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Supporting the strategic objectives of the London Syria Conference 2016 - Final evaluation

eval_number:

2749

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2749

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Cooperative

category:

Enterprises

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comments:

Agricultural Cooperatives with which ILO is engaging to support the work permit process for Syrian refugee workers. Ultimate beneficiaries will be the Jordanian workers, Syrian refugee workers and the community members the cooperative is serving. ILO project staff in the Jordan Office will be strengthened in their ability to provide capacity building support to cooperatives.

challenges:

The cooperatives in the areas where there was a large influx of refugees do not have the capacity to deal with the demands to provide increased services. Cooperatives don’t have a strong member base or their own income generating projects providing sustained income to the cooperative. Requests to cooperatives to provide additional services puts a strain on the organizations. Need to find a balance between providing financial support to the cooperatives for the services they provide while avoiding their dependence on external aid. In some cooperatives, the organizational structure is not always democratic. ILO, working with cooperatives, gives the management a certain standing and recognition in addition to power over Syrian workers, who need the support of the cooperative to access work permits. It is important to work with the cooperatives on how to be a good community responsive organization. Cooperatives need to be well informed about their responsibilities and how to implement these in their communities. Through their engagement with ILO the cooperatives achieved a certain standing in their community as an enabling organisation to access work permits as well as daily or seasonal agricultural labour opportunities. The latter was found to be mainly organised between the cooperatives and a ‘middle-man’. It was not evident what exactly the role was of the ‘middle-man’ and his/her relation with the workers.

success:

The majority of the cooperatives visited welcomed the opportunity of providing additional support to the people living in their area. This was the strongest within those cooperatives who had a good member base and were really rooted in their communities through provision of services.

context:

Need support from the Ministry of Labour and other relevant ministries to provide capacity building support to cooperatives. Interest and commitment from the selected cooperatives to adapt and change their way of operating in certain areas.

description:

The ILO supported agricultural working permits through 21 cooperatives located in Irbid and Mafraq. Cooperatives play an important role in Jordan, mainly in rural and more economically deprived areas. During the evaluation mission it was found that ILO’s engagement with the agricultural cooperatives can be strengthened through considering better the organisational capacity and nature of cooperativies: • During the evaluation mission it was noticeable that the cooperatives in Jordan are weak organisationally. Therefore, engaging them further in ILO activities should be part of an organisational capacity building approach. • Ensure that cooperatives are covered for the costs they incur in facilitating the work permit process. Failure to do so could lead to poor quality work, lack of follow-up on the part of the cooperative or, in extreme cases, may lead to abuse of position towards workers applying for work permits. • Cooperatives should be considered as part of the private sector, often with a dual agenda of setting up income generating and profit-making interventions combined with providing services to their members and communities. • Consider reducing the number of cooperatives but increasing the support provided. When support is spread too thin then the cooperatives are not in a position to initiate economic opportunities for their communities. • Take into consideration any sensitivities between MoA and cooperatives; there often tends to be competition between cooperatives and MoA, especially over funding.

administrative_issues:

Train project staff in capacity building of cooperatives; training to be provided by ROAS technical staff members. A strong cooperative strategy should be developed as part of the project design and inception phases. Ensure sufficient staff are in place to follow up activities with the cooperatives. • Adapt ILO’s “My COOP Guidance” to the Jordanian context. To achieve this the Jordan programme should receive support from the ILO cooperatives specialists based in Beirut or Geneva.

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/231245

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location:

country:

Jordan

region:

Arab States

---

eval_title:

Supporting the strategic objectives of the London Syria Conference 2016 - Final evaluation