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The Technical Woking Group meeting was held at the Nairobi Safari Club, and was attended by UNDP, ECA, ILO, World Bank, UNIDO, UNESCO, FAO, WFP and DESA/OSCAL. It was chaired by Dr. A. Babatunde Thomas, Special Adviser and Co-ordinator (Designate) UNSIA Secretariat, UNDP, New York.

The UN Inter Agency Task Force under component 15 of UNSIA was set up in April 1996, by the ACC Steering Committee, with a mandate to analyse issues relevant to poverty reduction through support to the Informal Sector and Employment Generating Opportunities and develop a programme of action to achieve the objectives of this SIA Component. Members of the Task Force consisted of ILO and ECA as co-lead Agencies with collaborative agencies including UNDP, FAO, the World Bank, UNIDO, UNESCO, WFP, UN-DESA/OSCAL, and IFAD. The task force after compiling views from all the Agencies met several times and prepared a programme of Action document, which was presented to the ACC Steering Committee in April 1997. After the initial endorsement of the document, there was a further meeting in September 1997 to harmonise the draft SIA programme of actions and another similar document by OSCAL in the context of UN-NADAF. The harmonised SIA document was submitted to the ACC Steering Committee meeting in March 1998, which directed that a technical working Group meeting should be held on the document to chart a realistic way forward for the implementation of the Programme of Action.

The process of devising the programme under component 15 included several inter-agency consultations, consideration of a first draft by the Steering Committee at its 1997 session held in Geneva, a further review by the collaborating agencies and its finalisation. At the finalisation stage due consideration was given to the work of the International Task Force on Informal Sector Development in Africa, led by the Office of the Special Co-ordinator for Africa and the LDCs (DESA/OSCAL) under UN-NADAF, and its proposed special programme of support of Informal sector development in Africa.

Participating agencies endorsed the principles established by the steering committee especially regarding the fact that (i) The value added expected from UN-SIA is to bring UN agencies and all the development partners in working together to produce visible results on the ground and (ii) ensure that resource mobilisation should first be considered through the maximisation of available resources and if the need arises, through advocacy for additional resources.

With respect to the programme of action under cluster 15 it was also agreed among participating agencies that the central element for all components is the identification of best practises and that the programme should include gender main -streaming with consideration given to vulnerable groups, i.e., women and youth.

Since two and a half years following the decision of the Steering Committee a lot of fruitful consultations have taken place but not much has been done to implement the PA. Therefore the main purpose of this Technical Working Group meeting is to highlight major constraints, identify challenges and establish guidelines for the way forward in the implementation of the programme at the country level.

In his opening statement, the chairperson expressed his enthusiasm about taking on the UNSIA Co-ordinator assignment and looking forward to the support of all agencies and other development partners of Africa in meeting the challenges the assignment entails. He appealed for support of UNSIA as an initiative representing an important aspect of the UN system working together, and that so far, some progress has been realised. He then welcome participants on behalf of the Co-Chairs of UNSIA and the Director of UNDP-Africa. He stressed the need to ensure that the meeting provide value-added to what has been done so far on component 15 underlining specifically, that the TWG meeting review progress to-date and report on concrete actions for the way forward. Turning to the issue of resources and resource mobilisation he observed that it was critical to consider both efficiency in the use of existing resources and the challenges entailed in mobilising additionality of new resources. It was important to focus on the objective of UNSIA to provide appropriate platform for UN system in working more and better together to bring about synergy, greater efficiency, and value added in programme implementation, by efficiently using available resources and raising additional resources where this becomes necessary.

Mr. James Nxumalo, Director, Development Management Division, ECA, welcomed participants on behalf of the Executive Secretary who had planned to personally attend and chair the meeting. He extended the apologies of the ECA Executive Secretary for not being able to be present because of unforeseen commitments. Mr. Nxumalo concluded his remark by reiterating the full commitment of the Executive Secretary and ECA in the implementation of UNSIA, as both co-chair of the ACC Steering Committee and Lead as well as collaborating agency for a number of clusters.

The agenda for the meeting was adopted without amendments. (See Annex I)

Mr. V. P. Diejomaoh, ILO Co-ordinator of UNSIA Component 15 highlighted briefly, the background on UNSIA from its launching in 1996 but concentrating on Component 15. The Task-force the on component was set up by UN agencies that had volunteered to work on the component during the first ACC Steering Committee meeting which took place in Nairobi in April 1996. The membership included ILO and ECA as co-lead agencies, FAO, UNESCO, UNIDO, World Bank, WFP, IFAD and UN-DESA/OSCAL. The Task-force began its work by preparing a concept paper on the informal sector and this was followed by the preparation of the Programme of Action (PA) based on various agencies' inputs. The agencies cleared the draft programme of action with the headquarters. After this the PA was presented to ACC Steering Committee on UNSIA in April 1997. It was found acceptable and was referred back to the agencies but no additional amendments were proposed. It was later harmonised with the programme of Action, which DESA/OSCAL had earlier on prepared in November 1997. It was re-submitted to ACC Steering Committee which recommended that a meeting of Technical Working Group on the Task-force be called to chart the way forward in the implementation of the programme.

The programme of action covers a holistic approach with six sub-components which need to be implemented together to bring synergies, exploit inter linkages and value added by agencies to maximise impacts.

The six sub-programmes areas include:

Enabling Environment for Informal Sector Development;

Access to Financial Services, with an Emphasis on Micro-Finance;

Education and Training, focusing on Vocational Education & Training;

Industrial and Manufacturing Activities;

Rural Non-Farm Activities; and

Infrastructure.

The programme of action also included a discussion of political and resource mobilisation strategy. It represented an important component for poverty reduction, with possible participation initially by about 20 countries. The UN Resident Co-ordinator System was expected to play the lead role in political and resource mobilisation for those programmes at the country level, and in the development of country programmes.

In the discussion that followed Mr. Diejomaoh's presentation, concern was expressed on the limited progress since the programme of action was finalised. It was stressed that what was critical was to reflect on the programme of action vis-à-vis agency programmes in order to determine how to leverage on those programmes, while adopting a phased programme approach, and forging strategic alliances with other development partners.

It was also critical to recognise that the philosophy of UNSIA has been to restructure UN programmes and reallocate programme resources to high priority areas. The narrow focus on 20 countries initially, was considered a sound approach.

DESA/OSCAL reported that the response to its resource mobilisation efforts were not positive. However, two Regional Meetings on sensitisation and advocacy have been held. The most recent was in Banjul, The Gambia, in December 1998 where African and Asian experiences on the raising of productivity and competitiveness of the informal sector were exchanged. The proceedings are being published, based on the best practices on productivity improvement and competitiveness in the informal sector. There are outstanding requests for further meetings on similar exchange of experiences.

In the discussion which followed, it was stressed that the implementation process should begin by taking stock on what is going on in each country. Hence the need for country situation assessment missions where none already exists. The influence of an enabling environment, particularly the macro-economic, has significant implications on the survival of enterprises and on cross-border trade. The programme of action should take into account the sub-regional and regional aspects, including the role of regional and sub-regional co-operation and economic integration. The System's "vision" on the development of the informal sector was raised with respect to the implementation of the programme of action, and the role of agencies in each sub-programme component. The crucial importance of establishing priorities with a focus on a few countries was stressed. Ethiopia was considered as a good country to start with.

In summary, the following outstanding issues/questions were identified:

The Working Group would need to come up with satisfactory answers to the question on how the sub-programmes are to be implemented in order to achieve synergy;

Which countries are likely candidates for initial interventions? E.g., (14 countries identified by DESA/OSCAL, the 22 countries in PA, or the 20 identified already by the World Bank). To what extent are there overlaps and how far can the number of countries be reduced given the need for a few test cases as pilot efforts and resource constraint?

There is a need to clarify the purpose of inter-agency missions, develop the terms of reference, and provide support for the formulation of programme of action at the country level.

Some of the countries included in the PA may not be viable economically and politically on their own. Therefore, it may be useful to consider programmes of action from a sub-regional and regional context, noting for example that the marketing of informal sector products goes beyond national frontiers?

The representative of ECA highlighted both internal and external factors impeding the development and graduation of the informal sector to medium scale and formal sector. These include characteristics of the sector itself and various policy, institutional and technological aspects. He identified the macroeconomic and regulatory environment as the real issues. On the basis of on-going ECA projects, he pointed out that the contribution of local informal animators in the process facilitated the mobilisation and organisation of informal sector associations.

This particular sub-component links closely with the sub-component on industrial and manufacturing activities. Access to credit, technological upgrading is also necessary. The component is also critical from a gender mainstreaming perspective. Women tend to predominate in food processing sub-sector. Youth programmes could also be mounted under the sub-component.

The meeting stressed the need to establish a vision for the development of the private sector and keep in mind that the objective of the programme of action is to graduate the majority of informal operators and enterprises. On the basis of experiences of ILO and UNIDO, the importance of the environment was under scored.

The meeting made the following suggestions:

Helping association of informal operators would serve as a vehicle to produce significant impact;

The social protection systems within the informal sector should be given the consideration it deserves;

The removal of entry barriers (policy interventions) is a critical step;

Cross border trade is still seen as illegal while this is benefiting the informal operators involved in it. Policy interventions to promote such trade should be taken up by established sub-regional and regional economic groupings.

The potential contribution of micro-finance to poverty reduction has attracted the greatest attention of international agencies in the last decade, and several co-ordination mechanisms are already working. Besides supporting on-going collaborative efforts, how can UNSIA add value?

The proposal is to focus on an important emerging issue in micro-finance: the appropriate combination of debt and grant instruments for the "poorest of the poor," whose economic status may make it undesirable to burden them with debt from both the perspectives of poverty reduction and of sustainability of the micro-finance institutions serving them.

It was suggested that UNSIA serve as a forum to gather views and experiences from participating agencies, along similar lines and contribute to the work of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP).

As a consortium of 26 donor and international agencies CGAP is devoted to distilling best practices from the experience of their programs, co-ordinating efforts, and building capacity in the sector.

UNSIA could add value by helping to build up the information base on micro-finance in relation to alleviating poverty in Africa and working with CGAP. Other active forums for co-ordination include the Donors Committee for Small Enterprise Development (which has issued Guiding Principles), the Micro-credit Summit (which will meet in Abidjan in June, 1999), and other collaborative programs mentioned in the UNSIA Programme of Action (paras. 32-37)

Women’s World Banking, UNDP and the World Bank are co-ordinating their support and workshops for networks of micro-finance institutions (paras. 35-36). With the support of its donor members, CGAP is launching an African Capacity-Building Program to develop local training capabilities in micro-finance (para.37). UNSIA can continue to encourage such co-operation.

The African Development Bank’s Micro-finance Initiative for Africa (AMINA) is now operational, and it is helping to implement some of the objectives of the UNSIA programme.

Reducing poverty is a key objective of UNSIA. Self-employment and micro-enterprises are important means for the poor to raise their incomes. Micro-finance has a potential role to play because savings and credit can help them accumulate assets, launch and maintain income-earning activities.

However, there is a conflict between reaching the poorest of the poor and building sustainable micro-finance institutions that serve poor clients who are excluded from the banking system. Perhaps the dilemma can be resolved by (i) considering a range of tools suitable for different target groups or problems and looking for complementarities that can progressively relieve extreme poverty, (ii) build the human and financial assets needed to enter self-employment, stabilise and ultimately expand micro-enterprises, and (iii) develop appropriate financial management capabilities and institutions. Such instruments, which can be observed in various programs of UNSIA agencies, include:

Social protection/safety nets, including protection against liquidating economic assets in times of crisis;

Grants for group-owned assets (especially in the context of social funds);

Training in productive skills and micro-enterprise management;

Training in group formation and savings and credit methodologies ("social intermediation");

Savings-led approach: formation of local savings and credit association to mobilise and intermediate members’ own savings; and

Credit-led approach.

Possible steps to increase our understanding of how these instruments can most appropriately be used to raise the skills, assets, incomes and access to finance by Africa’s poor include:

Framework paper to set out the issues and possible complementarities of the above approaches in addressing different levels of poverty;

Views of co-operating and collaborating agencies in UNSIA;

Based on the above approaches, draw lessons from experiences or case studies, and draw conclusions regarding best practices.

It was proposed that UNSIA stimulate discussion on this issue by asking participating agencies to:

Commission the preparation of a brief note by their micro-finance, poverty, and/or social protection focal points on these issues and any impressions about the agencies' experiences worthy of study;

Prepare a case study during the next 12 months on one or more of its operations in any of the above six areas;

Investigate possible funding for a consultant to prepare a framework on a best practice.

In deciding whether to proceed in this direction, agencies should realistically assess what they would be able to contribute in the way of reviews, case studies, or funding over the next 12 months. As the lead organisation for Micro-finance and poverty Reduction in UNSIA, the World Bank Africa Region would co-ordinate these contributions and discuss them with CGAP for possible complementarity with their efforts in this area.

The meeting was of the view that this sub-component is the most closely inter-linked with all the other sub-components. The meeting also felt that for the sub-component to encompass the sub-regional and regional dimensions, the work of the OAU team on facilitation of cross boarder transactions (in the framework of the Abuja Treaty on African Economic Community) should be looked into.

Another major issue raised was whether or not the strategy of promoting credit schemes adapted to the specific needs of the informal sector is more efficient than that consisting of adapting formal financial institutions to the requirements of informal operators. The possibility of forging linkages between formal and informal credit institutions was also raised.

The meeting also took note of the involvement of 20 African Countries in the World Bank project and indicated the advantage of using these as countries to which other selection criteria could be applied for further selection of pilot countries for the implementation of the programme of action.

The background paper presented covers what is contained in the programme of action recommending community-based training process for informal sector training. The process is a tested methodology for employment and income generation in rural areas but is equally applicable to the urban setting.

The paper goes further to suggest that franchising is another effective means of skills transfer (technical & managerial). Experience elsewhere indicates that through 'logical integration' or strategic and useful partnership between the formal (corporate) sector and the informal sector…………….. Although franchising is limited in African countries some useful experiences are emerging, for example Kenya Management Assistance Programme (K.MAP) through its collaboration with private sector has, through assorted informal sector activities, created 1/2 million jobs in the last 10 years.

It is important to understand that the strategy should go beyond productivity concerns that can be improved by skills training. The measures taken for training within the informal sector must improve on the working environment and the improvement of social security, health insurance and occupational safety and health. In this regard, the ILO has developed a training programme known as Work Improvement within the Informal Sector (WISE) methodology.

ILO has hands on experience in implementing a number of projects, which can usefully be replicated in the programme of action as 'best practices'. Examples include ILO implemented sub-programme on poverty eradication in rural areas in Kenya three rural poor districts. Integrated Urban Employment Project in Dar-es-Salaam is an example where skills training is integrated with micro enterprise development, finance, health and insurance schemes. A project document has been formulated to strengthen confederation of Informal Sector Organisation for fast Africa, which is an umbrella organisation for the national apex informal sector association in the three countries.

This project is aimed at exchange of marketing information, cross-border trade, transfer of technology etc. It is estimated at about one million US dollars. This is one of the projects, which can be easily implemented immediately and would have a great impact on employment promotion and income generation on a sub-regional basis.

In implementing skills training programmes for the sector, it is imperative to apply participatory approaches, gender mainstreaming and targeting vulnerable groups, especially the youth. The close linkage of training activities to the other sub-programmes was stressed.

UNIDO services have been refocused and reduced to sixteen service modules based on the core competencies of its technical staff and comparative advantages acquired during 30-years of accumulated experience in technical co-operation delivery. With a clearer definition of what we can delivery, our member states can more easily choose services they require from us, and through flexible combination of services we can prepare integrated programmes to tackle the complex problem of sustainable industrial development as a key vehicle for promoting employment creation, poverty alleviation and cleaner production.

The Director General has re-affirmed the Organisations commitment to inter-agency co-operation by emphasising that UNIDO should provide services to member states within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and complement bilateral and multilateral development co-operation programmes so as to produce synergy and enhance the impact of the entire development effort of a specific country. In this connection, through the Alliance for Africa's Industrialisation, we will build on the framework for broader partnership established by the UN New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UN-NADAF) and the UN system-wide Special Initiative for Africa (UNSIA) to facilitate the implementation of industrial development programmes to promote poverty alleviation, employment creation and cleaner production.

It is within this context that we welcome the Programme of Action for the United Nations Special Initiative on Africa: Poverty Reduction through the Promotion of the Informal Sector and Employment Generation Opportunities. We are very pleased to have been part of the task force on poverty reduction and employment, which worked on the programme of action during the past two years. In addition to presenting the section on Sub-programme 4, Industrial and Manufacturing Activities, allow me to first of all apprise you of the new UNIDO programmatic approach in Africa.

In response to the call by Member States and the African Ministers of Industry serving on the Steering Committee of the Alliance for Africa's Industrialisation for UNIDO to accord highest priority to the industrial development problems of Africa, the Director General launched in September 1998 a new effort to translate the service modules into concrete programmes at the country level. The new approach requires that programmes are demand-driven and consist of integrated services tailored to solve specific problems identified by clients (in both the public and private sectors). It is noteworthy that the thematic areas emphasised in the programme formulation are consistent with the six components presented in Programme of Action for Component 15 of the UNSIA, Poverty Reduction Through the Promotion of the Informal Sector and Employment Generation Opportunities. The main development objective of the programmes will be to promote sustainable private sector-led industrial development through a combination of:

(a) Up-stream activities to enhance capacity building both within government and private sector institutions for industrial policy formulation, implementation and monitoring. The goal is to complement macro-economic stabilization and adjustment programmes with micro-level efforts to reduce market failures and eliminate supply-side rigidities.

(b) Institution building through knowledge transfer and enhancement of general managerial and entrepreneurial skills. The goal is to improve the functioning of technical institutions, industrial service providers, industrial associations and enterprise managers.

(c) The development of technological capabilities at the enterprise level in order to enhance the competitiveness of industrial sectors, industrial expansion and job creation. In this connection, UNIDO will combine its unique technical and sectoral expertise with technical cooperation provided by other multilateral and bilateral agencies to enhance technological upgrading of industry and facilitate the adoption of production processes consistent with new global standards for quality, cleaner production and energy efficiency. Special consideration will be given to small- and medium-sized enterprises with emphasis on enterprise upgrading, clustering, and formation of links with large-scale firms and promotion of international partnerships.

Where applicable, the scope of programmes has covered priorities and needs identified under the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and the UN-System-wide Special Initiative for Africa. Currently, a portfolio of programmes valued at about US$36 million was developed for seven pilot countries in 1998, namely Algeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Significant support was provided by UNDP offices during the formulation missions, and in the case of Guinea, Tanzania and Rwanda UNDP Resident Representatives have pledged some financial contribution to the finalized programmes. It is envisaged that in 1999 and 2000 programme development effort will be expanded to other countries including, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Lesotho, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Sudan, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is estimated that these programmes will require about US$ 60 million for implementation.

So far, UNIDO has contributed US$5.17 million of its programmable resources to initiate the implementation of the pilot programmes in 1999. With the leadership of beneficiary countries, active funds mobilization measures have been undertaken and will continue during 1999 and 2000 focusing on the following elements:

Country-level funds mobilization by beneficiary countries through round tables of local donors;

It was observed that it was important to reduce entry barriers, which exist from the standpoint of sectors and commodities. It was also important to link training and financial sub-programmes to this activity. Technology up grading, provision of common services and quality and standardization would assist in the graduation process. It was important to involve best practices from other regions (Asia, Latin America etc). To advance the marketing aspects the International Trade Centre (ITC) should be invited to collaborate with component 15. The same invitation should be extended to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Development Bank (ADB). This was based on the recognition that there were overlaps between Trade and Development Component of UNSIA and component 15;

In either respect to technologies the possibility of improving traditional technologies should be considered alongside other appropriate technologies. Dialogue need to be undertaken with countries. A mix of strategies could be employed;

Programmes tailored to address priorities agreed upon by donors and beneficiary countries under existing bilateral cooperation frameworks;

Inter-agency formulation of programmes with appropriate co-financing arrangements under UNDAF and UNSIA;

A conference on industrial partnerships to be organized by UNIDO, OAU, ECA and the ADB in September/October 1999. As part of this conference the ADB and UNIDO will sponsor a study on establishing a new funding mechanisms for SME development;

Joint promotional visits to donor countries; and

Establishment of investment partnerships with private sector foundations in donor countries and private sector involvement in programme design and implementation where possible.

I. The following are some of the outcomes of FAO's activities on rural non-farm Activities:

An important part of FAO's normative and operational activities have been directed towards the specific needs of Africa, including inter alia processing of crops such as fonio, gum arabic and sheanut.

Two publications, "Rural processing and preserving techniques for fruit and vegetables" and "Tomato processing", based on projects in Burkina Faso (TCP/BKF/6658) and Niger (TCP/NER/6654), have been prepared in both English and French. Futhermore, women's groups, which were trained through these projects, have formed their own successful processing operations.

Other publications relevant to Africa are AGS bulletin No.68/6, Beekeeping in Africa, and AGS Bulletin No. 89, Post-harvest and processing technologies of African staple foods.

AGSI recently conducted a training course in Guinea on Mango processing.

A workshop on "Improving food supplies and nutrition through household and village level processing and preservation of vegetables and fruits in Eastern and Southern Africa" was carried out in Zimbabwe in 1996 together with ESNP.

In Cote d'Ivoire, there is an on-going project on Ylang Ylang essential oil production. Another active project in Malawi is the introduction of improved technologies for scale processing of palm oil in rural communities (TCP/MLW/6612).

In 1997, an AGSI staff member led a mission to Mauritius to evaluate project MAR/97/001, "Feasibility of processing fruit and other food products", and another staff member was responsible for the formulation of a "Program for the formation of agro-industrial micro enterprises" in Niger (NER/94/01T).

Examples of joint agency projects in which AGSI was involved are: a UN agency project in Cameroon, run by AGSI, on "the promotion of small and medium scale industries" (CMR/95/01T) with the participation of UNIDO, ILO and UNV and "Development of small units for processing of agricultural products" in Chad (CHD/94/T01), which was managed by FAO.

Within the notable trend in recent years which has been the progressive withdrawal of governments in developing countries and countries in transition from the provision of those services which can be better provided to farmers by the private sector, numerous FAO activities are now aimed at assisting member countries to adapt to these changes and to create the policy, institutional and legal environment for the emergence of an effective private sector in agriculture. We are also seeing a remarkable growth in the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international and national, in the provision of services, which had formerly been offered exclusively by governments. FAO has created a special Unit for Co-operation with NGOs and the private sector to pursue new opportunities for collaboration in these areas. For example: a project in Tanzania which will increase the utilisation of all types of farm power (human, animal, mechanical), tools and machinery. The project will also relieve constraints in the supply channels and support services, and is expected to lead to increased dealer distribution and tractor operator small-scale businesses.

Since the 1970s, The Investment Centre has long sought to promote the flow of private investment into agriculture and agro-industry, with its Bankers' programme which fostered links between international commercial banks, investors and national and agricultural banks in developing countries. Now, the Investment Centre's substantial support for the private sector and NGO initiatives is integrated into its diverse programmes of co-operation with international financing institutions. These are all committed to supporting improvements in the respective roles of public and private sectors in agricultural and rural development and to providing loan and equity finance directly to private initiatives.

The linkage banking approach, with its double emphasis on linkages between self-help groups and between savings and credit, emerged as a result of the interaction between BMZ ES 31, GTZ, FAO, UN and University of Cologne. AFRACA organised workshops in Harare and Abidjan to support linkage-banking initiatives of member institutions. In the future, AFRACA has one prominent task: the transformation of rural finance in Africa. This covers at least 6 broad interrelated objectives: (i) the transformation of the policy framework, (ii) the transformation of the legal framework, (iii) the transformation of the financial infrastructure, (iv) the transformation of institutions (v) the transformation of the terms and conditions of banking, (vi) dissemination of financial innovations.

Capture fisheries, in rivers, streams, lakes and the ocean possibly could also fall into the category "rural non-farm activities". However, as most fish resources already and heavily exploited it would probably be unwise to indicate capture fisheries as an activity in which additional employment would generate significant incomes.

The following opportunities could be further exploited in the forestry sector to contribute employment and income to rural people:

Forest exploitation when organized at the community level may provide employment opportunities;

Forest related activities such as beekeeping (Africa, Asia) and mushroom cultivation (Latin America…) have been organized in a number of forest projects and they provide interesting employment opportunities and income. They represent an insufficiently tapped sub-sector in Africa; and

With the growing interest in tree growing in urban areas, the sector of small nursery holders in the periphery of big cities is becoming more and more of an opportunity for small job creation and income generation; this is an area of high potential already identified in a number of countries.

The research project "Promoting linkages between the farm - and the rural off-farm sectors in Africa: implications for policies and programmes" is based on case studies for Ghana, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Eritrea and South Africa, and the outcome will be published in 1999. This has also led to several papers and presentations (IFPRI, etc.).

Information on the share of the rural labour force engaged in non-farm or non-agricultural activities can be obtained from population census or labour force surveys. The related data have been compiled in the ILO Yearbook on Labour Statistics" and the UN Demographic Yearbook".

The project "Improving household food security and nutrition in the Luapula Valley - Zambia (GCP/ZAM/052/BEL) has a strong income-earning component that includes: training in local food processing, including processing of palm oil; seed and seedling multiplication and distribution; and micro-credit/financing programmes.

An important part of FAO's normative activities and on-going research has been aimed at developing a methodology for the study, analysis, and identification of "Rural Household Income-Generation Strategies for Poverty Alleviation and Interactions with the Local Institutional Environment" A research programme on the above subject is currently being undertaken on a pilot basis in Mexico, India and Mozambique.

A study, based on 14-year longitudinal evidence on growth at the household level, was undertaken on "Determinants of Rural Household Incomes and their Impact on Poverty and Food Security in Zimbabwe". The study examined sources of incomes, non-agricultural activities, farm and non-farm linkages, rural savings and investment, diversification and security of incomes, as well as the role of remittances in guaranteeing household income and food security. The study results will contribute to the formulation of new and modification of existing land resettlement policies in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.

A workshop on "Determinants of Rural Household Incomes and their Impact on Nutrition and Food Security" was held in Harare in June 1998. The Workshop made policy recommendations on land and institutional reforms used on an analysis of the available data on the relationship of non-farm incomes and household income and food security as well as the impacts of droughts. The analysis revealed the differential impacts on child nutrition in communal and resettlement areas.

SDAR and ESAE have been collaborating in the implementation of studies on "Promoting linkages between the farm sector and the off-farm sector in areas with dynamic agriculture or high potential. The studies focus on creation of a macro-economic policy environment and the formulation of agricultural policies that promote the growth of agro-based industries and put agriculture on a firmer and higher technological basis.

Between 1997 and 1998, a participatory programme formulation mission was fielded to elaborate a framework for the "Promotion of rural employment in the region of Tambacounda", in partnership with the "Ministry of Works and Employment" of Senegal and UNDP. The mission included an assessment of the agricultural and non-agricultural activities of farm households, as well as those undertaken up - and downstream from agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry, and formal and informal activities linked to the rural development of the region, in order to propose a five-year development plan that touches upon all the activities that sustain rural livelihoods in the region.

II. With its accumulated experience in normative and operational activities, FAO can offer advice and technical assistance in the areas such as:

Technical assistance in transfer, development and acquisition of small-scale technology;

Problems related to institutional capacity and quality control;

Post-harvest distribution and institutional bottlenecks;

Identification of new investment opportunities;

Technical assistance to encourage expert-related investment opportunities;

Technical assistance in small-scale agro-based industrial development;

Technical support to small and medium enterprises;

Provision of advice on industrial policy;

Technical assistance on rural finance;

Technical support of emergence of private initiative/sector in agriculture;

Technical assistance on employment opportunities in the forestry sector;

Technical assistance on population census or surveys;

Technical Assistance on improvement of household food security and nutrition; and

Technical assistance on formulation of macro-economic policy environment.

During the discussions it was suggested that gender and other target groups should be stressed, especially in the area of African food processing. Other areas emphasised were access to finance, infrastructure, training and agro-industrial and manufacturing activities all of which have a major impact on non-form activities. Food processing was also of interest to other UN Agencies.

1.0 Employment generation through Labour Intensive Works

The need to expand work opportunities and productivity in both rural and urban sectors in developing countries was adopted in a resolution at the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development. The Summits’ Programme of Action explicitly expresses the encouragement of labour intensive investments in infrastructure in an effort to combat the deteriorating employment situation in SSA.

2.0 Component Elements

The initial proposal recommended the strengthening of capacity in 20 countries to implement six identified programme elements over a five-year period. As highlighted in the programme of action document, a sizeable number of countries have or are implementing one or more of these elements and thus funding will vary from country to country. The six elements have been regrouped into three focused elements as they are somehow interlinked and prioritised as follows:

Focal point for developmental labour based works.- This component is to provide advice, information and training concerning labour based works on a nation-wide basis;

Development of private and public sectors to participate in rural and urban infrastructure works:- This element will provide the requisite training and logistic support to local contractors and consultants involved in the implementation of labour based programme.; and

iii. Labour based community works: - This element aims at giving communities the opportunity to identify, prioritise and meet infrastructure needs which cannot be met by central government.

3.0 Constraints

Whereas studies conducted on implemented labour based projects show that the unit costs have been lowered by up to 30 percent in infrastructure works, 2 to 5 times more employment created and up to 30 percent in foreign exchange saved by governments, it is yet to be applied on large scale in most countries. The major constraints to the widespread use are as outlined below:

Although most governments mention the extensive use of the labour based approach in their planning documents, there is lack of political commitment and the means to implement it. The preference of decision makers for quick yielding projects rather than the gradual build up of sustainable project based on the use of local resources has resulted in most implemented projects remaining in the demonstration/pilot phase.

The Engineering curricula of technical institutes and universities in the past only concentrated on the conventional equipment intensive technology for infrastructure works. Thus most practising engineers continue to favour construction methods with which they are familiar and are reluctant to accept any change.

Until recently, most implemented projects were carried out by governments using their own staff under force account operations. The inherent bureaucratic procedures in the government system thus lowered the efficiency of the implemented projects compared to projects executed using the private sector.

Contract documentation and the insistence to procure goods and services in the donor country favour the use of equipment. Also investment appraisal techniques used for development projects measure mainly economic efficiency as the most important consideration since the techniques are quantitative and cost-based. Thus poverty alleviation and increased use of local resources are treated as non-quantifiable benefits.

A number of strategies have been devised to address the constraints preventing the widespread application of the labour-based approach. Some of these strategies involve sensitising decision makers to ensure that labour based approaches are integrated in the national planning process and especially in the Public Investment Programmes (e.g. Namibia, Uganda).

An increased capacity of private and public actors in the implementation of labour-based programmes has been registered. Measures taken include promoting the training of small local contractors, local consulting firms, manufacturers of local materials and the training of technical personnel from the governments.

The big challenge confronting us is how to mobilise adequate resources to transform projects to nation wide programmes (e.g. Ghana), as this requires substantial donor support.

In the discussion that followed, it was resolved that the programme of action will be revised to:

delete the funding signies. It was agreed that the eventual signies could be (only) determined at the country level based on actual programmes and/or what donors are willing to support. This could only assured;

The programme of action will emphasise the holistic approach adopted in all the sub-programme areas. It would also emphasise the close linkages among the sub-components.

Once the programme of action is revised and published it will be sent to the ACC Steering Committee on UNSIA, to the Heads of UN-agencies (DGs), to Executive Secretary of ECA, The Administrator of UNDP and to the UN Resident Co-ordinators, urging action at all levels.

The Resident Co-ordinators will transact the document to the countries. Together with the lead agencies, the Resident Co-ordinator will carry out Sensitisation/Advocacy Workshops at the country level. The workshops could be funded by UNDP on a cost-sharing basis with the agencies. A division of labour will be effected among ECA, ILO and DESA/OSCAL. These workshops will provide a good opportunity for dissemination of the programme of action. Focus will be maintained on the 22 countries which will be linked to country interest/positive response. In the choice of countries considerations like CCA and UNDAF could also be considered. Only after the workshops could country level programmes be formulated.

It was also resolved that the Programme of Action would be brought to the attention of ECA Meeting of African Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors (scheduled for 6 April 1999).

It was also agreed that agencies will share information on sub-regional or regional meetings and invite Taskforce members to participate in the relevant ones.

The Programme of Action will be finalised in the next six weeks. Six to eighteen months will be needed to get the workshops formulation of programmes and resource mobilisation.

1. Dr. A. Babatunde Thomas (Chairman)

Special Adviser & Co-ordinator (Designate),

UNSIA Secretariat UNDP New York

1 UN Plaza New York NY 10017

U.S.A.

e-mail: a.babatunde.thomas@undp.org

2. Mr. Neguest Mekonnen

ARR - National Economist

UNDP

P. O. Box 5580

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 515177

Fax: (251-1) 514599

e-mail: snigist.mekonnen@undp.org

3. Mr. J. Nxumalo

Director,

Development Management

Division ECA

P. O. Box 3001

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 516108

Fax: (251-1) 515823

e-mail: nxumalo@un.org

4. Mr. H. Ouedrago

UNNADAF/UNSIA Secretariat

Cabinet Office of the Executive Secretary ECA

P. O. Box 3005

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 510468

Fax: (251-1) 510468

e-mail: ouedrago.halidou@telecom.net.et

5. Mr. A. Toure

Deputy Regional Director,

ILO Regional Office for Africa

P. O. Box 3960

Abidjan 01

COTE D'IVOIRE

Tel: (225) 212639

6. Mr. V. P. Diejomaoh

Director ILO Area Office &

Eastern Africa Multidisciplinary

Advisory Team (Eamat),

ILO Co-ordinator of SIA Component 15 Task Force

P. O. Box 2532

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 510346

Fax: (251-1) 513633

e-mail: iloaddis@telecom.net.et

7. Mr. G. M. Ruigu

Senior Specialist, Employment Strategies

ILO/EAMAT

P. O. Box 2532

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 517200 Ext: 34316

Fax: (251-1) 513633

e-mail: iloaddis@telecom.net.et

8. Mr. Sam Odera-Oteng

Senior Specialist,Vocational Training

ILO/EAMAT

P. O. Box 2532

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 517200

Fax: (251-1) 513336

e-mail: iloaddis@telecom.net.et

9. Mr. K. Osei - Bonsu

Senior Expert on

Employment Intensive Works

ILO

P. O. Box 2532

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 517200 Ext: 34409

Fax: (251-1) 513633

e-mail: iloaddis@telecom.net.et

WORLD BANK

10. Ms. A. Sena Gabianu

Regional Programme Officer &

Liaison with OAU/ECA World Bank

World Bank

P. O. Box 5515

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 514200

Fax: (251-1) 511441

e-mail: Agabianu@worldbank.org

UNIDO

11. Mr. Kandeh Yumkella

Director, Africa & LDG Bureau

Vienna International Centre

Vienna A-1400

AUSTRIA

Tel: (431-260) 603037

Fax: (431-260) 606820

e-mail: kyumkella@unido.org

FAO

12. Dr. E. P. Pallangyo

Senior Policy Officer

FAO

UN-FAO E/S Africa

P. O. Box 3730

Harare

ZIMBABWE

Tel: (263-4) 791485

WFP

13. Mr. Tadesse Tegegne

Senior Programme Officer

WFP

P. O. Box 5580

Addis Ababa

ETHIOPIA

Tel: (251-1) 515188

Fax: (251-1) 514433

e-mail: Tadesse.Tegegne@wfp.org

UN -DESA-OSCAL

14. Ms. Raj Bardouille

Senior Economic Affairs Officer,

Office of the Special Co-ordinator,

For Africa and the Least

Developed Countries (OSCAL),

Dept. of Economic and Social

Affairs (DESA)

One United Nations Plaza - D.C 1-1040

New York - NY 10017

U.S.A.

Tel: (1-212) 963 2645

Fax: (1-212) 963 3892

e-mail: bardouille@un.org

UNESCO

Mr. E. Naah

Programme Specialist

UNESCO - Nairobi

P. O. Box 30592

Nairobi

KENYA

Tel: (254-2) 622351

Fax: (254-2) 215991

e-mail: naah@unesco.org