Target Groups

Vulnerable groups affected by crises demand and receive specific attention. The goals are to relieve their distress and, more broadly, to remove obstacles to their active participation in the rebuilding of livelihoods and communities. The ILO targets several crisis-affected groups with special tools and tailored techniques.

Ex-combatants

In particular, ILO/CRISIS has developed recognised expertise in the socio-economic reintegration of ex-combatants. It is well-placed to ensure that those overseeing DDR take employment, social integration, social equity, and civil society participation into account. In particular, the ILO promotes peace and development with:

• Operational assistance worldwide, building on experiences in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan.
• Targeted programmes and tools for especially vulnerable ex-combatants, such as youth, children, female combatants, and those with disabilities.
• Studies and advice on such relevant technical fields as training, labour market information, employment-intensive public works, micro-enterprise development, employment services, and micro-finance.
• A manual with step-by-step guidance on training and employment options for ex-combatants.
• A training package to help government officials and others develop and implement national reintegration strategies.
• Contributions to conferences, workshops, university forums, and training programmes on reintegration.
• Advocacy on international conventions, such as ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour, which discusses children in armed conflict.
• Membership in the UN Inter-Agency Working Group on DDR.

Child Soldiers

More than 300,000 children are involved in armed conflicts. This constitutes a grave crisis in itself. Indeed, children are among the combatants in most of today’s conflicts; innumerable national armies and other armed groups routinely recruit children under 18, sometimes forcibly.

With the adoption of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, the ILO was called upon to boost efforts to end children’s participation in armed conflicts. The convention defines as among the worst forms of child labour “forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict,” as well as “work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.” Now ratified by 156 ILO member states, the convention calls for the urgent elimination of these practices.

Child soldiers share many challenges with both adult combatants and non-combatant children. But they also face unique difficulties. These stem from the evolution of weapons and warfare; the breakdown of law and order in conflicts; intolerable levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality, and social exclusion; weak educational and training structures; rampant violence and abuse; and social pressures to engage in armed conflicts, other dangerous labour, or harmful activities like drug use.

With its partners, ILO/CRISIS seeks to overcome these difficulties and promote the long-term socio-economic reintegration of child soldiers. Key elements include vocational training, apprenticeship programmes, family support, stipends, psycho-social counselling, detoxification, capacity building of local institutions, and partnership development. ILO/CRISIS recognizes the need to consult child soldiers themselves in planning and implementing projects. With girls also commonly involved in conflicts, either as combatants or victims of exploitation, gender dimensions of socio-economic reintegration are crucial.

• ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour

Youth

Crises hit youth (15-24-year-olds) especially hard. In normal times, youth face such disadvantages as unemployment (often twice as high as the average), underemployment, and the impact of HIV/AIDS. Young women can face discrimination and exploitation as well. These disadvantages are only compounded in crises. Youth are often first to be laid off and last to find new opportunities. This produces idleness and frustration, and forces many to resort to subsistence work in the informal sector. In turn, these circumstances can lead to psychological problems and social exclusion.

Without programmes tailored to their concerns, then, youth can become radical and disruptive. They are easily influenced and manipulated by destructive forces. But their potential is the equal of their vulnerability. Often at the forefront of social movements, they can denounce injustices and demand change. This can make youth key leaders in crisis response.

ILO/CRISIS addresses their concerns with special tools. A traditional focus has been youth in armed conflicts, but the programme has also recently worked with those in economic crises and difficult social and political transitions. Specific activities include:

• Developing expertise on the reintegration of war-affected youth. This covers not only combatants but also young internally displaced persons and youth living in conflict areas. ILO/CRISIS and its partners have collected and made available information on war-affected youth in several countries.
• Writing and disseminating studies, manuals, and guidelines based on direct experience.
• Raising awareness among stakeholders of the roles and challenges of youth in crises. ILO/CRISIS also acts to protect youth and help them find peaceful, productive opportunities.
• Supporting training, employment creation, and peace education to reintegrate conflict-affected youth.
• Helping to develop employment services and activities to inform youth about the labour market. These can also connect with training, job openings, and information on self-employment.
• Collaborating with ILO technical departments and field offices, and with stakeholders at all levels working with youth in crises.

• ILO Youth Employment
• Youth Employment Network

Refugees, returnees, remainees, IDPs, and host communities

Natural disasters and conflicts, especially civil wars, cause huge displacements of alarming size and suddenness. Today, over 12 million refugees and 25 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are scattered in some 50 countries.

The ILO has provided technical assistance to refugees and IDPs since the early 1980s, working in such countries as Cambodia, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Thailand, Ukraine, and the former Yugoslavia. ILO/CRISIS is building on this record. Its efforts focus on training and employment promotion, including labour-based public works, employment services, and micro- and small-enterprise development. The programme often uses Local Economic Development techniques and general reconstruction and development measures to benefit the affected population. In addition, a strategic partnership with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has given ILO/CRISIS and its partners experience in promoting employment and livelihoods in refugee camps themselves.

As in all areas, ILO/CRISIS seeks to link immediate aid to long-term investment in human and material resources. First, it provides technical assistance in locations of displacement and exile. This lets refugees and IDPs develop technical, entrepreneurial, organizational, planning, and negotiation skills that will help them rebuild their livelihoods and communities. Also, the ILO and its partners pursue capacity-building for displaced populations and those who remain. Individuals and organizations representing them benefit from learning how to identify priorities, plan projects, and negotiate with national authorities and international aid agencies.

Disabled persons

Crises pose special challenges for disabled persons, those who already have a disability and those who become disabled because of the crisis. Both groups require focused assistance to build a sustainable livelihood.

In recent years, ILO/CRISIS has helped governments, NGOs, and organizations of people with disabilities provide vocational skills training for disabled ex-combatants. It has pursued such programmes in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Palestine, and Zimbabwe. Generally, training occurs in existing centres, but special facilities can also be used. The programme integrates counselling and rehabilitation in some projects, especially with severely disabled people or those who have suffered deep psychological trauma.

When feasible, ILO/CRISIS and its partners also seize the opportunity provided by post-crisis rebuilding to promote greater accessibility for the disabled buildings and infrastructure. Ramps, wider doors, and other mechanisms in construction plans permit maximum access to labour market opportunities.

Technical assistance for persons with disabilities is based on more than 20 years of ILO experience in this field. ILO/CRISIS aims to boost employment, self-reliance, and income-generating capacity, ultimately helping disabled people realize their socio-economic potential.

• ILO Information on Disability and Work

Female-headed households

In crises, women often become the sole providers and caregivers of their households, especially during and after conflicts. Their central role places enormous demands on their time and physical abilities, but also makes them engines of recovery. In country after country, in intractable wars or catastrophic disasters, examples abound of women’s resilience, resourcefulness, self-reliance, and capacity for community work.

Often society’s last safety net, women need sufficient and empowering assistance after crises. ILO/CRISIS believes training for women should not be confined to their traditional functions: sewing, cooking, and household duties, for example. It should, instead, reflect opportunities in the emerging labour market and promote women’s opportunities to seize them. Support should also target the increasing number of women working in their homes or the informal economy. These groups are too often excluded from post-crisis development programmes.

• ILO Information on Gender Equality