About Us
PLaCED is one intervention of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) SME Competitiveness, Quality and Job Creation Division. The interventions we provide in PLaCED target the forcibly displaced and most vulnerable people in the host communities based on thorough tailored industrial interventions, which lays the foundation for inclusive industrial development reinforcing the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principle.
Beneficiaries
The projects are tailored to the specific needs of the target beneficiaries. Depending on the nature of the intervention, previous projects have worked with refugees, internally displaced people, returnees, vulnerable people from the host communities such as unemployed youth and women. Local governments, micro and small enterprises and training institutions in the host communities also benefit from our assistance.
1. Tailored Approach
Our approach is tailor-made to the needs of beneficiaries and to existing opportunities to improve livelihoods and Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) development. Projects take into account the local resource endowment, business opportunities and skills needed by the local economy and matched with the career aspirations of the beneficiaries.
2. Social Cohesion
PLaCED projects have a strong focus on social cohesion. We always ensure that projects address the needs of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in a way it also benefits the host community members. In post crisis-affected areas, a lack of employment and livelihood opportunities among the displaced and host community can lead to further social instability and radicalization.
3. Entrepreneurship and Technical Skills Training
UNIDO delivers quick impact entrepreneurship and technical skills training. The duration of the trainings ranges from 90 to 120 training hours for entrepreneurship trainings, and from 48 to 120 hours for skills training, depending on the competency levels to be achieved.
The entrepreneurship training covers topics on soft and life skills and how to set up and manage the livelihood and business activity of their choice.
The technical skills training organized depends on the preferences of the beneficiaries, skills required by the private and skills that allow the beneficiaries to immediately establish their own livelihoods either through wage-employment or self-employment.
Some technical skills training conducted among others include: household dairy processing, wood working, cell phone repair, photo shop processing, agri-businesses, heavy-equipment operations; hospitality courses (housekeeping, front desk operations, food servicing); advanced auto diagnosis, welding, etc.
4. Equipment, Tools and Supplies
In a post-conflict environment, business financing support including loans and grants is often either absent or not available to the displaced people. To address this issue, PLaCED projects include a component to provide equipment, tools and supplies to the trained beneficiaries to help facilitate establish their livelihood and business activities.
The team is currently looking into a possibility of combining our training programs with regular cash transfer schemes such as basic income support administered by a partner organisation.
5. Capacity Building for Governments, Universities and TVET institutions
We capacitate our project partners (governments, local training institutions; Business Development Service (BDS) providers, either by developing/updating skills training curricula, conducting Training of Trainers, and refurbishing equipment and tools. This allows trainers and training centres to continue their activities beyond the project ensuring sustainability.