The Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) has identified short-term employment generation as a crucial program tool following a disaster or violent conflict. These interventions address pressing public needs such as repairing roads, clearing debris, or rebuilding infrastructure. The financial support provided by these projects is short-term in nature, but the positive outcomes endure and provide people with an impetus for reinvesting in their communities.
OTI’s short-term employment programs typically last two to three years before longer-term development support takes over. These programs target key actors, processes, and geographical areas that can make or break a political transition in the near term. The context is critical in determining whether a short-term employment program is appropriate. In countries where there is little prospect for a successful political transition or peace without rapid improvements in the economic situation, generating temporary employment is particularly important.
Short-term employment programs promote stability and buy time for necessary reforms or long-term solutions to take root. OTI has funded jobs programs in various contexts, including crisis, conflict, and natural disasters. For example, in East Timor after the 1999 devastation, the threat of destabilization loomed, and large segments of the population were migrating to urban centers. In Iraq, the Multi-National Force-Iraq was under heightened attacks, and a widespread insurgency threatened public support for the interim government and democratic transition.
Generating temporary employment can be tied to longer-term objectives. OTI employment programs seek to promote stability and foster peace as they rapidly distribute resources (cash) in volatile situations, provide a rapid influx of opportunities for disaffected populations, and demonstrate the governing authority’s capacity to engage and lead. Projects put idle individuals to work and prompt a visible and early physical recovery in communities, sending a signal of hope.
In Sri Lanka after the tsunami, OTI brought non-affected populations to coastal areas to work with tsunami-affected communities and enabled citizens and local authorities to work together across ethnic and political boundaries to identify community improvement projects. In Iraq, young men of military age were occupied in daily projects that paid good wages to reduce the likelihood that they would be drawn into the insurgency. In East Timor, the Transitional Employment Program sent a clear sign that the situation was not hopeless, put money into circulation, and established a bridge between humanitarian assistance and larger, longer-term works projects being rolled out by the United Nations, World Bank, and other donors.
Programs can be structured to support other interventions and maximize impact. Methods have included sequencing, packaging, strategic targeting, and strengthening local ownership. In Iraq, activities were initiated in stages, with equipment provided to local government to support trash removal and cleanup projects. In Sri Lanka, OTI built into various labor-intensive community rehabilitation projects a livelihoods-oriented skills training component that empowered beneficiaries. In Haiti, labor-intensive projects were concentrated in neighborhoods where peacekeeping forces patrolled, creating a critical mass of community improvement activity and helping tip the balance of power on the streets away from gangs and other spoilers and toward community activists working for peace.
Managing community and participant expectations is vital to successful outcomes. Effective short-term employment initiatives are transparent, responsive, and engaged, and have the capacity to quickly assess program impact. Transparency is essential, with project timeframes and objectives clearly communicated to all beneficiaries. Rapid and flexible procurement mechanisms are also critical, as is consistent presence in the field to ensure that workers are selected according to established criteria and that local authorities adhere to program protocols. Innovative uses of technology, such as tracking activity and mapping data, can also help gauge progress and assess overall impact.