The Women's Refugee Commission has developed a first-of-its-kind field manual to provide humanitarian workers with important information and practical tools for designing and implementing more effective livelihood programs so that refugees can earn a living and support themselves and their families.
The WRC cordially invites you to attend a reception to celebrate the launch of Building Livelihoods: A Field Manual for Practitioners in Humanitarian Settings, with Dale Buscher, Director of Protection.
The launch will be held on Wednesday, June 3, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. at the Women's Refugee Commission, 122 East 42nd Street, 11th Floor, New York City.
Please RSVP by May 29 to caitlink@wrcommission.org or 212.551.3115
The USAID-funded Community Action Program (CAP) III builds upon the successes of CAP I and II in strengthening local government institutions and grassroots democracy in Iraq. ACDI/VOCA and its sub-partner, International City/County Management Association (ICMA), are implementing CAP III in four of Iraq’s northern provinces: Kirkuk, Salah ad Din, Diyala and Ninawa. The goal of CAP III is to increase the ability of local government to identify, articulate and better meet the needs of its constituency.
The program’s objectives are:
- Communities better articulate their needs and mobilize resources within and outside the community to solve common problems;
- Local executive and representative government in CAP communities better meet articulated needs of the community; and
- Civilian victims of conflict assisted by the Marla Ruzicka Innocent Victims of War Fund.
Meeting the needs of local youth is important to achieving these objectives, so CAP III incorporates several youth components:
- Apprenticeship Programs for Youth in Private/Public Sector
The Apprenticeship Program was designed and implemented under the previous CAP programs to improve youth workforce capacity in areas of high youth unemployment. The apprenticeship program currently provides short-term jobs in combination with on-the-ground training for over 460 youth between 18 and 24 years old who are graduates of technical institutes and universities.
Under CAP III, supervisors are being trained in how to mentor and coach apprentices, which improves employers’ human resource management. This addresses the needs of youth in the community, and also has the benefit of strengthening human resource capacity within the local government, which will be critical as local government becomes more decentralized. In addition, CAP III is introducing an apprenticeship program targeted at public health outreach. Through this program, young graduates, will assist health specialists in developing outreach and training materials targeting maternal and child health, water-borne diseases, and other community-identified critical public health issues.
- Youth Civic Action and Governance Summer Camps
ACDI/VOCA will conduct two Youth Civic Action and Governance Summer camps for a total of 120 youth in the summer of 2009. The camps will bring together male and female youth from all four provinces who represent diverse ethnicities to engage them in activities that will teach community governance strategies through active simulation and participation. Through the camps, youth will be exposed to both diversity and commonalities among themselves, and they will learn how to effectively use conflict-mitigation strategies, team-building, and advocacy strategies as responsible citizens.
- Development of Youth Community Action Groups (CAGs)
Under CAP II, the Quratoo Community Action Group in northern Diyala developed a strong focus on advocating for youth issues and developing youth leadership. It formed a Youth Action CAG, predominantly composed of men and women under 30 years of age who work in the public sector as teachers and government employees, to support and inform its work with and for young people. Currently, the Quratoo CAG focuses on promoting and advocating youth leadership to their sub-district council and higher levels of government.
Brandie Maxwell
bmaxwell@acdivoca.org
October 2008 - March 2010
This Note from the Field provides an overview of the Norwegian Refugee Council's Youth Education Pack (YEP) program in northern Uganda. The YEP program provides war-affected youth with literacy skills, life skills and vocational training. While the program emphasizes basic literacy and psycho-social support, the livelihood skills offered are an integral tool in helping participating youth successfully reintegrate into their communities. The note describes the experience of one youth participant in the program in northern Uganda.
The Economic Recovery Standards address strategies and interventions designed to promote enterprises, employment, and cash flow and asset management among enterprises and livelihoods in environments affected by conflict or disaster. Since a broad range of practitioners are engaged directly or indirectly in strategies to promote economic recovery in crisis environments, these standards were developed with the following three groups in mind:
- Practitioners experienced in emergency situations, but less familiar with economic recovery initiatives
- Practitioners experienced in economic development but unaccustomed to crisis environments
- Practitioners and programs working in multiple interventions or sectors in crisis environments (e.g. health, education, infrastructure, or HIV/AIDS).
The Standards include two overall sections on Common Standards and Assessments & Analysis, plus four distinct technical areas: financial services, assets interventions, employment creation, and enterprise development.
