Employment Creation through Rehabilitation of Xannaano Road

The transport infrastructure, which is vital for Somalia’s economic and social development, is in poor state. The inadequate road infrastructure in the country is a key constraint on the population’s access to social services, such as education and health care. Hence, particular care needs to be taken to maintain existing roads in order to support the economic sector and in doing so promoting growth and development in Somalia.

Through surface upgrading and road widening of Xannaano gravel road in Baidoa, the Youth Employment Somalia Programme (YES) improved road accessibility, access to basic services, assisted economic development and reduced the financial burden of travel for the people of Baidoa. A drift was also constructed along the road to protect it from floods.

The rehabilitation of the road was important and appropriate to the current district development framework which ranks civil infrastructure (roads, drainage, drifts, and bridges) as its first priority area for public infrastructure investment. The district also identifies infrastructure rehabilitation as vital for the economy of Baidoa and for creating decent employment opportunities for young people.

3000 meters of Xannaano gravel road was rehabilitated creating 13,500 worker days for 600 youth of Baidoa. The road rehabilitation work provided a lifeline for the youth and the wages they received acted as a temporary source of income and helped them support their families.

The mayor of Baidoa, Mr. Abdullahi Ali stated during the opening ceremony of the road which was on 10th August 2016, “Xannaano road is a very important road because it connects the IDP camps to the livestock market. Its rehabilitation will facilitate easy travel for the traders who go to the market to sell their livestock. We are very happy with the project and I would like to thank the ILO because this is an important project that will promote youth employment, increase job creation for vulnerable people, while benefiting the long term economy of Baidoa town.”

Mr Jeylani Sheikh, ISWA Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (MOLSA) also added “Before the rehabilitation of the road, people used to pay $2 dollars for a bajaj to the town but now it has reduced to $1. We still have a lot of destroyed roads in Baidoa and we would like to request ILO to implement other similar projects in the district to improve the roads and create more employment for the youth.”

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