State-level Local Economic Development Committees capacitated to provide critical field-level feedback in Sudan
In November 2021, the ILO held a workshop with representatives of Local Economic Development Committees (LEDCs) from the East Darfur and West Kordofan states to transfer relevant knowledge and skills for ensuring coordinated, locally appropriate technical and measurable interventions under PROSPECTS.
Under the PROSPECTS partnership in Sudan, the ILO, as the leading agency for the employment pillar, seeks to strengthen rural livelihoods, improve agricultural productivity, and create multi-dimensional channels of assistance for the newly established agro-cooperatives.
To support ILO’s objectives, state-level LEDCs are being established. They will act as a critical field-level feedback mechanism for the ILO and will play a core role in the identification, verification and validation of planned interventions in the areas targeted by PROSPECTS.
The LEDCs are being capacitated through quarterly review and training meetings. In June 2021, the LEDCs met for the first time. Participants developed draft action plans for improving the flow and quality of field level information feeding into the project. These will allow partners and programme managers to make better informed decisions on planning activities and deployment of resources. In the following months, the ILO PROSPECTS programme team reviewed these plans, assessed the logistical support costs, and arranged for a validation meeting in November 2021.
Despite the political crisis caused by the military coup of 25 October 2021, the second meeting of the LEDCs took place as planned from 14 to 16 November 2021.
The ILO PROSPECTS programme team held discussions with the implementing partners and validated the next steps for establishing LEDCs in three localities in East Darfur (Assalaya) and West Kordofan (Keilak and Muglad).
By the end of 2021, assets and resources will be secured and deployed to ensure that the LEDCs are able to access deep field programming locations, monitor and provide feedback on work progress, and develop evidence-based recommendations to strengthen the inter-agency coordination required for improving effectiveness of interventions.
LEDCs will help creating better operating conditions necessary for achieving optimal socio-economic outcomes for forcibly displaced persons and the communities that host them.
Sean Paterson, Chief Technical Advisor, ILO PROSPECTS in Sudan
The ILO will support LEDCs in establishing inclusive systems for governing economic opportunities available in the community. They will be critical for the sustainable recovery of rural livelihoods post COVID-19.
Critical to this support is the requirement to bring LEDC members together regularly, on a quarterly basis, and engage them with the ILO PROSPECTS’ programme management team in Sudan. We will provide them with the necessary support to ensure their survival and relevancy beyond the programme’s completion.
Sean Paterson, Chief Technical Advisor, ILO PROSPECTS in Sudan
The ILO aims to integrate the workings of the LEDCs into the functions of local and state governance structures, considerably enhancing sustainability of the technical assistance.
LEDCs symbolize the commitment of the ILO to strengthen the resilience and improve social cohesion between refugee and host communities in Sudan.
The PROSPECTS programme in Sudan brings together the International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the UN Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) to seek innovative and coordinated approaches to forced displacement in targeted locations in East Darfur and West Kordofan states.
The partnership focuses on three critical areas of intervention that enable forcibly displaced persons to overcome their specific vulnerabilities and host communities to pursue their own development efforts in transformed environments. Technical assistance is provided by partnering UN agencies on: 1. Education and learning; 2. Employment with dignity; and 3. Protection and inclusion.
In addition to technical assistance, partners have also committed to establishing a coordinated approach that leverages the comparative advantages of each agency to increase community outreach.
