Enhancing Competitiveness and Sustainable Business among MSMEs in the Building Contruction Sector

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The Zambia Green Jobs Programme is supporting sustainable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) along the building construction value chain to become more productive and competitive; to grow, create green and decent new jobs as well as improve the quality of existing jobs by extending basic social protection and improving access to occupational safety and health services for workers in the building construction sector. The Programme responds to the Zambian Government's needs for diversification of the economy away from the mining sector as well as for job creation in order to tackle especially the rising youth unemployment. The immediate objective of the programme is to create at least 5,000 decent green jobs particularly for young people and to improve the quality of at least 2,000 jobs in MSMEs. At the mid-term of the programme, 2549 jobs have been created (women 267, young people 1419) which amounts to 51% of the final target and the quality of 1424 improved (71 % of final target). The Programme helps the various actors along the building construction value chain to develop new environmentally-friendly building materials and techniques. It also thrives to promote the creation of green building markets in Zambia by influencing the updating of the building code and various certifications. The Programme also aims at creating partnerships with key anchor companies in order to increase the participation of MSMEs in green building contracts. The four-year (2013-2017) programme is implemented by local government institutions, financial institutions, business development service providers, associations of small scale contractors and other private sector players in Zambia's building construction industry, covering North Western, Copperbelt, Central and Southern Provinces of Zambia . Technical assistance is provided by a consortium of UN agencies, namely FAO, UNEP, UNCTAD and ITC led by the ILO and jointly working together as One UN with financial support from the Government of Finland. The Programme aslso works with the Zambia Institute of Architects and the Copperbelt University School of Built Environment with technical assistance from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and UN Habitat to strengthen the capacity of local Architects to design water and energy-efficient, quality and affordable living spaces for low and middle-income families in Zambia. http://www.zambiagreenjobs.org/