ISLAMABAD:After launching a “rapid infrastructure rehabilitation” project for the flood-affected people in Hanna Orak Balochistan, International Labour Organisation (ILO) is supporting the Government of Pakistan in rolling out an emergency employment project now in Jamshoro Sindh.
The project would be delivered through Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) and would generate around 5,000 person days of employment for the people of Manjhand, said a press release issued by ILO on Tuesday.
Sindh and Balochistan are among the provinces which are hardest hit by recent devastating floods. In a rapid assessment done by the ILO, 50 per cent of employment has been lost or disrupted in Sindh, topping all other provinces.
This employment disruption and loss is mostly in the agriculture sector and other informal parts of the economy. Women working in the agriculture sector are further disadvantaged because of the floods.
Sajid Hussain Turi, Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and HRD lauded the ILO for its immediate response to the crisis caused by the floods, saying rapid infrastructure rehabilitation is “not only a means to injecting cash” by bringing people back to work but also a way of ensuring that “dignity of people is respected in the process of recovery and reconstruction”.
The rapid infrastructure reconstruction project launched in Manjhand Jamshoro was a “small drop in the ocean”, but it was “scalable and can be complemented through an integrated approach” that provides health, education, social services, and protection to people along with daily wages for the work they carry out, commented Manzoor Khaliq, ILO Officer In-charge for CO Pakistan.
The project would ensure that employment opportunities created are in line with international labour standards and that “no child is engaged in labour”, and that women and men were provided “equal opportunities”, he highlighted.
Secretary Workers Welfare Board Saleh Jumani, ILO Officer In-charge for CO Pakistan Manzoor Khaliq, Waqar Memon, Pakistan Workers Federation joined the federal minister during his community visit where they met with those registered with the emergency employment project and girls and boys who are enrolled in non-formal education sessions organised in the community.
Explaining to the guests visiting the community of Manjhand, Asad Memon, an official from PWF said that women in Sindh had indigenous skills, adding “we are leveraging these by helping them make rallies and other local crafts and they will be assisted in making market linkages so these products can be sold”.
Medical Officers of Sindh Employees Social Security Institution examined the affected community and provided basic medicine. The launching ceremony was attended by the senior leadership of PWF.