Rural Employment Promotion in Lao PDR

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), are proposing to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) a 9-year Rural Employment Promotion (REP) project during 2022 – 2031 (including six-month inception ), which aims to support the Government of Lao PDR in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Strategy (NRES). This joint initiative will ensure better synergy, harmonization and cost effectiveness of support from the UN and development partners in promoting rural employment in Lao PDR. The project will leverage experiences and technical expertise of the ILO and UNFPA with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MOLSW) as the main implementing partner to: - Strengthen the capacity of government and relevant membership social partners, workers’ and employers’ organizations as well as other membership based organizations to facilitate the implementation of NRES and create an enabling environment for rural investment and employment through promotion of public-private partnerships, policy dialogues, and capacity building. - Increase demand for labour and generate better employment opportunities for rural women and men, including persons with disabilities, youth, returned migrant workers, and LGBTQI by addressing systemic barriers to productivity, competition, trade, and market integration. - Enhance employability of rural women and men, including persons with disabilities, youth, returned migrant workers and LGBTQI especially in off-farm sectors and effectively link them to decent employment opportunities through skills upgrading and strengthening of employment services. - Increase access of rural women particularly those of ethnic minority groups to economic opportunities and the power to act on these opportunities and make decisions that benefit themselves, their families and their communities as a result of the enhanced conducive environment, elimination of discriminatory social norms, realignment of incentive structures, rules, relationships and support services in a way that promotes women’s reproductive and sexual health rights and gender equality. The project implementation will be divided into 2 phases, and the specific work plan will be finalized during the inception phase in 2022. - Phase 1 (October 2022 – December 2027): This includes six-month inception. The inception period will be dedicated for the preparation of the full project document, set up project governance and management structure, selection of target provinces, recruit staff, collect baseline data, and establish the M&E framework and initiate some activities. During this phase, the project will work in two value chains with a targeted outreach of 7,500 rural women and men workers. The project aims to reduce poverty incidence among target beneficiaries will decrease by 30% over baseline data. - Phase 2 (2028-2031): The project will scale up and deepen interventions that had been found successful. The target outreach is 17,500 rural workers, with poverty incidence among target beneficiaries will decrease by 45% over baseline data.. Women in ethnic minority groups will comprise at least 30% of the direct target beneficiaries. The project will ensure that gender analysis and responsiveness is embedded into every stage of intervention design and quality processes, and that women workers from ethnic minority groups are specifically targeted in interventions to ensure that women and men both benefit from the interventions.

Project symbol

LAO/22/01/USA

Admin unit

CO-Bangkok

Start date

15/07/2022

End date

15/07/2027

Total allocation

1733426

Total expenditure

Status

Active

1733426

Development Partners

USA, United States Agency for International Development

Country/Countries

Lao People's Democratic Republic

Outcomes

Outcome 3: Full and productive employment for just transitions
Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work