Integration is essential for achieving holistic service delivery and sustainable impact of the programme. By encouraging collaboration, aligning objectives and sharing resources, the intervention can enhance efficiency, avoid duplication and create synergies that maximize benefits for the target populations.

Here are a few examples of how integration took place within the PROSPECTS programme regarding Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP):
 

• EIIP workers may be interested in starting their own construction-related businesses. A referral pathway to business development services tools such as SIYB could be a valuable add-on, ensuring that skills acquired during the EIIP continue to be used to good effect and are not lost. 

• PROSPECT has been able to support the formation of contractor cooperatives as part of EIIP interventions. In Kenya, young people who were trained in paving were also supported in forming a workers’ cooperative, so that they could collectively manage contracts and serve as subcontractors for more construction work in EIIP and public works in the future. 

• Access to Public Employment Services can help EIIP workers transition into long-term employment and navigate opportunities for upskilling and certification.

• Work-based Learning (WBL) can also link to EIIPs, where skills learned in training can be applied within the EIIP as part of WBL. For example, in Iraq, the EIIP work provided an opportunity for TVET students to apply their skills in practice in installing solar panels, painting, plastering, gardening and masonry. Selected candidates first underwent life-skills training facilitated by UNICEF and EIIP theoretical training supported by the ILO, followed by practical rehabilitation of the TVET centres themselves. 

• When developing value chains in the agriculture sector, as demonstrated in Ethiopia, building infrastructure can improve connectivity to market, which can link to EIIP intervention to address quality or inadequate storage issues. This positions EIIP within a wider market system. 

• EIIP can also be an entry point to build awareness of labour-intensive methods, laying the path for future collaboration and implementation with a range of partners. For example:
  • in Ethiopia an awareness-raising session with UNICEF, including contractors employed by the organization, included information on the EIIP strategy in UNICEF school construction and expansion projects;  
  • in Uganda, the project partnered with UNHCR to construct community centres, which also served as centres for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and employment services. PROSPECTS led on the construction side, using an EIIP approach, while UNHCR helped identify and refer refugee workers to work on the sites;
  • in Iraq, UNICEF referred young engineers who had participated in its life-skills training to opportunities to serve as EIIP site monitors. UNICEF had to understand what EIIP entailed, so that it could make informed referrals of young people, particularly young engineers, and avoid raising the expectations of those who did not meet the required profile. Establishing a common understanding with partners on what EIIP entails is essential in such joint operations.