Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

Creating Short-term Employment Opportunities and Re-establishing Livelihoods
• Implement labor intensive public works’ programs using community
participation and giving priority to vulnerable and marginalized groups (such
as informal sector workers and migrants). These schemes would target
approximately 700,000 beneficiaries providing employment for three months 184
using minimum daily wage rates of THB 200 185 and have an additional total
cost of 10.4 billion. 186 Access to income would be critical in the short-term to
enable households to meet basic expenditures and to prevent further increases in
household debt. Informal workers in urban areas and landless farmers who rely on
temporary work have been severely hit with no jobs currently available in affected
areas, as outlined in section 4.1 above. Small business owners, farmers and fish
farmers as well as factory workers were other groups whom the assessment found
would benefit from this type of intervention while they work to recover working
capital and re-establish their previous livelihoods. Community targeting of
beneficiaries for these schemes would be critical to identify the most affected
households and those made poor by the disaster. In addition, consultations with
communities to ensure that the rehabilitation activities proposed do address the
needs of affected villages and neighborhoods would be essential. These can
include housing reconstruction and village/neighborhood infrastructure rehabilitation
The proposed schemes could be implemented in partnership with the TAO and
existing organizations with a track record of implementing such schemes (such
as CODI). Particular attention will need to be paid to construction standards and
technical supervision given the issues raised with the quality of labor intensive
public works in a recent NESDB study. 187 The International Labor Organization
(ILO) has developed guidance manuals in Thai that can help with implementing
this program. The ILO already trained all TAO officials in the country in 2003. The
training modules still exist and can be used again if necessary. These schemes
would follow a gender sensitive design to ensure that women are able to take
advantage of work opportunities generated through these schemes. The team also
proposes to include specific gender targets to ensure that 50 percent of beneficiaries
are women. A set of social accountability measures would need to be developed
for the implementation of these schemes given the issues with targeting outlined in
the SIA. 188
• Provision of working capital to small-businesses, farmers and fish farmers
through grants and loans at SFI rates. 189 The SIA indicated that the main
obstacle to the resumption of livelihood activities by small scale businesses in rural
and urban areas is the lack of working capital. Farming households were con
cerned they may default on pre-existing loans with the BAAC as harvests have
184 25 days per month
185 THB 200 is the minimum wage which is going to be increased next April. Evidence is that those with other options do
not work at this wage and the wage can be a self targeting wage.
186 Cash for Work schemes would also be implemented in areas where an influx of workers returning home due to factory
closures can be expected. It is likely that the actual number of beneficiaries in the first month will be higher than 700,000
with numbers reducing in subsequent months as farming starts and other regular jobs recommence.
187 Monitoring and Evaluation report for “Projects under the Strong Thailand Project 2010–2012”, NESDB, January 2011.
188 Additional details on social accountability measures are provided in page 238.
189 Communities will be well placed to identify the neediest groups in their areas.
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