Worker removing debris in the Philippines

Employment-intensive investment

Around the world, millions of people lack infrastructure to access basic services such as safe drinking water, healthcare, and education. Enhancing infrastructure and maintaining it can improve living standards and have a direct impact on the quality of people’s lives. Productive community infrastructure can also contribute to reducing rural and urban poverty and have the potential of offering better economic and social benefits.

Employment-intensive investments link infrastructure development with employment creation, poverty reduction and local economic and social development. In using local labour and resources, they create much needed employment and income, reduce costs, save foreign currency, and support local industry while increasing the capacity of local institutions.

News and articles

The story of women contractors in Yemen part of the Public Works Project (PWP), supported by the ILO
3 veiled women working on maps of a contracting project

Video

The story of women contractors in Yemen part of the Public Works Project (PWP), supported by the ILO

Empowering Yemeni Women in the Contracting Sector: A Leap Towards Gender Equality
a female contractor standing in front of a project signboard

Empowering Yemeni Women in the Contracting Sector: A Leap Towards Gender Equality

Areas of work

Green Works
Men standing around a water reservoir used for crop irrigation in Rwanda

Green Works

Crisis Works
Four Filipino workers cutting fallen coconut trees

Crisis Works

Local Resource-Based (LRB) Technologies
Worker using protective equipment to clear and remove debris after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines.

Local Resource-Based (LRB) Technologies

Public and Private Sector Development
Man working on the flooring of a new marketplace in Tunisia

Public and Private Sector Development

Public Employment Programmes (PEPs)
Two construction workers working on a street wearing protective equipment

Public Employment Programmes (PEPs)

Employment Impact Assessment (EmpIA)
Man wearing hard hat while constructing metal structure.

Employment Impact Assessment (EmpIA)

Cross-cutting areas

Employment-intensive investment activities embed cross-cutting areas that reflect core ILO values such as promoting gender equality, supporting social inclusion and reaching vulnerable groups, improving working conditions, combating climate change and protecting the environment, and fostering social dialogue. 

The Employment-Intensive Investment Programme

The Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) leads the ILO's employment-intensive investment activities. With over 50 years of experience in more than 70 countries, EIIP has built a unique portfolio of productive employment creation for economic development, social protection, and natural resource management.

Read the EIIP programme document: Creating jobs through public investment

Examples of country-level work

Cameroon
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Cameroon

Jordan
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Jordan

Cambodia
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Cambodia

Projects

Employment Intensive Infrastructure Programme in Lebanon (EIIP)

Employment Intensive Infrastructure Programme in Lebanon (EIIP)

Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade (STREIT) Programme

EU-STREIT Project in Papua New Guinea

Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade (STREIT) Programme

Project dashboard

Project dashboard

Explore a selection of employment-intensive investment projects from around the world

Publications

Credit guarantee schemes, MSME access to finance and labour productivity in Africa

STRENGTHEN2

Credit guarantee schemes, MSME access to finance and labour productivity in Africa

Employment impact assessment of Luangwa-Mwami road, part of the interregional Nacala Road Corridor Project, Zambia

STRENGTHEN2

Employment impact assessment of Luangwa-Mwami road, part of the interregional Nacala Road Corridor Project, Zambia

Impact Study on Water and Gender: The Experience of the Province of Maguindanao in the Philippines

Impact Study

Impact Study on Water and Gender: The Experience of the Province of Maguindanao in the Philippines