ILO: A Road to Decent Jobs for All Afghans
April 2023
Balkh province located in North western Afghanistan is considered to be a relatively secure region compared to other regions in the rest of the country. Mazar-e-Sharif which is the capital city in Balkh is an economic hub, particularly for women who are employed in a variety of income generating activities such as tailoring and embroidery. However, women’s mobility has been affected after the DFA’s take over in camps and other peripheral areas of the province. In this context, the Road to Decent Jobs for All (R2DJ4ALL) is a programme implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which provides skills-based employment opportunities, with the aim to provide access to livelihood opportunities and to low-income communities harnessing the potential of decent employment opportunities through the engagement of a range of governmental and local stakeholders in the Balkh province.
Samuel Hall conducted a final independent evaluation to promote accountability and learning within ILO’s teams which undertook the programmatic interventions for R2DJ4ALL. The evaluation aimed to understand why and to what extent intended and unintended results were achieved and analysed the implications of the results. A critical approach was adopted to conduct the evaluation as previous learnings from R2J were also factored into the design and methodology of the evaluation.
According to Samuel Hall’s findings, R2DJ4ALL is considered relatively successful in coherence and market systems development, creating safe employment opportunities and effectively reaching gender objectives. The project was effective in achieving its objectives with positive changes in income and working conditions. However, its efficiency needs significant improvement due to issues with fund allocation. There is a need to provide more support to traditional and non-traditional businesses with innovative and technological approaches and initiate deeper collaboration with different stakeholders to achieve systemic changes and sustainability of the enterprises.