Ministry of Municipal Affairs, ILO cooperate to boost job opportunities

AMMAN — In its efforts to increase job opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MOMA) recently signed a contract with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) under the Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project (MSSRP), which will be implemented in a number of municipalities affected by the Syrian refugee crisis, a statement by MSSRP said.

MOMA Minister Walid Masri highlighted that this partnership will contribute in achieving the project development’s objective in supporting Jordanian municipalities affected by the influx of Syrian refugees by delivering services and employment opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians. 

“This project has emanated as a response to the Government of Jordan’s request to address the impact of the influx of Syrian refugees on the Jordanian hosting communities within the Jordan Response Plan which identified the necessary needs to mitigate risks to social cohesion and contributed in coordinating the donors’ support to the government,” he stated.  

Under the contract, the ILO in cooperation with the project management at MOMA and Cities and Villages Development Bank will develop the capacity of participating municipalities, contractors, and partners in applying the labour-intensive techniques, in addition to providing municipalities with the necessary documents about this technique to be applied in current and future project implemented by the municipalities. 

ILO Country Coordinator Patrick Daru underlined ILO’s commitment to support the ministry in increasing job creation within the MSSRP projects. 

“This will contribute to Jordan reaching the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 8 on growth and decent work,” he said. 

Noting that 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the ILO, he said it is an occasion for Jordan to show the way at the regional level on how to intensify job creation through infrastructure work.

The project activities have kicked off with a knowledge seminar on intensive labour techniques in cooperation with the Jordanian Construction Contractors Associations and was followed up with a series of workshops on intensive labour techniques and monitoring and report writing, according to the statement. 

The project comes as a continuation of the Emergency Services and Social Resilience Project 2013-2017, where the total number of beneficiaries reached 5,013,045 Jordanian and 772,977 Syrian, MSSRP Director at MOMA Lamia Qawasmeh, stated, adding “the project achieved its objectives in supporting Jordanian municipalities and hosting communities in addressing the impact of the refugees’ influx on service provision and it also enhanced the municipalities’ capacity to accommodate this impact and to support local economic growth.” 

MSSRP is funded by the World Bank and the governments of Canada, UK and Jordan, the statement concluded.