Lessons learned and good practices from the ILO Aceh Programme

This report aims to extract lessons learned from the ILO’s Aceh Programme in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004, and propose good practices for future ILO crisis responses. It results from a desk review of documents produced by the Aceh programme; interviews with Acehand Jakarta-based staff; consultations with implementing partners, beneficiaries, and others involved in the projects in Aceh; and visits to project sites. The intended audience comprises officials of the ILO and other international organizations working in postcrisis situations, public and private donor agencies, Indonesian government institutions and non-governmental organizations, and all those interested in promoting employment and socio-economic development after crises.

The report contains five parts. After the introduction, section two summarizes the ILO’s Aceh programme, including its history and development, strategic framework, place in the UN context, structure, geographical scope, and funding. In section three, the report describes the projects executed under the ILO programme’s six components, including the ILO approach and methodology behind them. Section four reviews the results and achievements of the ILO’s work in text and numbers, including a general assessment of progress toward ILO goals and more specific outputs. Finally, section five illustrates lessons learned, both narrow and broad, from the ILO Aceh programme. It also proposes good practices for all agencies addressing employment concerns in future crisis situations.