UN launches job creation scheme to rebuild Philippines economy

26 Nov 13
The United Nations has launched a $20m cash-for-work programme in the Philippines to help ‘resuscitate’ the local economy following the devastation caused by typhoon Haiyan

By Judith Ugwumadu | 26 November 2013

The United Nations has launched a $20m cash-for-work programme in the Philippines to help ‘resuscitate’ the local economy following the devastation caused by typhoon Haiyan.

It is intended to rehabilitate local businesses and restore community infrastructure such as access roads and town halls. The UN said the programme would also help kick-start public service provision by local government.

Over the next six months, the UN Development Programme project will eventually employ 200,000 local people to help clear up rubble from Haiyan. The typhoon, which struck earlier this month, killed over 5,230 people and affected over 13 million others. 

Haoliang Xu, UNDP’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific said during a visit to Tacloban yesterday, that the removal of debris was an important part of the relief operation as streets without rubble were a ‘precondition’ for aid distribution and also reduced the risk of disease.

‘In addition to contributing to the humanitarian effort, the debris removal is also a critical component of economic recovery,’ he said.

‘We’re going to create 200,000 temporary jobs in debris removal in the most affected municipalities over the next six months.’

Over the weekend, the first batch of 180 men and women started to remove rubble and medical waste in two hospitals, two schools and streets in three severely damaged neighbourhoods in Tacloban, one of the worst-hit cities, and in Palo. Both cities will receive basic equipment and tools such as generators, shovels, and wheelbarrows to begin the early recovery process.

‘While meeting the immediate needs of the families who lost everything is of utmost importance right now, we must also work with communities to recover their lives and livelihoods, and build in resilience to withstand future super storms,’ Xu added. 

‘It is not just a matter of building back better, it is also a matter of building back sustainably.’

But the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs pointed out that life-saving assistance was still urgently required, particularly food, water and shelter. Affected communities have access to small food stocks, but were increasingly concerned about the lack of food in the long term, with limited or no access to markets, it warned.

Philippine communities were in need of better shelter, nutrition and clean water to prevent a further spread of acute respiratory infections in the coming months, it said.

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