labour-based programmes, and Access andRural Employment (ARE) pro-grammes.

Information ServicesASIST actively gathers, synthesisesand disseminates relevant publishedand unpublished information on andrelated to rural and urban labour-based technology and ARE. ASISTprovides a Technical Enquiry Serviceto respond to specific requests forinformation. ASIST maintains adatabase of contact persons andinstitutions involved in the promotionand development of labour-basedtechnology and ARE.

The work of ASISTEditorial

editorial

ISSN: 1020-0606The ASIST Bulletin is published by theInternational Labour OrganisationAdvisory Support, Information Servicesand Training (ILO/ASIST) Programme.

Editorial team Annabel Chite, AngelaKabiru-Kangethe and David Mason.Layout by Annabel Chite. Illustrations byCreative Effects.

All articles and drawings can beenreproduced without permission, but thesource should be quoted as ILO/ASIST.Photographs carrying no copyright mark© may be obtained on application from thepublishers.

This bulletin is intended for use as aninformation source and is not an officialdocument of the International LabourOrganisation. Opinions expressed insigned articles are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect the views ofthe ILO or of ASIST. The editors reservethe right to make changes to all articlesbefore publication. The designationsemployed in the ASIST Bulletin, whichare in conformity with the United Nationspractice, and the presentation of materialtherein do not imply the expression of anyopinion whatsoever on the part of theInternational Labour Office concerningthe legal status of any country, area orterritory, or of its authorities, or concern-ing the delimitation of its frontiers.

TrainingASIST provides support to nationaltraining institutions and universitiesin the development and provision oftraining in labour-based technologyand rural accessibility planning. Thisinvolves support in the development ofcurricula, training programmes andmaterial, as well as training tech-niques and methodology. ASIST alsosupports annual international train-ing courses for engineers, seniortechnicians, contract supervisors andtrainers, organised by the Ministry ofRoads and Public Works (MoRPW),Kisii Training Centre, in Kenya.

ASIST HarareTerje Tessem: Programme DirectorJane Tournée: Senior Technical AdviserFatemeh Ali-Nejadfard: Senior TechnicalAdviser, AREGamelihle Sibanda: Technical AdviserTomas Stenström: Technical AdviserJan Sakko: Technical AdviserIda Tsitsi Chimedza: Information OfficerPO Box 210, Harare, ZimbabweTel: +263-4-748344/7; Fax: +263-4-759427Email: asist@ilo.org

ASIST NairobiDavid Mason: Senior Technical AdviserWilma van Esch: Urban Technical AdviserMaria Winsvold: Technical AdviserAngela Kabiru-Kangethe: InformationCoordinatorAnnabel Chite: Information OfficerAnne Obara: Administrative OfficerPO Box 60598, Nairobi, KenyaTel: +254-2-572555/572580Fax: +254-2-566234Email: iloasist@iloasist.or.ke

ASIST-Asia PacificMike Shone: Chief Technical AdviserPaul Munters: Technical AdviserPO Box 2-349, Rajdamnern,Bangkok 10200, ThailandTel: +66-2-288-2303; Fax: +66-2-267-1735Email: asist-ap@ilo.orgWebsite: http://www.ilo.org/asist

Investments are normally made toreap benefits later. Benefits maybe quantified and qualified ineconomic and social terms. Some-times these benefits may bepositive and substantial, whilst inother cases it may be very difficultto quantify them at all. Indeed,investments may have a negativeeffect on the interest and theenvironment in which we findourselves.

This bulletin shows examples ofhow the choice of investments and,in particular, the choice of technol-ogy may influence social andeconomic benefits accrued topotential stakeholders. A carefulreading of the articles shouldprovide some food for thought forthose who are not convinced aboutthe place of labour-based technol-ogy in infrastructure developmentand maintenance. It should alsoprovide some new ideas andarguments for those who arealready convinced about its promi-nence.

Appropriate planning andorganisation of projects is beingaddressed at policy level in anumber of programmes supportedby ASIST, like the South Africapublic works programmes. This isan area where ASIST’s involve-ment is increasing. Whereas manyintegrated development projectswere given a bad name in the past,we believe that the role of accessi-bility planning and reinforcementof benefits through careful selec-tion and co-ordination of projects isthe way to go for both rural andurban development programmes.

Through this bulletin, I amsaying “see you soon” to ourcolleagues around the world as Iam now leaving ASIST for a newjob at ILO headquarters in Ge-neva. I wish you all the best andhope that you will continue yourclose liaison with ASIST, providinginputs for dissemination andtransfer of knowledge to a largeraudience. I also wish the newProgramme Director Jane Tournéeall the best in her new job. Surely,the team will keep you abreastwith further developments and beavailable to support labour-basedprojects and programmes for sometime to come!

Terje Tessem, ASIST Director

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socio-economics

By Jo Leyland, Community Participation Specialist, Kenya

‘Realising benefits’ usingroad committees

Experience from Western Uganda

Local community enjoying the benefits of an improved road

The Western Uganda Road Mainte-nance Capacity Building Projectwhich is jointly funded by the Britishand Ugandan governments supportsthe Ministry of Works, Housing andCommunications (MoWHC) in therehabilitation and routine mainte-nance of selected gravel trunk roadsin western Uganda. Unusually for atrunk road project, it has quite asubstantial community participationcomponent. Whilst the project doesnot expect local communities to freelyprovide labour or materials, it hasdeveloped approaches to involve localcommunities as importantstakeholders in the trunk roadnetwork.

The main mechanism has been toestablish road committees at sub-county level composed of the localleaders of villages and parishes alongthe road plus women, youth and othersub-county representatives. TheMoWHC and project staff conductone-day workshops with the commit-tees to inform and sensitise themabout the impending rehabilitation

contracts and issues related to roadmaintenance such as the importanceof drainage, road reserves, access toborrow pits, road safety etc. Sitevisits hosted by the MoWHC arethen conducted along the roads withrepresentatives from the roadcommittees and the contractor, bothat the start of the contract andduring the defect liability periodfollowing completion of the works.These have provided a very usefulopportunity to identify problems,make minor amendments to theworks to improve the design or toaddress local needs (such as includ-ing a parking bay for a local roadsidemarket), make the contractor’s workeasier by establishing good localrelations, and have the MoWHC seento be more responsive and account-able to local residents who aregovernment taxpayers.

By assessing the significantpositive economic and social changesand being able to attribute them tothe road improvement, it helps toreinforce the importance of main-

taining the road in a good conditionin order to retain those benefits.This encourages the local communi-ties to play a more pro-active role inprotecting the improved road andliaising with the MoWHC. Anotheraspect analysed during the impactworkshops is who benefits most andwho least from the road improve-ment. Those with poor access to theroad and being more remote from itare far less likely to benefit from theincreased trading options or im-proved access to facilities such ashealth units. Whilst the districts areresponsible for the maintenance ofthe district (feeder) roads, sub-counties are responsible for their owncommunity (access) roads. Theamount of investment in the rehabili-tation of the stretch of the trunk roadpassing through their sub-county islikely to be of the order of the sub-county’s annual tax revenue and isunlikely to be repeated for some time.With this investment and the poten-tial benefits to be realised, it canspur local communities themselves toimprove their access to the mainroad. During the initial road commit-tee workshops, the passability of theroads accessing the trunk road isidentified using a simple rankingsystem. It helps to highlight theaccess constraints faced by sub-county residents. For example, 57roads were identified within two sub-counties in Kabarole and Masindidistricts and of those, 37% wereimpassable and 28% were passable tobicycle or motorcycle only. Most ofthe remainder were passable by 2WDvehicles in the dry season only.

Not only is it important for thelocal communities to analyse theimpact of the road improvement forthemselves, it is also much quickerfor the project that is tasked withmonitoring and evaluating activitiesto obtain a good picture of thechanges that have taken place.These changes may be in vehicleownership and operation patterns,business activities, agriculturalproduction, use of social services etc.This is done both by distributing aquestionnaire to each sub-countyprior to the workshop, and from thegroup discussion sessions and presen-tations. The 7-day traffic countscarried out by the project prior to andafter each road improvement alsoindicate quantitative changes in localeconomic activity and travel.

During the first implementationphase of the project, rehabilitationcontracts were equipment based but

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socio-economicsit was realised that despite goodintentions, there was very limitedscope for employing significantnumbers of local people in the worksand even less chance of employingwomen. Thus, in the second andfinal implementation phase thatstarted last year, a number of roadsare going to be rehabilitated usinglabour-based methods and employingnot less than 30% women as labour-ers. Then, as well as the benefitsfrom the actual road improvement,local people will benefit from the cashinjection into the local economy as aresult of the increased employmentopportunities available. The projectis also looking at ways of optimisingthe technical skills that the localpeople acquire so that they can usethem to improve their own roadnetwork. Again, the road committeeapproach is helping considerably ininforming local people of what isbeing planned and in advertising theavailability of work to women andmen. For the first road being reha-bilitated using labour-based methodsin an area where women have notworked on the roads, a third of theapplicants were women, which helpsto make the recruitment processfairer.

ure the wider social and economicbenefits. As a first step, an economiccost comparison was carried out forwhich taxes were excluded andshadow prices were used for the maininputs – primarily for labour. Thiseconomic comparison gave a morerealistic picture in terms of therelative costs to the economy of usingthe two methods. Table 1 shows theresults of the comparison of theaverage financial and economic costs.

These results still do not fully takeaccount of the multiplier effects ofthe different construction methods,whereby injections of cash into thelocal economy can stimulate economicdevelopment. Nor do they include forthe relative effects on Gross DomesticProduct, average household income,trade balance, government revenuesand other macro-economic param-eters. To take account of these factorsthe study used a simple macro-economic model based on that devel-oped for similar studies in Madagas-car and Rwanda.

The results of comparing themacro-economic impacts were both

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Table 1: Financial and economic comparison of labour-based methods andequipment-based methods for feeder road rehabilitation in Uganda

interesting and, in some cases,surprising. They served to furtherstrengthen the case for using morelabour-based methods for construc-tion in Uganda. Some of the keyresults were:l For every job created in the feeder

road programme by using labour-based methods, another 1.6 jobswere created in the wider economydue to so-called ‘multiplier’ effects

l Overall the use of labour-basedmethods created 3 times as manyjobs as equipment-based methods

l Labour-based methods generatedabout two times more grossdomestic product (GDP) throughindirect effects than equipment-based methods

l Although the direct benefit oflabour-based methods on publicrevenue (taxes, duties, etc.) issmaller than that of equipment-based methods, this is more thanoffset once indirect benefits areincluded. The overall effect is thatlabour-based methods result in afiscal deficit of only 46% of thatresulting from the use of equip-ment-based methods. Hence,higher net public revenues resultfrom using labour-based methodscompared to equipment-basedmethods

l There is a significant saving inforeign exchange (amounting to62%) when using labour-basedmethods rather than equipment-based methods.The implications for Uganda’s

macro-economic framework of theseresults are compelling. Labour-basedmethods generate more income tohouseholds, increase GDP faster andhave a strong stimulus on localprivate investment.

In Uganda today the major causeof poverty is a lack of productiveemployment. Impressive growth inthe economy has led to a fall in theoverall percentage of those classifiedas poor. However, poverty among theunemployed has actually increased.The labour force is growing at a rateof at least 300,000 per year out ofwhich only 100,000 are being ab-sorbed into the wage economy. The

total number of unemployed andunderemployed, currently about 3.8million, is therefore growing steadily.

The study illustrated that thegreater use of labour-based methodshas a high potential for creatingproductive employment both directlyand indirectly. Through a policy ofgreater use of labour-based methods,households would have increasedincomes, which would enable them tobetter afford the basic requirementsfor their livelihood. Since greater useof labour-based methods also pro-vides a stronger stimulus to the localeconomy, this would also lead toincreased economic growth with anaccompanying improvement in thenational poverty indicators.

The results of this study raisesome interesting questions. Labour-based methods were shown to have afinancial cost advantage over equip-ment-based methods. This was, onaverage, of the order of 20%. How-ever, this margin of advantagesignificantly understated the socio-economic benefits. An economic costcomparison revealed a cost advantageof 60% in favour of labour-basedmethods. The macro-economic modelsuggested even higher benefits in awhole range of macro-economicindicators. If the country is to exploitthese potential benefits, a significantshift to the use of more labour-basedmethods for construction is indicated.

For now, it appears that manycountries are prepared to rely on‘market forces’ to settle the balancebetween the use of labour-based andequipment-based methods. But thisstudy would suggest that this is aninadequate policy. A financial costadvantage of around 20% is probablyinsufficient to persuade entrepre-neurs to risk a greater use of labour-based methods. Strong governmentpolicies together with a reform of theregulatory framework are going to beneeded if countries are going tosignificantly tap the potential socio-economic benefits of more labour-based methods.

The case of Uganda is probablysimilar in many respects to othersub-Saharan African countries. n

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environmental issues

Counting the costs ofdeveloping Kampala’swetlandsBy Lucy Emerton, IUCN – The World Conservation Union, Kenya

All too often environmental issuesare ignored when cities are plannedand built. Yet the state of the environ-ment is not just a biological orecological concern – when develop-ments encroach on natural ecosystemsor destroy environmental resources,they almost always give rise toimmense social and economic costs.Not only do these costs often accrueto the poorest and most vulnerablesectors of the population, but theycan also undermine the very aims ofurban development itself – thebetter provision of services, thegeneration of income and employ-ment, and the earning of governmentrevenues. Below we ask the ques-tions: just what are the economic costsof omitting environmental concernsfrom urban planning and develop-ment? Are they costs which eithergovernments or urban populations arewilling, or able, to bear over the longterm?

One of the places where urbanpressure on the environment is mostacute is in Kampala District,Uganda. Over the last decadeUganda has entered a period ofintense economic growth,infrastructural rehabilitation andurban development. Today nearlyhalf of the country’s urban dwellerslive in Kampala, where the popula-tion is estimated to be increasing atan annual rate of nearly 5%, almostdouble the national average. To copewith this rapidly rising population,settlements are expanding, construc-tion is taking place and urbaninfrastructure is being improvedthroughout the city.

Many of these developments haveinvolved draining and reclaimingwetlands. Almost one sixth of Kam-pala District, or 31 km2, is covered bywetlands (‘wetlands’ include perma-nent swamps and water bodies, aswell as seasonally flooded areas),

including some of the parts of the citythat have been zoned as centres ofdevelopment. These wetlands are,without exception, facing a seriousthreat of total destruction. It isestimated that about three-quartershave been affected significantly byhuman activity and about 14% areseriously degraded. By far thegreatest threat to wetlands is theirreclamation for industrial andhousing development.

One wetland area in particular hasbeen severely encroached upon bysettlement and industry. Nakivubo isone of the largest wetlands in Kam-pala, covering almost 6 km2. Itstretches from the central industrialdistrict and passes through denseresidential and commercial areas,before entering Lake Victoria atMurchison Bay. The areas aroundNakivubo, including the wetlanditself, are regarded as prime sites forurban development due to theirproximity to the city centre andindustrial district. This is as a resultof land shortage in other areas, andbecause land prices are still rela-tively cheap as compared to otherparts of the city.

There is a danger that Nakivubomay soon be modified and convertedcompletely. Until recently, this hasnot been seen as a major problem byurban planners and civil engineers.Wetlands are generally seen ashaving little value, especially in theface of pressing needs for land forconstruction, and in comparison tothe large and immediate profits thesedevelopments yield. Slowly, thisperception is changing. The NationalWetlands Programme of the Ministryof Water, Lands and Environment —the national government agencymandated with wetlands manage-ment in Uganda — has howeverrecently started to work closely withcity planners in order to assess theeconomic and social impacts ofwetlands conversion and degradation.For one of the first times in EasternAfrica, attempts have been made toassess the economic value of main-taining wetlands in a well-function-ing state, and to quantify the eco-nomic costs associated with theirdegradation and loss. The resultinginformation is beginning to give amore complete picture of the eco-nomic desirability — and long-termviability — of converting and modify-ing Nakivubo. It is becoming clearthat, contrary to the dominantdevelopment imperative in Kampala,residential and industrial develop-

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environmental issuesment in wetlands does not necessarilymake good economic sense, and cannotbe based only on consideration ofimmediate financial gain. Theseexpectations of private profits havealso to be balanced against thebroader social and economic coststhat arise from wetland degradation.

Socio-economic values

One of the most important valuesassociated with Nakivubo is the rolethat it plays in assuring urban waterquality in Kampala. Both the outflowof the only sewage treatment plant inthe city, at Bugolobi, and — far moreimportantly, because over 90% ofKampala’s population have no accessto a piped sewage supply — the maindrainage channel for the city, enterthe top end of the wetland. Nakivubofunctions as a buffer through whichmost of the city’s industrial andurban wastewater passes beforeentering Murchison Bay. Thesewastewaters equate to the rawsewage from nearly half a millionhouseholds (or half of the city’spopulation). Close by, the domesticeffluents of approximately 8,000households who live in low costsettlements around the wetland andthe largely untreated wastes ofnearly a third of the enterprises inthe city’s industrial district are alsodischarged directly into Nakivubo.

Nakivubo physically, chemicallyand biologically removes nutrientsand pollution from thesewastewaters. Wetland plants such aspapyrus, reeds and grasses removephosphorus and nitrogen. Suspendedsolids, pollutants and pathogenicorganisms accumulate and decom-pose in the wetland’s bottomsediments. Effluents are dilutedthrough density currents caused bythe difference in temperaturesbetween the wetland and the waterin Murchison Bay. It is estimatedthat Nakivubo currently processesalmost half the nitrogen and aquarter of the phosphorus whichenters it; is effective in removingbacteria and microbes; and has thepotential, if properly managed, toimprove the quality of water enteringMurchison Bay still further. Thesefunctions are extremely important —the purified water flowing out of thewetland enters Murchison Bay onlyabout 3 kilometres from the intake toGaba Water Works, which suppliesall of the city’s piped water. Thewetland ensures that a substantialproportion of pollutants have been

removed from the water which entersthis intake.

Another set of vital benefits areprovided by the natural resourcesfound in Nakivubo. About a third ofthe wetland — mainly in its northernor upper part — is used by up to 500farmers for cultivating yams,sugarcane and other crops. Thewater, sediments and fertile soilsretained in the wetland enable thiscultivation. Several hundred peopleare also involved in harvestingwetland resources, such as papyrus,grasses, reeds and clay. In total,nearly a tenth of the residents of thelow cost settlements which surroundNakivubo engage in wetland-basedresource utilisation activities. Manyof these people lack access to otheremployment opportunities, or engagein only occasional and low-paidcasual work. The wetland provides asignificant supplement to localearnings, and forms the sole source ofcash income for many of the pooresthouseholds.

Economic costs

All of these economic benefits —and by implication the economic costsassociated with their loss — must bebalanced against the potential profitsaccruing from wetland conversionand development. Nakivubo wetlandsaves the government of Uganda aconsiderable sum of money each year,and makes a substantial contributionto the local economy. Even deductingthe costs of managing the wetland’swaste treatment functions better soas to maximise its water purificationpotential (some US$ 250,000 a year),Nakivubo provides a much cheaperway of dealing with Kampala’swastewater than other, man-made,options. The infrastructure requiredto achieve a similar level ofwastewater treatment would incurcosts of over US$ 1 million a year interms of extending sewage treatmentfacilities at Bugolobi, or nearly US$ 2million a year in improving watertreatment facilities at Gaba. As wellas being cheaper, wetlands’ naturalability to purify wastes is far simplerthan artificial waste treatment andwater purification facilities because itis based primarily on the use ofhuman labour and on the use ofsimple earth channels to spreadwastewater across the wetland.Wetland farming and resourceutilisation also have a substantialeconomic value — about US$ 150,000a year — and provide food and

income for nearly a thousand of thepoorest families in Kampala.

The case of Nakivubo illustratesthat environmental resources andnatural ecosystems are not justplaces of scientific interest. Theycomprise a stock of natural capitalwhich, if managed wisely, cangenerate substantial economicbenefits. It is clear that, for sitessuch as Kampala, the issue is notwhether processes of industrialisationand urbanisation should take place— of course they should, because theyform a key part of most developingcountries’ future economic growth,and generate obvious social andeconomic benefits. Rather, it isbecoming increasingly obvious that itnecessary to question the ways inwhich these developments are carriedout, and especially how they areconceptualised, planned and imple-mented with environmental concernsin mind. While planners and deci-sion-makers often remain uncon-vinced by purely biological or ecologi-cal arguments, the ability to demon-strate that environmental degrada-tion gives rise to real monetary costscan provide a strong — and muchneeded — economic justification fortaking environmental concerns intoaccount in urban development.

Like Nakivubo, many otherenvironmental resources and naturalecosystems have a high economicvalue. For example, as well as theobvious income and subsistencegenerated through the use of theircomponent natural resources, forestsprovide vital water catchmentprotection services, and coastalvegetation and coral reefs play animportant role in protecting shore-lines and coastal settlements fromstorms and tidal surges. They oftenhelp to fill the gap between the levelof basic goods and services thatgovernment is able to provide, andthat which rapidly increasing urbanpopulations require. Omittingenvironmental concerns from urbanplanning and development can giverise to untenable economic losses forsome of the poorest sectors of thepopulation. It can decrease social andeconomic welfare throughout cities’residents, and impose high economiccosts on the public sector agenciesthat have the responsibility forproviding basic services and assuringan acceptable standard of urbanliving. These groups are rarely in aposition to bear such costs or expen-ditures. n

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contracting

Self-contracting

A new approach to effective roadmaintenance in Kenya?????By Andreas Beusch, Intech, Switzerland

Volunteer road rehabilitation

Over the last few decades the Kenyanauthorities have tried to cope withthe ever-increasing maintenanceworkload on the country’s roadnetwork. Much has been tried out,starting from the taking-over of thecolonial system, to engaging theadvisory services of a battalion ofconsultants, to begging donors torepeatedly rehabilitate the sameroads in turns, to actually trying outmaintenance works using equipmentor labour, or both together.

However, there seems to be somelight on the horizon. No, it’s not thenew Roads Board that will be soonintroduced and it’s also not the newwind that blows through the civilservice corridors after the appoint-ment of the new Head of Civil Serv-ice. It’s a new phenomenon from theever creative and innovative privatesector, which should draw particularinterest from the ILO and donoragencies. Small groups of unem-ployed youths, usually young menwith the ambition to become success-ful businessmen, organise themselvesto enter the market of road mainte-nance.

In a first preparatory phase,critical road sections are identifiedthat are within walking distancefrom where the community lives.These are usually sections on abitumen road with countless potholesso close to each other that motoristshave to slow down to walking speed.In a next step the traffic pattern isanalysed to find out on which daysand at which hours the traffic islikely to be high so that the roadusers can be effectively addressed tocontribute in the funding of theurgent maintenance work. Availablelocal resources in terms of hand toolsand construction material are thenmade available. The fill material forthe potholes is usually gathered fromthe existing shoulder, which wasconstructed using properly gradedgravel. The young men then attemptto fill the potholes the best way theyknow how, and rely on passingmotorists to give them handouts.

Numerous of these ‘emerging localcontractors’ can be seen on heavilytrafficked roads in rural as well asurban areas. A field analysis of theseprojects, carried out by the author of

this article, shows extraordinarysuccess:l It is a true self-help approach

without any donor involvement,where the direct beneficiaries arethe communities living next to thepotholed road sections.

l The ‘pothole taxpayers’ are alsodirect beneficiaries of the newsystem since they are actually theones who caused the potholes inthe first place.

l It encourages young people to‘start their own business’, andtherefore creates employment.

l The risk of not having a constantand continuous flow of work forthese emerging contractors, as isthe case in so many donor-drivencontractor development pro-grammes, is minimised.

l A clever pothole managementsystem, designed by these creativeand dynamic contractors them-selves, ensures that there arealways some potholes to be filled,even if it means reinstating themback to their original size overnight.

l The only risk these self-contractedsmall-scale contractors face couldbe the unlikely event that thegovernment would wake up oneday and actually start to maintainroads on its own. However, asrecent history has shown, this riskis rather theoretical and hypo-thetical.The conclusion that can be drawn

from this very promising approach isencouraging. It is an exemplarydevelopment process driven by localcommunities based on their owncapacity to grow, by utilising thelocally available resources to themaximum. The approach is independ-ent from the influence of politiciansand donors. As long as there arepotholes, and as long as there istraffic on these roads, the approach istruly sustainable. Could this, conse-quently, be an approach to be seri-ously considered by the ILO in theirnew struggle to mainstream andinstitutionalise the labour-basedtechnology in all infrastructuresectors in a sustainable way? n

Website update

As of March 2000 the ASIST website address will be:

http:// www.ilo.org/asist

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EIIP news

Dear Friends of the ASISTbulletin,

As the world embarks on the 21st

Century, all those seriouslyconcerned with the future of oursocieties — and we know you areamong them — would expect thatthe still unresolved, and indeedoften worsened problems of pov-erty, underemployment, inequalityand economic and socio-politicalinstability and insecurity, wouldfigure high on the agenda of bothnational governments and theinternational community.

The new Director General of theILO, Mr. Juan Somavia, hasrefocused the Office’s work for thedecade to come around four policypriorities: (i) the promotion ofstandards and fundamentalprinciples and rights at work; (ii)decent employment and income formen and women; (iii) social protec-tion; and (iv) social dialogue.

The combined effect of theseprogramme directions shouldcontribute to reconciling economicand social development policies,and help member states to reachmore substantive results, withregard to growth and equity,solidarity, strengthening of demo-cratic processes, and peace.

Employment-based optionsmake substantive contributions tothe promotion of employment-intensive approaches in infrastruc-ture policies.

The ILO has re-created an‘Employment-Intensive InvestmentBranch’, the task of which will beto pursue and intensify the workaimed at influencing mainstreaminvestment policy, and to partici-pate in the rehabilitation andreconstruction efforts of the Officein various post-crisis situations.The Branch is located within theRecovery and ReconstructionDepartment of the ILO’s Employ-ment Sector, where it will closelycooperate with the ‘InFocusProgramme on Crisis Responseand Reconstruction’.

Clearly, the policy objectivesoutlined above will remain theBranch’s priorities for the years to

come. The ILO’s specific value addedin the infrastructure and construc-tion sectors, indeed its comparativeadvantage as recognised by anincreasing number of member statesand workers’ and employers’ organi-sations, consists of the comprehensivepolicy tool which it has developed, onthe basis of experience gained indemand-driven programmes, andwhich effectively links policy toaction. In future this will consist ofefforts to:l explicitly link employment crea-

tion and poverty reduction, with aview to achieving greater socialequity

l combine private sector develop-ment with social progress, throughthe application of relevant labourstandards, with particular atten-tion to the small and mediumcontractors and to the often casuallabour force

l promote the principles of organisa-tion and collective negotiation inboth the formal and informalsectors, and,

l as the field programmes havedemonstrated that they can makeconcrete advances on women’sconcerns and interests, ensureequal access to job opportunitiesand training, as well as equal payfor work of equal value, anddevelop criteria for the selection ofproductive and social infrastruc-ture investment schemes whichcorrespond to priority needs ofwomen.Much of this work will require

close collaboration with workers’ andemployers’ organisations, and theministries of Labour and Employ-ment, Planning and Local Govern-ment.

Difficult and sensitive issues atthe upstream policy level will need tobe tackled, such as the decision-making process of the Public Invest-ment Programme (PIP), and therelated need for consultations withthe social partners and civil societyat large; the tendering and biddingprocess and the contract system andprocedures to ensure small labour-based contractors a fair access topublic markets; the re-introduction ofrelevant labour standards into

contract documentation; the de-centralisation of payment systemsetc.

While the labour-based choice oftechnology is key to employment-intensive investment policy, thedemonstration that it can be, inmany programme areas, bothtechnically appropriate andeconomically cost-effective, hasalready been made in manycountries. The issue now is toapply labour-based technologyoptions at a large enough scale tohave a structural impact.

Capacity-building will, there-fore, have to remain a majorcomponent of our work, both forthe private sector, labour-basedcontractors, engineering consult-ants, workers, the associativesector, community-based andother grass roots organisations,and the public sector — engineers,planners, specialists of contractingand labour-related issues.

Finally, the knowledge base ofthe employment-intensive ap-proach has to be expanded at twolevels: first, through comparativestudies on employment-basedversus equipment-based invest-ment policies — the macro-economic potential and advantagesmust be documented and demon-strated at the country level; andsecond, the impact on povertymust be more extensively meas-ured and monitored.

This is a huge agenda for all ofus, but I am convinced that withthe commitment and energy of allthose who have been involvedduring the last year, in the promo-tion of these policy principles,concrete progress in the employ-ment and social fields is in ourreach

May I take this opportunity towish you, both the readers of theBulletin and its publishers, a goodstart in this very special New Year2000!

Jean MajeresChief, Employment-Intensive

Investement Branch (EMP/INVEST) ILO Geneva

An EIIP branch is created in ILOGeneva headquarters

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Rural AccessProblems

What are they and how can these problems be addressed?

By Fatemeh Ali-Nejadfard, ASIST, Harare and Geoff Edmonds, IT Transport, United Kingdom

Several studies carried out in Africa and Asia show thatpeople move around in rural areas for a variety of reasonsthat range from subsistence to socio-economic needs. Thelargest transport burden on households often takes placewithin the village, and is mostly required for the transportof water and firewood. These are often head and handcarried by women. Footpaths and footbridges are thetransport infrastructure often used by rural households,mostly on foot, with the occassional use of animal drawncarts and bicycles for the economically more fortunate ones.Availability of transport and transport services conditionsthe movement of goods into and out of communities. When

facilities for basic services are difficult to reach, a lot oftime and effort are spent to get them, which reduces thetime available for other productive and social activities.Consequently, the household experiences a loss of produc-tivity at critical times in the agricultural calendar and inother economic sectors. Lack of access therefore not onlyresults in isolation, but becomes a real constraint toproductive activities and contributes to factors that causepoverty.

How ‘Access’ is definedThe heart of the problem is ‘accessibility’. This termencompasses both ‘mobility’ of people and ‘locations’ of

different services/facilities. Accessibility is thus, defined interms of provision of access and the ease (expressed inspent time, effort and cost) with which a need can besatisfied.

What are the linkages between poor accessand rural poverty?Almost a third of people in developing countries live inpoverty; and their poverty is reflected in some basic indica-tors of lack of access to basic services. World Bank studieshave shown a clear association between poor access to basic

services and per capita income. Poor access is one of thecharacteristics of poverty and it has its effects at the mostbasic level of living. Lack of access to basic and socialservices, employment, technology, land, information, credit,etc. contributes to factors such as poor health, low skill,poor education, low investment and limited opportunities;leading to low productivity and income, which in turnperpetuates the vicious circle of poverty and hinderseconomic development.

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An appropriate tool to address accessproblems

To improve rural access effectively, an appropriate (simpleand relatively cheap) planning tool has been evolved, withILO technical assistance, through pilot projects in Asia andAfrica. It involves communities and local organisations toidentify their access problems and propose solutions for im-provement of their access to services and facilities. The localcapacity in target countries has been strengthened to usethis planning tool in order to address rural access problemsmore effectively and efficiently.

Rural Accessibility Planning (AP) focuses on the house-hold, and measures its access needs in terms of the time

Steps 1 and 2: Data collection andprocessing

The first step of Accessibility Planning is to carry out asituation analysis that identifies the access problems in

Step 3: Preparation of accessibilityprofiles, indicators and maps

Access profiles of target areas cover a set of basic informa-tion on both locations of services and facilities and thedifficulties that people have in gaining access to them. Foreach sector, accessibility indicators (AI) are prepared. Theindicators are calculated by considering the number ofhouseholds (N) in a target area, the average time spent toreach each facility/service (T), the frequency of travel toeach facility in a given period (F) and an acceptable/target

Rural AccessibilityPlanning

spent to get access. Because of poor access a lot of time isspent by rural households to transport themselves and theirgoods in order to meet their needs.

The underlying principal of accessibility planning is toreduce the time spent on achieving access, and, hence havemore time available for other social and economic activi-ties.

target areas; both regarding the mobility of the populationand the location of services and facilities. The local commu-nities, organisations (government and NGOs) and individu-als are involved in this process in terms of providing theneeded information. Local enumerators are trained to carryout the needed survey and to process the data. Datacomprises secondary data (population, agriculture outputs,etc.) and primary data. At the household level, primarydata is collected on time taken and the manner in whichhouseholds obtain access to services and facilities. Thecollected data is processed and analysed, which results in ademand-oriented access or transport needs in target areas.

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Step 4: Prioritisation

The larger the value of AI, the worse is the access problem.The target areas are then ranked/prioritised accordingly.The target area with the worst access indicator in a par-ticular sector gets the highest priority for access interven-tions in that sector.

Step 5 and 6: Data validation and definingtargets and objectives

The access profiles will be presented and the gathered datavalidated in a training workshop which is participated inby representatives of local authorities, organisations andcommunities. During the workshop the sectoral objectivesfor access improvements will be defined. Where nationaltargets exist, these will be used to define overall objectives,e.g. all households in an area should have direct access topotable water, not exceeding a distance of 500 meters, all

Step 8: Implementation, monitoring andevaluation

The identified projects are then considered and integratedinto the overall local development planning system forimplementation, monitoring and evaluation. The targetcommunities and organisations are involved not only inplanning but they also contribute to implementation andmaintenance of what has been planned.

Rural AccessibilityPlanning

travel time (Tm) to get access in a sector. The AI=Nx(T-Tm)xF formula is used to calculate the AccessibilityIndicator. In addition, based on the gathered information,accessibility maps are prepared in order to have a bettervisual presentation of access profiles in target areas and tosee alternative sloutions to access problems.

The results of the above mentioned workshop contribute toidentification of a set of interventions/projects which wouldmost efficiently reduce the time and effort involved inobtaining access to supplies, services and facilities. Theseinterventions are related to transport (rural transportinfrastructure, low cost means of transport or transportservices), and non-transport services (e.g. better distribu-tion or the most appropriate locations of services).

Step 7: Project identification

year around. The targets should be realistic and attainable,based on the available resources.

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How the rural transport burden is distributedbetween men and women

Studies carried out by the ILO and the World Bank over thelast decade in Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi,Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have provided detailedinsights into both access problems and the correspondingmagnitude and distribution of the transport workloadamong rural households. In general, the transport responsi-bilities of women and men are quite separate, beinginfluenced by culture, custom and overall household respon-sibilities. Transport consumes a major part of the house-hold’s time and involves a major physical burden.

In Africa in particular, women’s traditional role as thebearers of loads often means that they have to carry theweight of the transport burden. This is particularly evidentin female-headed households, which tend to be the poorest.

Features of Rural Accessibility Planning Tool

l Accessibility Planning (AP) covers several sectors. Inparticular, it provides detailed data on the access thatrural households have to services and facilities. Theseinclude water, energy, health, education, markets,agricultural inputs, agricultural outputs, crop marketingand post-harvest facilities.

l Accessibility Planning is gender sensitive and involvesboth men and women in the local level planning process,

and takes account of the clear distinction between thesexes in terms of transport needs and patterns. In doingso, the women’s perspective and needs will beincorporated into the planned interventions, and theburden of transport may be reduced for both sexes.

l Accessibility Planning has been designed to assist local-level planners to make appropriate investments of thelimited funds available to them. The focus on the locallevel also provides a basis for developing the capacity oflocal-level planners.

l Two points are necessary to raise here. The AccessibilityPlanning procedure is not a planning system. It providesa basis for establishing priorities for access improve-ment in the sectors that it deals with. It is a tool forphysical planning that captures access problems andidentifies a set of prioritised interventions that addressthese problems in rural communities. It can be inte-

It is also suggested as one of the reasons for young girlsdropping out of school in higher numbers than boys. Studiescarried out in the above mentioned countries show that thefemale contribution to household transport in rural areasranges from 75 to 85% of the total transport burden.

grated into the local level planning structure process forimplementation.

l Accessibility Planning is important not just because itprovides an effective local planning tool. Its real impor-tance lies in its potential to bring together the twoaspects of accessibility – mobility and proximity – in asensible manner. It suggests that access, rather thantransport, should be looked at as the facilitator ofdevelopment.

Note: The above paper provides a glimpse of what therural accessibility planning tool is, and how it can beused. For additional information contact Dr. FatemehAli-Nejadfard, Senior Technical Adviser, Access andRural Employment, ILO/ASIST, Harare.

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ASIST news

ASIST review andplanning exercises 1999By Terje Tessem, Programme Director

The ASIST programme is at presentfunded for another year, i.e. to theend of 2000. In order for thestakeholders to decide what shouldbecome of ASIST, if anything, afterthe end of the present phase, thedonors and ASIST managementinvolved themselves in a majorexercise of review and planning overthe last few months.

The donors first conducted anindependent review by engaging twoconsultants, Messrs. Hjelm andHogseth, whom many of the Bulletinreaders met during their visit to anumber of African countries. Theirreview report, which was goodreading for the ASIST team, recom-mended that the programme shouldbe continued for another three yearsas of January 2001. Despite a goodintention of institutionalising activi-ties and operations of ASIST duringthe present programme phase, theevaluators agreed that the time givenwas not sufficient to undertake sucha major move. Furthermore, some ofthe activities presently carried out byASIST would not naturally be takenover by any private institution or runon a commercial basis by any otherorganisation after being handed thetask from ASIST. Indeed, the reviewteam recommended that the ILOshould continue to play an importantrole in the further promotion anddevelopment of labour-based technol-ogy in rural and urban areas, butfocusing more on the multi-sectoralactivities which the review team sawas the major future market as

compared to the sectoral (read: road)activities.

The independent donor reviewreport and preparatory papers on thepossible future of ASIST’s involve-ment in labour-based technology werethe background documents presentedat a Review and Planning Workshopthat took place in Harare 23-26November 1999. A number of part-ners from ‘ASIST’ countries ineastern and southern Africa; includ-ing different ministries, councils,NGOs, training institutions, universi-ties, consultants, contractors, etc.participated together with six donorrepresentatives and ILO staff.

The outcome of this workshop,which has been documented in aworkshop report, is that ASISTshould continue for another threeyears. The scenario of closing ASISTat the end of year 2000 and largelytransferring the service provision tothe ILO proper right now did not getany support from the participants.Two different scenarios for how thecontinuation could be provided wereworked on, including the status quoscenario basically consolidating andlimiting activities to ‘ASIST core’coverage, and the expanded versionwhere the new elements of recentASIST involvement and coveragewere adequately addressed throughappropriate resource allocations. Thesupport for the two scenarios wereabout the same in numbers amongthe ILO partners (donors and countryrepresentatives). However, it is veryclear that the financiers would rather

prefer the consolidating approach tothe continuation of ASIST, whilst thetechnical partners in the countriesrepresented would prefer that ASISTwas put in a position to respond to anincreased demand for its services.

A major element in this discussionis the role of the ILO and its differentoffices in the future. Following areduced attention (and staffing) tothis programme from ILO manage-ment over the past few years, there isnow an increased interest in theEmployment-Intensive InvestmentProgramme within ILO. The donorswould like to see this materialise interms of direct support and commit-ments to further investments by theILO in this field. This move would becomplementary to the institutionali-sation taking place at present, whichmainly includes the developedtraining services and partly theadvisory support provided by theASIST team.

The next step now is to produce aProgramme Document for the nextphase of ASIST covering the periodfrom 2001 to the end of 2003.Clearly, the ASIST management willmake every effort to respond to thechallenge set by the donors. It wouldbe too bad to let our partners downfollowing the interest shown by thecountry representatives during thetwo review exercises described above.Indeed, we believe firmly that we willbe able to get a clear message fromthe ILO side and that a programmewill be agreed upon for another three-year phase.

Note: The reports producedduring this exercise are availablefrom the ASIST offices on request.These include the independent donorreview, two preparatory papers byASIST and the review and planningworkshop report

ASIST staffingAn update of recent eventsThere has been a number of changes,indeed some major changes, to thestaffing situation in ASIST recently.This means that some of our staffhave been and are now leaving whilstothers are joining the team.

Since our last Bulletin, Sam Orwahas returned to his post in the Kisii

Training Centre, Kenya. We hopethat the international exposure andexperience gained by Sam during thisdetachment will be useful for Kisii inthe years to come. You will havenoticed that Kisii is now providinginternational training services largelyindependent of ASIST.

Jan Fransen has been workingwith ASIST as a training and urbanadviser, but has now decided toreturn to his home country. We willbe missing Jan’s capacity in thefurther development of the urbanupgrading programme. However, wemay be able to count on his inputsfrom his new home in The Nether-lands from which he is working as aconsultant.

Africa has been lucky to secure theservices of a ‘well trained’ ASISTcolleague from Asia. Following twoyears in Bangkok, Jan Sakko, who

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information services news

Newpublications

EIP environmental guidelinesseries

Guide I: Environment, povertyand the use of local resourcesfor sustainable development

Guide II: Project cycle and envi-ronmental assessment

Guide III: Environmental impactsand rural access

Guide IV: Low volume roads andthe environment: A guide toproper design, construction andmaintenance

Per Mogstad; Terje Tessem, et al.

ILO. 1999. US$ 14.50 (set of four). Ref.Nos. 09733 - 09736

The main objective of these guidelinesis to enhance the optimal use of localresources in sustainable andenvironmentally sound infrastructuredevelopment strategies and commu-nity-based access programmes. Theypromote a project cycle integratingenvironmental concerns into theidentification, design, planning,execution, operation and mainte-nance of infrastructure developmentprojects.

Guide I provides a general introduc-tion to the subject, discussing therelationship between environment,poverty, employment and develop-ment. Guide II focuses on the projectcycle in relation to environmentalassessment. Guide III concentrateson the environmental aspects of ruralaccess and transport programmesand Guide IV gives practical environ-mental guidelines for rural roadconstruction and maintenance. Inaddition there are two case studiesfrom Kenya and Nepal.

These guidelines may be applied atall levels, from project identification,design and planning to execution, andshould be integrated into the trainingof policy makers, planners, techni-cians and people at local level.

An opportunity for employ-ment creation, labour-basedtechnology in roadworks: Themacro-economic dimension.Socio-Economic TechnicalPapers series (SETP) No. 5Gary Taylor and Moses Bekabye

ILO/DANIDA. June 1999. ISBN 92-2-111827-4. 69pp. Price on application.Ref. No. 38229

This report is based on a studycarried out in Uganda to evaluate thepotential of using employment-intensive technology in the rehabili-tation of feeder roads as a means ofbuilding infrastructure while at thesame time generating employmentand combating poverty. The studyconcentrates on economic aspectsrather than technical ones. The studyconfirms the hypothesis that labour-based approaches are viable and offerhigh employment potential, as wellas greater indirect benefits to thenational economy than conventionalequipment-based technology. Themain conclusions indicate that aswitch towards more labour-basedmethods could generate very signifi-cant benefits for the poor in the formof employment opportunities, and forthe country in terms of GDP andforeign exchange savings.

This comparative study betweenlabour-based and equipment-basedmethods for rural feeder road im-provement would be useful to thoseinvolved in the policy formulationprocess regarding employmentgeneration through infrastructuredevelopment.

originally comes from The Nether-lands, joined the Harare team as anAssociate Expert in Employment-Intensive Strategies and Planning inNovember 1999. Surely, the Asiancrisis gave Jan a rapid introductionto the so-called mega-sized labour-based programmes being designed inthat region.

We have also finally been able torecruit a new Norwegian-fundedAssociate Expert Marie Winsvold,who has been exposed to labour-based works during a two-yearassignment in Botswana, has joinedthe Nairobi office as of January 2000.Her experience with training and avariety of projects will be very usefulin her role supporting both urban andrural programmes as well as trainingdevelopments.

On the administrative supportside, Lorraine Moses left ASIST inDecember 1999. When you call (on)the Harare office, you will now bemet by the nice voice of MercyNyamanhindi, who will guide you tothe right person.

I am now leaving the team toreplace Jan de Veen in Geneva. Janis taking a break for a couple of yearsin his native Holland and I willtherefore join the new Employment-Intensive Investment Branch, theunit of the ILO to which ASIST isreporting.

Jane Tournée has been promotedto the Programme Director post as of1 February 2000. Jane has now beenwith ASIST for about three years,and with the ILO for a somewhatlonger time. We know her strongcapabilities in the labour-based fieldacquired through hard field work,both in rural and urban areas in anumber of African countries. There isno doubt that ASIST has got anexperienced labour-based specialistat its helm. Good luck, Jane!

By Terje Tessem

Regional Seminar for labour-based practitioners

The 8th Regional Seminar forlabour-based practitioners is

planned for October 2000 in Cairo,Egypt.

For further information contact: ILO/ASIST Harare or Nairobi, or

Social Fund for DevelopmentAttn: Hany Attalla

Tel: +202-338071/9Fax:: +202-3380970

Email: zayaya@ritsec3.com.eg

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information services news

Book review

Rapid assessment of povertyimpacts (RAPI): Elaborationof a rapid survey method ofassessing the poverty reduc-tion impacts of pilot employ-ment projects. SETP No. 2Laura Murphy

ILO. 1998. ISBN 92-2-111140-7. 105pp.Price on application. Ref. No. 14115

This document describes a cost-effective method for assessing theimpacts of small-scale employment-intensive projects on poverty. Themethod is referred to as ‘rapidassessment of poverty impacts’(RAPI) as it draws on ‘rapid’ survey-based approaches to poverty moni-toring. The paper discusses issuesthat arise in using the method forassessing rural roads projects, howit would be adapted to these andother types of projects. This paper isnot a manual but rather a descrip-tion of a general method which willhave to be adapted in accordancewith the type of project and localcircumstances.

Of nets and assets: Effectsand impacts of employment-intensive programmes – Areview of ILO experience.SETP No. 1Willem Keddeman

ILO. 1998. ISBN 92-2-111139-3. 52pp.Price on application. Ref. No. 14114

Since the mid 1970s, the ILO hasbeen promoting employment-intensive public and communityworks programmes as a majormeans of job creation and povertyalleviation in developing countries.Various studies have been conductedto investigate the socio-economicimpact of different types of interven-tions. This paper presents thefindings of a systematic review toappraise the impact assessmentmethodologies applied in conductingthese socio-economic impact studiesand to draw some general conclusionabout immediate, long-term anddurable effects of project activities.The review concludes recommenda-tions with respect to the methodol-ogy for impact assessments, and thatassets and benefits produced withlabour-based methods may be moreeasily sustainable than those pro-duced with more traditional meth-ods, but the long-term impact onpoverty alleviation needs to be morefully documented.

Storm Drainage. An engineer-ing guide to the low-costevaluation of system perform-ancePeter Kolsky

IT Publications. 1998. ISBN 85339-432-7. 134pp. US$22.00. Ref. No. 09727

Reviewed by David Mason, ASIST,Nairobi

‘This book is mainly concerned withsurface water drainage in low-incomeurban areas in developing countries.It deals with both open and closeddrains.

The purpose of this practical guideis to help engineers (in particular

municipalengineers) anddevelopmentworkers under-stand surfacewater drainageproblems so thatthey can workon more realisticsolutions. Itstarts from therecognition thatmillions of slumresidents acrossthe world suffer

the hazards and misery of frequentflooding, and draws upon the resultsof two and a half years of fieldwork inthe city of Indore in India.

The book focuses on three ques-tions:l What is drainage performance and

what happens when it floods?l What are the effects of solids in

drains upon performance?l How can we evaluate a drainage

system, to assess how best toimprove its performance?It includes a comprehensive

checklist for drainage evaluation,tables and graphs of data, andhydrological equations with workedexamples.

It is now one of the recommendedtextbooks for ASIST’s new interna-tional course on community-managedupgrading of urban low-incomesettlements.

EmploymentcreationwithoutextortionLabour policies and practicesworkshop, Zambia

By Tomas Stenström, ASIST, Harare

In employment-intensive investmentprogrammes (EIIP), the issue is howto manage large workforces in orderto provide workers with decentworking conditions and achievesatisfactory levels of productivity.National rules regulating the tempo-rary employment of workers andsmall contractors working in employ-ment intensive programmes are ofteneither irrelevant, or need to bedeveloped from the ground up

The workshop held in Zambiabetween 30 November and 1 Decem-ber 1999 was the first in a row ofworkshops planned at national levelin countries employing labour-basedmethods. Some 25 participantsrepresenting government, employersand workers organisations, as well asdonor organisations attended thetripartite workshop.

The aim was to promote theapplication of labour standards inEIIPs, and share experiences on howunorganised workers and small-scaleemployers can best be served byexisting national institutions, andhow relevant labour standards can beprogressively introduced. The imme-diate objectives for the two dayswere: to get the subject matter under-stood and to make an inventory ofachievements and constraints in thecase of Zambia and secondly todevelop a concrete action plan withclear roles for the stakeholders toovercome the constraints that wereidentified.

The workshop, recommended that:i) a task force look into the issue ofhow temporary workers in EIIPscould best be represented, and ii) aforum with all major stakeholders beestablished by March 2000, to discussfurther the relevance of currentlegislation and conditions of con-tracts. n

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training news

Forthcoming events 2000

CODATU World Congress of UrbanTransportation, 11-14 April, 2000,Hotel Maria Isabel Sheraton, MexicoCity, Mexico. Fee: CODATU mem-bers, US$600, others US$750.

Contact: Rue Maurice Audin69 518 Vaulx-en-Velin-CedexFranceFax:+33-472-04-7702

WEDC Courses

Short courses

Community Water Supply andSanitation, 5 April – 16 June, 2000.Fee: £6,060.

Community Management of UrbanServices, 5 April – 16 June, 2000.Fee: £6,060.

Community Solid Waste Manage-ment, 5 April – 16 June, 2000. Fee:£6,060.

Practical Water Supply and Sanita-tion, 19 June – 7 July, 2000. Fee:£2,020.

Distance Learning

WEDC now offers the followingmodules by distance learning at a feeof £800 each.

Community Management

Low-cost sanitation

Urban Infrastructure

Water and Environmental Health

Water for Low-income Communities

Contact: Water, Engineering andDevelopment Centre (WEDC) Instituteof Development EngineeringTel: +44 -1509-222885Fax: +44-1509-211079Email: WEDC@lboro.ac.uk

IHE course

International Short Course on Labour-based Road Engineering, 3-7 April,2000. IHE, Delft, The Netherlands.Fee: Dfl 2,500, includes tuition andcourse material. Travel costs andlodging are not covered.

Contact: International Institute forInfrastructural Hydraulic andEnvironmental Engineering (IHE)Tel: +31-15-215-1715Fax: +31-15-212-2921Email: ihe@ihe.nl

KTC courses

Supervising Labour-based Contractscourse, 6 March – 1 April, 2000, KisiiTraining Centre, Kisii, Kenya. Fee:UD$4,200, includes tuition, fieldvisits, practical training, coursematerials, transport, meals and

accommodation and per diem allow-ance of US$10 per day.

International Senior Technicianscourse, 10 July – 12 August, 2000,Kisii Training Centre, Kisii, Kenya.Fee: US$5,200, includes tuition, fieldvisits, practical training, coursematerials, transport, meals andaccommodation and per diem allow-ance of US$10 per day.

International Engineers course, 9October – 18 November 2000, KisiiTraining Centre, Kisii, Kenya. Fee:US$5,900, includes tuition, fieldvisits, practical training, coursematerials, transport, meals andaccommodation, and per diemallowance of US$10 per day.

Contact: The Resident InstructorPO Box 2254, Kisii, Kenya.Tel: +254-381-30699.Email: KTC@form-net.com

ESAMI courses

Transport Economics and Policy, 1-19May, 2000, Nairobi, Kenya.

Construction Management, 22 May –16 June, 2000, Mombasa, Kenya.

Contact: Resident Representative,Eastern and Southern AfricaManagement Institute, (ESAMI)PO Box 56628, Nairobi, KenyaTel: +254-2-441513/4, 441061Fax: +254-2-442231Email: esami@africaonline.com.ke

Urban Transport Planning andManagement, 10-21 July, 2000,Harare, Zimbabwe.

Contact: Resident Representative,ESAMIPO Box 2627, Harare, ZimbabweTel: +263-4-706438Fax: +263-4-706439Email: esamihre@africaonline.co.zw

Road Maintenance Planning andManagement, 6 November – 1December, 2000, ESAMIHeadquarters, Arusha, Tanzania.

Contact: The Admissions Officer,ESAMIPO Box 3030, Arusha, Tanzania.Tel: +255-57-8383/8Fax: +255-57-8285Email: esamilib@habari.co.tz

Conferences, seminars andworkshops

TRL Courses

Management of Appropriate TechnologyRoadworks, 26-30 June, 2000.Transport Research Laboratory,United Kingdom.Fee: £1,600.

Roads and Transport in DevelopingCountries, 4-14 July, 2000. TransportResearch Laboratory, United King-dom. Fee: £3,200.

Contact: Course Director, Interna-tional Development Unit, TransportResearch Laboratory (TRL).Fax: +44-1344-770719/770356Email: lparsley@trl.co.uk orinternational_enquiries@trl.co.uk

IHS courses

Municipal Environmental Policies andLocal Agenda 21, 19 January – 19April, 2000. IHS, The Netherlands.

Urban Infrastructure Management, 19January – 19 April, 2000. IHS, TheNetherlands.

Urban Environmental Management, 3May – 2 August, 2000. IHS, TheNetherlands.

Local Government and Non-governmental Actors: New tools andWorking Approaches (LG).

Contact: Institute of Housing andUrban Development (IHS)Tel: +31-10-402-1550Fax: +31-10-404-5671Email: admission@ihs.nl

Training courses2000

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country project news

Transfer of knowledgeon labour-basedtechnology in NepalBy Jan Sakko, ASIST, Harare

The long history of labour-based andappropriate technologies in Nepalhas generated a variety of trainingactivities. This capacity is spreadacross line ministries, NGOs, inter-national donor projects, and districtand village development committees.ASIST-Asia Pacific saw a need toproperly preserve the rich variety ofexperiences that are historically andcurrently available, and to strengthenthe transfer of knowledge to a wideraudience. ILO/ASIST-Asia Pacificand the Institute of Engineering ofthe Tribhuvan University inKathmandu signed an agreement inMarch 1999 to document all labour-based technology practices in theconstruction of rural roads, trails,suspension and foot bridges, irriga-tion canals, and structures forerosion protection. The TribhuvanUniversity is a member of a networkof Asian and African technicaluniversities with which the ILO’sEmployment Intensive InvestmentBranch in Geneva has establishedpartnerships. The Institute of Engi-neering has put together a broad

collection of labour-based technologymanuals, technical reports, casestudies, handbooks and reviews, withcooperation from the ILO office inKathmandu and other internationalagencies. Bio-engineering techniques,and practices in rural transport andplanning, are also documented. Theresult is a stand-alone library thatspans all elements of project planningand implementation. The materialsare kept at the Institute and can bestudied or copied by students, teach-ers and practitioners from outsidethe university. All materials aredescribed in a Labour-Based Technol-ogy Source Book for Nepal.

The Institute of Engineering alsoorganised a workshop on the integra-tion of best practices in labour-basedtechnology into university coursesand curricula, with the support andfacilitation from ASIST-Asia Pacificand the ILO office in Kathmandu.The teaching staff of the engineeringand architecture disciplines, facultymanagement, and representatives ofother technical education institutesgathered on 13 October 1999 at the

Institute. Dr. Jib R. Pokharel,Faculty Dean, stated in the openingaddress that “Labour-based technol-ogy is simply part of the developmentof Nepal, and could therefore not beexcluded from the engineeringcurricula”. Professor Dr. R.K.Poudyal, head of the Civil Engineer-ing Department, encouraged hiscolleagues to assess in which fieldlabour-based work methods couldcreate the highest impact. Theparticipants firstly discussed how tosuccessfully integrate the principlesof labour-based technology intosyllabi and courses of the under-graduate programme. Most teachersfound that this can be done throughminor changes in a few mandatorycourses. Further discussion is re-quired to determine if graduatecourses in labour-based technologyshould be elective or mandatory. Theparticipants concluded that thepromotion of labour-based technologywithin the university is best achievedthrough field research, theses, andsuccessful career examples; outsidethe university through partnershipswith government institutions, inter-national organisations, and NGOs.

Teaching staff and ILO facilitators at Institute of Engineering, KathmanduLabour policiesand practicespresentationpackageBased on the comprehensive guidedealing with ‘Labour policies andpractices for employment-inten-sive infrastructure programmes’,published in 1998, ILO Genevahas developed a presentationpackage on this issue. The pack-age includes a series of 13, fourpage coloured brochures, dealingwith the most important labourissues in this field, includingnotes and overheads, enablingnon-specialised lecturers to makepresentations on this subject. Theleaflets are available from ILO/ASIST, Nairobi and Harareoffices.

ILO/ASIST Harare, has pro-duced one general and one train-ing video, (approximately 20minutes each), dealing with theintroduction of labour-relatedissues into public works pro-grammes.

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Labour-based works inLesothoBy Celestina Pama, LCU, Lesotho

The Labour Construction Unit (LCU)is one of the Departments of theMinistry of Works and Transport inLesotho. This department has nowmerged with the Civil Works Sectionof the Ministry of Works, to form theDepartment of Rural Roads (DRR).The mission statement of the newdepartment is: provision of allweather rural transport infrastruc-ture using labour-based methods.

CurrentresponsibilitiesCurrent responsibilities include theconstruction and maintenance of allrural roads allocated to DRR. Sec-ondly, the completion of constructionof about 1000 km of Lesotho High-lands Revenue funded communityroad projects. Thirdly, the mainte-nance of completed rural road infra-structure constructed by Lesotho

Highlands Development Authorityaround the dams. Fourthly, theconstruction and maintenance offootbridges and rural airstrips in theremote parts of the country.

Capacity buildingThere is insufficient capacity toimplement the expanded programme.Therefore in order to implement theexpanded programme, the LCU isfollowing a number of strategies tobuild capacity:

a) Training and development ofsmall scale contractors; currently allmaintenance and rehabilitationworks are carried out by contractors.

b) Increasing force-account teamsby training supervisors

c) Increasing in-house capacityfor supervision and design by orienta-tion and use of local consultant firmsand use of long-term local consult-ants.

General ProgressSix training courses consisting of anaverage of 12 candidates per batchhave been running since 1993. Todate, about 56 contractors have beentrained in road rehabilitation andmaintenance. Eleven constructioncompanies consisting of five partici-pants per company (Managingdirector, one site agent and threetechnical assistants) are undergoinga road construction course thatstarted on the 16th of September 1999.The course will be completed inSeptember 2000.

Contractors will carry out part ofthe new construction works in theyear 2000, while the remainder willcontinue to be carried out by forceaccount teams. The rehabilitationand construction works carried out bycontractors are being supervised byconsultants.

For more information contact:Celestina Pama, Chief EngineerMinistry of WorksLabour Construction UnitPO Box 1283Maseru 100, LesothoTel: +266-314514/500770Fax: +266-210508

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Urban training

By Wilma van Esch, ASIST, Nairobi

Based on a training needs assessmentin 1998, the need and demand fortraining of urban engineers, planners,technicians and community foremenwas established. Although theeducation of technical personnel mayhave equipped them to constructroads, drains, water supply andsewerage systems, it has not pre-pared them for the challenge ofworking in unplanned areas. In thepoor un-serviced urban areas labour-based technology is almost a must, asaccess is very limited and co-operationwith the community is essential.

Hamish Goldie Scot of Scott Wilsonin the UK, and Jan Fransen, of ILOASIST, developed training materialfor urban engineers and planners.The first international pilot course

was organised in Tanzania by theUniversity College of Land andArchitectural Studies in Dar esSalaam and ILO ASIST from 1-12November 1999. The pilot course canbe considered as a broad success,with 18 participants attending thecourse from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanza-nia, Uganda and Zambia, at almostfull cost recovery. As intended, itprovided the participants with anintroduction to new concepts andchallenged them to apply what theywere being taught in project assign-ments. The project assignments werebased on actual data from an un-planned area in Dar es Salaam, anddeveloped in close co-operation withConcern, an institutional NGO.According to the evaluation and

individual action plans the coursehad a marked impact on participants’attitudes towards communitymanaged and labour-basedconstruction.

Plans are currently underway toconduct a second internationaltraining course for urban engineersand planners, and to develop train-ing material and a course for com-munity foremen/women.

Training ofcommunity-basedorganisationsIn Lusaka (Sustainable LusakaProgramme), training material isbeing developed for training ofcommunity-based organisations onhow to complete a business plan forthe operation of a water distributionsystem, and for waste collectionservices. This training material isbased on the ILO’s Start and Im-prove Your Business trainingmaterial for micro-entrepreneurs. n

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Construction of a building at a community garden for the storage, sorting andpreparation of vegetables prior to their transport to market

South Africa communitybased public worksprogramme — policyresearch seriesBy Craig Harvett, Policy Section, Community Based Public Works Programme,South Africa

In Bulletin No. 8 (January 1999)Colin Relf, Technical Adviser to theCommunity Based Public WorksProgramme (CBPWP), provided anaccount of the progress with respectto the UNDP-financed project. Thisoutlined in particular the value of the1996/1997 evaluations of the pro-gramme, as well as other interven-tions, in co-operation with theDepartment of Public Works (DPW).In addition to the interventionsmentioned in the article, is thecompilation of a second policy re-search series aimed at enhancing theCBPWP with respect to the findingsand recommendations of the evalua-tion and subsequent changes to theCBPWP.

The first policy research series,commissioned in 1997, focused on aset of high priority issues in PublicWorks Programmes, includingtargeting, poverty alleviation andinternational perspectives.

For the second policy researchseries, the DPW began from its ownperspective to identify operationalissues affecting the CBPWP. Thesewere captured in a discussion paperthat formed the basis of subsequentdiscussions with other departmentsadministering similar programmes.The aim was to reach inter-depart-mental consensus on priority issuesthat should be investigated. Theunderlying objective is to pursuepolicy convergence among differentdepartments and programmes. It isexpected that this will not only leadto greater consistency of approach,but will also permit the achievementof synergy among different pro-grammes.

The policy issues, grouped intofour themes, are as follows:

Theme 1: Site Level and Imple-mentationl Wagesl Training

l Gender equalityl Role of small and emerging

contractorsl Capacity of programme imple-

menting agents.Theme 2: Inter-Programme

l Inter-programme co-ordinationl Financial planning time frames.

Theme 3: Costs and Benefitsl The balance between social and

economic imperativesl Environmental impact assess-

ments.Theme 4: Sustainability

l Operation and maintenance.The identified priority issues for

this policy research series include:operation and maintenance, financialplanning time frames and thecapacity of programme implementingagents.

The financial planning timeframesand capacity of programme imple-menting agents research papers arebeing financed by the DPW, whilstthe paper on operation and mainte-nance is being funded by the ILO.The operation and maintenanceresearch paper is the most critical, inthat the development of feasibleprocedures and systems for theoperation and maintenance of locallevel physical infrastructure isessential for the sustainability ofcontinuing benefits from the pro-gramme. This research paper is,therefore, expected to make practicalrecommendations on specific meas-ures likely to ensure the operationand maintenance of different types ofassets being provided by the CBPWP.The long-term aim is to enable theDPW and other concerned depart-ments to draw up both policies andpractical guidelines for programmeadministrators, project planners,managers and beneficiary communi-ties to maximise the prospects forsuccessful operation and mainte-nance.

Research on all three policyresearch papers started in earlyDecember 1999 and will be completeby April 2000.

CONTACTS database of CVs

ASIST maintains a database of CVs ofpractitioners and others involved in

labour-based technology. Registrationwith ASIST facilitates networking andrecruitment for long and short term job

opportunities.If you are interested in registering,

send your CV tothe Administrative Officer, ASIST,

PO Box 60598, Nairobi, Kenya

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Rehabilitation and maintenance ofdistrict and feeder roads in Mwanzaregion, Tanzania

Cradling the south-western part ofLake Victoria, Mwanza region hasrecently seen the introduction of anew method of road construction. Forthe past year, the UNCDF/UNDPRehabilitation and Maintenance ofDistrict and Feeder Roads project hasbeen busy with on-the-ground train-ing of local contractors, districtengineers and technicians in labour-based road rehabilitation in Magu,Sengerema and Geita districts.

Seeking to revive nearly 200 km ofroads utilizing labour-based methodswhile creating capacity in the DistrictCouncils, and in the private sector, torehabilitate and maintain a networkof roads, the project is now nearingcompletion of the first trial contractswith private contractors. The six bestperformers will start civil works thisyear, supervised by the District

Councils and consultants, who arealso trained as part of the project.

Providing direct cash income forvillagers during times of agriculturalinactivity, the project utilizes one ofthe region’s most abundant resources:labour. Approximately 40 villageswith an average population of 1000each will benefit directly from theproject. Villagers will earn about600,000 person-days of income.Moreover, access to markets will beimproved. Some stretches linkingfishing villages to vital arteries of theroad network have already seen athree-fold increase in traffic, leadingto increased economic activity.

The sense of ownership andparticipation, also a critical compo-nent of the project, will continue tomake the project feel like a home-grown initiative in the eyes of the

Rehabilitation work in progress on the Lugeye-Kigangama road in Magu district, Tanzania

For more information on this project,please contact:

Mr. Lasse Melgaardor

Mr. Daimu MkwawaUNCDF/UNDPP.O. Box 9182Dar es Salaam

TanzaniaFax: +255-51-113272

Email: lasse.melgaard@undp.org ordaimu.s.mkwawa@undp.org

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By Lasse Melgaard, UNCDF/UNDP, Tanzania

people it affects. This is aptly illus-trated by the response of one villagerwho, when asked who was buildingthe road, replied:

“We are!”

country project news