The Kinshasa Multisectoral Development and Urban Resilience Project

Initiated by the Congolese Government and financed by the World Bank, the KIN ELENDA project's mission is to improve access to infrastructure, services and socio-economic opportunities as well as urban management in Kinshasa, with the technical assistance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In this context, the ILO's involvement essentially aims to encourage the use of local resources, the creation of temporary and sustainable jobs and the generation of income for the benefit of the project’s beneficiary populations.

To achieve its objectives, the ILO relied on several levers:

1. Develop Employment Intensive Investment (EII) approaches for the construction and maintenance of urban infrastructures;
2. Review Kin Elenda bidding documents with the integration of Employment Intensive Investment (EII) approaches specificities;
3. Training of technical officers of the Public Works Ministry and Kinshasa council, SMEs and targeted populations in the use of the EII approaches and the integration of EII specificities in the bidding documents;
4. Setting up income-generating activities for the targeted populations;
5. Organize populations into SMEs or cooperatives in the different construction professions;
6. Promote a social value of the project activities both with regard to the individuals concerned and the community.

In this context, 3 demonstration site works were carried out with the targeted population and local SMEs to apply the theoretical lessons provided.

© EIIP/ILO

Review the bidding documents of Kin Elenda Project by integrating EII specificities

This activity began with the organization of capacity building sessions for the main stakeholders on the integration of the EII approaches in the bidding documents.

The main training session took place from July 12, 2022 to July 22, 2022 in Kinshasa. It brought together around thirty participants from the KIN ELENDA project implementing agencies. It closed on July 22, 2022, with the speech of the Director of the ILO Office in Kinshasa, SOUMANO NTEBA and the presentation of certificates of participation.

Following this training session, the ILO team and the main stakeholders focused on the integration of the EII approaches in the bidding documents.

These were the following bidding documents:

• Rehabilitation and development work on avenues Luemba and Maître Croquet (4.02 km) in the communes of N’Djili and Kimbaseke in Kinshasa;
• Construction work on the administrative building and development of two public squares in the commune of N’Djili in Kinshasa;
• Work to combat erosion and flooding in the commune of Kisenso in Kinshasa: development of roads and collectors on avenues Nsau (0.95 km), Mulele (2.45 km) and Mazot (2.40 km)
• Work to combat erosion and flooding in the commune of Kisenso in Kinshasa which included: (a) Work to implement additional drainage and stabilize erosion in Kiboto and the creation of a nursery in the commune of Kisenso in Kinshasa; (b) The dredging and reconstruction works of the Matete River crossing works and the stabilization of Lukengo erosion will be integrated into the bidding document for local infrastructure works.
• A fifth bidding document was involved and it was related to the construction work of the Vocational Training Center of the National Institute of Professional Preparation (INPP). This bidding document notably served as a practical case during the training of technical officers of the Public works Ministry and Kinshasa council.

The process of integrating the EII approaches in the bidding documents was a success and all these bidding documents were approved by the World Bank.

To close the exercise, although this is not part of the expected results of the project, a Guide for the introduction of the EII approaches in the bidding documents was produced by the project in order to ensure the sustainability of the exercise and the effective dissemination of knowledge. Around 500 copies of the said guides were distributed to the main actors and partners of the project.

© EIIP/ILO