ILO, Norway to create jobs, livelihoods in Rs 698m northern project

Two long-standing development partners of Sri Lanka are joining hands at a time the country is suffering the fallout of chronic macroeconomic imbalances, worsening food insecurity and poverty, job losses, and multiple other crises, to create decent work opportunities and introduce ways of making a living for vulnerable people in the Northern Province.

In a statement Friday, the UN’s International Labour Organization Country Office for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and the Norwegian Embassy said they signed a partnership agreement for a new, three-year development cooperation project, ‘Promoting Advancement of Vulnerable Persons and Enterprises’. The US$1.9 million (Rs 698.2 million) project will assist households headed by women, those less abled, and the youth. It aims to set up 100 new enterprises, improve the business practices of 100 existing enterprises, and directly contribute to creating and increasing income generation opportunities for 3,000 people.

At its core, efforts will involve supporting large companies in select value chains to start processing plants in targeted areas; introducing climate smart agriculture; developing capacities of existing and potential micro and small enterprises; strengthening micro and small enterprises’ access to business development services and finance, and advancing digital transformation.

This project is founded on “advancing inclusive growth, private sector investment, entrepreneurship, and digitalisation, through interventions in the agricultural and fisheries value chains’’, the statement said.

In the statement on the project in north Sri Lanka, Norway Embassy’s Chargé d’affaires, Hilde Berg-Hansen, said it is, “highly relevant to Norway’s regional development priorities, particularly in the promotion of climate smart agriculture among smallholder farmers to address hunger and food security, and promotion of gender equality and sustainable economic growth to create jobs and address poverty.”

ILO Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Simrin Singh, said: “The ILO greatly appreciates Norway’s partnership and continued commitment to the promotion of decent work and employment opportunities for the most vulnerable women, men and persons with disabilities in the Northern Province, a support which is so very crucial as Sri Lanka faces this unprecedented crisis.’’