U.S.-FUNDED ILO CHILD LABOR PROJECT GETS UNDERWAY

UNCLAS AMMAN 000277 SIPDIS SENSITIVE LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB PHUM SOCI PGOV JO SUBJECT: U.S.-FUNDED ILO CHILD LABOR PROJECT GETS UNDERWAY Sensitive but unclassified--please protect accordingly. Not for publication on the Internet. ¶1. (U) The Ministry of Labor announced on January 5 the commencement of a one milion USD ILO project to combat child labor in Jordan. To be undertaken with the cooperation of the Ministries of Education and Social Development, it aims to rehabilitate working children under 18 years of age, helping their families earn a livelihood and send the children to school. The project hopes to reach 500 families over a three year period. ¶2. (SBU) Ministry of Labor Child Labor Unit (CLU) head Nihaya Dabdoub stressed to poloff that, while this is an ILO project, under the Ministry's MOU with the ILO, the CLU and the National Steering Committee on Child Labor will be working in close cooperation with the ILO. The CLU aims to take over the project financially and administratively at the end of 2006, and its functions are already incorporated in the draft National Strategy to Combat Child Labor, expected to be implemented beginning this year. ¶3. (SBU) ILO Regional Director Taleb Rifai confirmed that the Ministry of Labor approved the selection of project head Mohammed Tarawneh in December. He also indicated that the project has identified facilities it will begin using soon. (Note: The project will share a building with the DOL-funded ILO project on social dialogue. End note.) He stated that the project has been on track for a few months; the timing of the announcement was a function of his being in town and other logistical issues. Rifai noted, however, the difficulties the project had faced in obtaining a mutually agreeable project leader. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: This is the second USDOL-funded project in Jordan, the country where the ILO now has the most project dollars at work within the region. It addresses a need that the GOJ, ILO and the USG have mutually identified. GNEHM