Promoting green infrastructure investments and forestry works among South and East African countries by enhancing South-South and Triangular Cooperation

The ILO has been supporting many countries in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of inclusive, resilient and quality infrastructure investments through its Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP). The principal objective of the EIIP is to create decent jobs with higher labour intensity. In doing so, the EIIP approach also aims to address societal and environmental issues altogether. However, EIIP interventions are often fragmented and its uptake varies from country to country. More often than not, the so-called “best practices” may not be feasible and thus not “appropriate” in fragile areas where the EIIP often operates. South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) can be an effective instrument to share knowledge, boost peer-to-peer learning among the countries of the Global South that are facing similar challenges and identify the “appropriate” approach.” South and East African countries’ labour-based practitioners (Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Infrastructure/Ministry of Public Works and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Centers) have expressed particular interest in the area of green works. Green works refer to the employment intensive development, restoration and maintenance of public infrastructure, community assets, natural areas and landscapes to contribute to environmental goals such as climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, environmental rehabilitation, ecosystem restoration and nature conservation. Therefore, green works are job-rich in nature, and are a tool to tackle environmental challenges faced altogether. This introductory training provided an interactive e-learning opportunity to explore how to design and implement green works initiatives, with a focus on forestry work. By undertaking a review of different approaches, examples and best practices, participants learnt more on how to identify and develop interventions that reduce future impact of climate change, while providing employment opportunities and enhancing the productive capacity of ecosystems. OBJECTIVES • Understand the concepts of South-South cooperation modalities green works,and forestry works. • Explore good practices on the implementation of green works and forestry works. • Learn more on how to identify and develop interventions that reduce future impact of climate change, while providing employment opportunities CONTENT The training covered the following topics: • SOUTH-SOUTH AND TRIANGULAR COOPERATION AND THE ILO’S EMPLOYMENT-INTENSIVE INVESTMENT PROGRAMME • INTRODUCTION OF GREEN WORKS AND NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS (NBS) IN THE CONTEXT OF SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION • FORESTRY WORKS AND REMOVAL OF ALIEN SPECIES