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Partnership for Youth Employment in the CIS II - Midterm evaluation

eval_number:

2736

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2736

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

COVID-19

category:

COVID-19

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comments:

Governments / unemployed men and women, people with no previous work experience and skills

challenges:

The PWP has become a key part of the government response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to respond to an anticipated rise in unemployment as well as the possible return of Uzbek migrant workers, who will add to the number of people seeking employment in the country. In response to the government has made some key adjustments: • Funding to the PWF has been increased by an additional 200 billion soums • The number of pre-determined work activities has been increased to 18, including some COVID 19 related activities such as monitoring quarantines, guarding checkpoints and supporting elderly and others more vulnerable to COVID-19. • Private sector companies and NGO can now receive 100 per cent of the salary costs, as opposed to 50 percent. The government would however like to make further adjustments and improvements to the programme, not only to make it a more effective response to the effects the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to increase the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the programme. They requested the support of the ILO to assist this with

success:

Given the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ILO together with the MELR conducted a guided self-assessment of the PWP which resulted in the recommendations to improve the programme across the following areas: 1. Eligibility and targeting: Improving and accelerating the recruitment of PWP participants (ISPA Focus Area A) 2. Benefits, time and duration of benefits: payment of wages(ISPA Focus Area B) 3. Institutions, coordination and funding: strengthening partnerships with local public partners and the private sector (ISPA Focus Area D) 4. Monitoring public works and data management (ISPA Focus Area E) The mid-term evaluation revealed that self-assessment conducted by the Uzbek government enhanced better understanding of the way-forward to improve the PWF programme and generated learning that Public Works Fund proved to be effective measure to offer employment during the COVID-19 crisis which could be considered by other development actors.

context:

Public works and community services, referred to as the Public Works Programme (PWP) are the largest labour market programmes in Uzbekistan. The PWP is managed and coordinated by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) and in May 2020 it provided temporary work to approximately 270,000 people across Uzbekistan. For 2020 the government has allocated 450 billion soums (USD 44 million) to the Public Works Fund (PWF) which funds all the national government contributions to the PWP. (This includes an additional allocation of 200 billion to respond to COVID-19). The program has the following objectives: • To provide unemployed people with a short-term income support before they can find full-time employment. • To employ people with no previous work experience and skills. • To supply the additional labor force to different public and private initiatives experiencing work-force shortage, which have economic and social importance.

description:

Public Works Fund in Uzbekistan proved to be effective measure to offer employment during the COVID-19 crisis which could be considered by other development actors

administrative_issues:

The report on self-assessment of the PWF was prepared by Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song and Ramiro Pizarro from the ILO, but is primarily based on the findings from the four Self-Assessment Working Groups. Also ILO Staff in Uzbekistan, in particular Azizkhon Khankhodjaev, ILO National Coordinator assisted in organizing the workshops on the self-assessment exercise of the Uzbekistan Public Work Program

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/225998

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location:

country:

Europe and Central Asia - regional

region:

Europe and Central Asia

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eval_title:

Partnership for Youth Employment in the CIS II - Midterm evaluation