Background:
Sustainable Reintegration and Livelihood Support for Returnees and IDPs (SRLS) is a project funded by the STFA and implemented by 6 UN Agencies from the ER-Durable Solutions Working Group and other 3 UN-Agencies providing complementary actions in the project implementation. The project was developed in response to the influx of Afghan returnees from Pakistan and other protracted IDPs from other regions to the Eastern Region of Afghanistan.
The forced repatriation of Afghans from Pakistan has caused significant socio-economic implication for the returnees and host communities including resource and services strain and infrastructural pressures that bears a potential risk of conflict arising between the returnees, IDPs and members of the host communities. Access to basic needs and services, sustainable livelihoods and decent employment opportunities for both returnees and host community members is paramount to ensure a seamless reintegration of returnees to their host communities. Some returnees bring with them skills and expertise from abroad that can contribute positively to enhance economic activities in the reintegration areas. However, they face difficulties in securing employment opportunities in the already strained economy. The situation is complicated by the local economy’s limited capacity to create or absorb the new labour force, thus exacerbating unemployment situation.
The ILO through the Durable Solutions Working Group project designed interventions that address the limited decent employment opportunities for the returnees, IDPs and vulnerable host community members through enterprise development initiatives mainly targeting women-owned enterprises. Working with Women MSEs in priority sectors, the project supports interventions that create and sustain more decent employment opportunities and enhance the participation of returnees and vulnerable members of host communities in the labour market.
The project will focus mainly on enterprise development facilitating entrepreneurship and business management trainings using the ILO standardized modules of SIYB, GET Ahead, business coaching, career counselling and Financial Education at both ToT and ToE (Training of Entrepreneurs) levels. The project will also provide post-training support to trainees who successfully participated which will include improving access to finance and financial products for MSEs, access to markets and market information for locally produced products, access to mentoring and coaching services for MSEs and promoting the fundamental principles and rights at work.
As part of a broader objective, the ILO seeks to build the capacity of local trainers to deliver the financial education training programme effectively, ensuring long-term access to high-quality entrepreneurship and business management trainings
Target:
The project targets mainly women from the targeted areas (Surkhroad district of Nangarhar province and Mahtarlam City of Laghman city with a special focus on women. 20 female participants will be drawn from both target areas.
Development of Financial Education Training of Trainers:
The Enterprise Development project would want to develop Financial Education women trainers in the East Region. The candidates should demonstrate enthusiasm of supporting a building capacity of Women in Financial Education The training will address constrains hindering participation in economic empowerment activities and access to finance.
The International Labour Office (ILO) has designed and tested responses to these challenges. Programmes like the ILO’s Financial Education (FE) have demonstrated promising results in addressing both the demand and supply of business services for small enterprises, Insurance, setting short term and long-term goals and access to finance.
Financial Education is one of the largest global business management training programmes. It helps entrepreneurs to set short term and long-term goals, having insurance and access to finance.
Qualifying candidates will be selected to join the 7 days course “Financial Education Training of Trainers course” and expected to conduct training of entrepreneurs as part of the accreditation and certification process.
This ToT course is the first step in obtaining the certification as FE trainers. It will be facilitated by ILO certified Master Trainer and will introduce participants to both the technical content of the relevant FE package and to adult learning methodologies.
The objective of this workshop is to enable FE training providers to develop long-term business models that will allow them to function independently financially while still maintaining service quality standards that facilitate entrepreneurial development. The course will enable the participants to:
- Get a detailed understanding of the steps in introducing Financial Education.
- Understand the key differences in target groups and learning objectives of Financial Education training package.
- Be aware of the best practices in managing a FE programme, including the monitoring and evaluation tools.
This is an entrepreneurship training programme for women who are already engaged in or want to start a small-scale business. It differs from conventional business training methodology as it highlights entrepreneurial skills from a gender perspective. It is tailored for women and other vulnerable groups who have limited literacy and numeracy levels.
This initiative will equip 20 selected female trainers with the skills needed to deliver Financial Education ToT training to aspiring women entrepreneurs. Upon completion, these trainers will roll out training sessions for at least 240 female entrepreneurs, contributing to long-term, scalable economic development interventions for women in the region.