Income Recovery Technical Assistance

Background The Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) has developed a framework to support the recovery of livelihoods for the tsunami-affected population. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is providing technical assistance to this programme, through the Income Recovery Technical Assistance Programme (IRTAP). The Livelihoods framework has three main initiatives: a. Social Protection: focusing on those affected by the tsunami who have lost their capacity to earn an income, or for whom there is no work. Cash assistance will continue for some time, especially to vulnerable categories such as widows, orphans and the disabled, until they are brought under the coverage of existing government social assistance programmes; b. Community Infrastructure Recovery: comprising immediate temporary income creation through small-scale community and public works programmes that will generate livelihoods for those who are able and willing to work; and c. Support to economic recovery: that will move women and men out of dependency, to both restore previously existing livelihoods and to improve upon them, and to reduce poverty. The initiatives include finance (grants and loans), business promotion, training and other services. Programme Summary In response to the need to address the challenges of coordinating and monitoring the delivery of income recovery activities, both at the central and district levels, the IRTAP supports the Government in sustaining the recovery process by: - Building and providing capacity to coordinate and guide income recovery assistance at the national, district and divisional levels. The IRTAP aims to contribute to social and economic reconstruction and poverty reduction in tsunami-affected communities and will ensure that the assistance provided in income support and recovery will: - Be well targeted, i.e. reaching women and men who need it most; - Be relevant to and “owned by” the affected communities; - Be of high and consistent quality; - Contribute towards the achievement of longer term development goals, local and national, the reduction of poverty foremost. Development Strategy Provide technical assistance to the RADA Livelihoods Unit, and to the related responsible government Ministries to enable implementation of the Income Recovery Programme. This will be done by strengthening their capacities at the central, district and local levels to coordinate, target and guide the livelihood recovery efforts. At the national level, the project strengthens the technical capacity of the Back to Work programme at RADA in each of the three areas of i.e. income transfers, cash for work and development of economic activities, through the provision of expertise and training. This supports and enables RADA to: · Identify gaps in support and re-direct assistance accordingly. · Bring together the variety of coordination efforts under different Ministries, donor and NGO groups, and so bring greater technical consistency to the assistance provided. · Initiate and support the process of policy and quality standards development, involving stakeholders in order to develop a high degree of ownership, and ensure that the results are in line with the country’s development goals, and international experience and good practice. · Ensure the dissemination of such policy and quality standards guidelines, and provide and facilitate training to enable stakeholders to use them. · Identify key areas where stakeholders may need to undertake further technical work and research, e.g. the area of alternative livelihoods development or the reform of social security systems, and support and guide such work. · Facilitate the development and sharing of knowledge among stakeholders, including those at local level. · Provide highly specialized expertise to support stakeholders where required. This enables RADA to fulfil two key functions: bringing stakeholders together and providing them with technical oversight, support and guidance

Project symbol

SRL/05/07/NOR

Admin unit

CO-Colombo

Start date

01/10/2005

End date

31/12/2007

Total allocation

1836845

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

1836845

Development Partners

Norway, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Country/Countries

Sri Lanka

Outcomes

Increase member State and development partner capacity to develop and implement policies and programmes on employment-intensive investment