UK to help 1000 businesses re-establish in earthquake zone

1000 businesses destroyed by the devastating May 12 earthquake in Sichuan will be re-established in the next 12 months thanks to financial support by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO). A further 700 new businesses will be started for those who lost their jobs in the earthquake.

Entitled 'Emergency Start and Improve Your Business (E-SIYB) Project: Getting people back to work through re-starting and starting businesses', the project will support three groups of people:

1.Unemployed workers who lost wage employment and have a strong willingness to start businesses

2.Farmers who lost land and other assets and have a strong willingness to start off-farm income generating activities or family business

3.Small business owners who lost their businesses but are willing to start again.

Support will be offered in the form of 'Emergency Start and Improve Your Business’  (E-SIYB) training which will help participants formulate a business plan that takes into account opportunities and challenges resulting from reconstruction efforts. They will also be offered access to short skills training courses if and when a specific technical skill to run the business successfully is required.

In the long term the training will allow participants to present a case for Government-sponsored support, including financial services and business development services.

The project is funded by DFID ($700,000) and the ILO  ($100,000). The Chinese government will contribute through a series of special measures and programmes aiming at medium and small enterprises, which will be accessible to the project beneficiaries if their business plans meet the criteria set out under the training programmes.

The project will start in July 2008 for a period of 12 months, focusing on rural townships in the cities of Mianyang, Deyang and Guangyuan.

Background

Following the May 12 earthquake, an impressive relief operation is ongoing but already it is clear that the recovery of lost livelihoods is urgent. A large number of people that were either employed in small businesses or that were self-employed are no longer earning an income. This includes agricultural activities, where loss of livestock and crops is significant. The region affected by the quake is traditionally an source of outward migrant workers. Labour migration will increase if local income earning opportunities cannot be quickly identified.

From 2004 to 2007, the ILO has been working with provincial and local labour offices on entrepreneurship development through ‘Start and Improve Your Business’ training packages, composed of a suite of training products for business start-ups and business expansion. This project, funded by DFID, created more than one million jobs. It has also led to the establishment of a network of trainers and business counsellors that can be mobilised at short notice, including in the earthquake affected areas.

The ILO will work primarily with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Services and the local human resource bureaux, which are responsible for implementation of a range of employment promotion measures and programmes.

In the disaster area, Emergency Employment Services have already been established to identify the demands and interests of job seekers. Entrepreneurs in need of assistance to re-launch their business or prospective new entrepreneurs will be identified through this channel.

英国将帮助地震灾区的1000家企业恢复重建

感谢英国国际发展部和联合国国际劳工组织的资助，在5•12大地震中遭到破坏的1000家四川企业得以在未来12个月内开展恢复重建工作。另外700家新企业将会被创建，为那些在地震中失去工作的人提供新的工作机会。

“紧急启动和改善你的企业（(E-SIYB)）计划”通过重建和新建企业让人们回到工作岗位，此举将帮助三类人群：

1.失业的工人——失去工资收入、强烈希望创业的群体；

2.农民——失去土地和财产，强烈希望通过非农业活动创造收入或从事家族生意来获得收入的群体；

3.小企业主——失去自己的企业但是希望重新创业的群体。

帮助将以“紧急启动和改善你的企业计划”（ E-SIYB）培训的形式展开，它将协助参与者考虑在灾后重建过程中面临的机会和挑战，来制定商业计划。如果成功运营一个企业需要某种专业技能的话，还可以为他们提供短期技能培训课程。

从长远来看，这个培训可以让参与者政府资助计划的参考范例，不管是金融服务和企业发展服务。

这项计划得到了英国国际发展部（700,000美元）和国际劳工组织（100,000美元）的资助。中国政府自身的捐助将以一些特定的方式和项目进行，目标是中小型企业。如果这些企业的商业计划符合培训项目中设定的标准，它们就能成为计划实施的受益者。

该计划将从2008年7月开始实施，历时12个月，主要集中在绵阳、德阳、广元的乡镇。

背景

5•12大地震之后，震撼人心的救灾工作一直在进行中，很明显恢复人民生计迫在眉睫。许多在小型企业工作的人或者是自营企业主已经没有任何收入来源，农民的农业活动也已停止，牲畜和庄稼损失严重。受地震影响的地区一直是农民工劳动力的输出地区，如果当地不能尽快提供获得收入的机会，那么就会造成劳动力迁移增加的局面。

从2004到2007年，通过“启动和改善你的企业计划”培训——包括一整套的企业启动和拓展培训产品，国际劳工组织一直在和省级、地方劳动局合作开展企业家培养。这个计划由英国国际发展部出资，已经创造了100多万个工作岗位。随着计划的执行还建立起了训练者和商业顾问网络，通过很短的时间就可以调动起来，包括受地震影响的地区。

国际劳工组织主要与中国的人力资源和社会保障部以及地方人事部门联合开展工作，负责实施一些促进就业的措施和项目。

在灾区，“紧急就业服务”已经成立，确保求职者的需求和利益。通过这个渠道，还可以对需要获得协助、希望重建或开办新企业的企业家们予以确认。