31/08/2010 Dayah, UN Special Rapporteur Discuss Environmental Situation in Syria
Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Kawkab al-Sabah Daya discussed on Monday with the United Nations Special Rapportuer on the Right to Food
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30/08/2010 SPC, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Discuss Food and Economic Situation in Syria
Chairman of the State Planning Commission (SPC) Dr. Amer Hosni Lutfi said on Sunday the priorities of the new five-year plan focus on
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31/08/2010 Ban hails role played by civil society in advancing global health
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have an invaluable role to play in advancing global health goals, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today
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A Project to Help Formalize the “Informal Sector” (2010-02-03)
A project aimed at helping to formalize the “Informal Sector” has been signed at the State Planning Commission as a collaboration between the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the State Planning Commission and the United Nations Development Programme in Syria.
The informal sector in Syria is increasing in size and currently absorbs 45% of the market labor force. These men and mostly women face an unpredicted future as their livelihoods become jeopardized as Syria makes its ascendance towards the implementation of international trade agreements that bear labor laws not favoring the informal sector. Moreover, the informal sector deprives the government of tax revenues that are crucial to finance minimum health and social security benefits for the labor force serving within it. More importantly, members of the informal sector are also deprived of the benefits that are currently enjoyed by the members of the formal sector such as access to subsidies, small business financing, and insurances.
To address this current situation, the project aims at addressing the institutional gaps and challenges by encouraging members of the informal sector to enter into the formal system. The project will be developing a system of incentives to encourage the formalization of the informal sector members by including legal rights and access to local and international institutionalized labor markets within the incentives package. The project will be delivering the following to help realize such an aim :
A) A survey that identifies the volume of the informal sector in terms of specialization/ sector/geographic location/ size of the enterprise
B) A study that identifies the challenges facing the informal sector and a diagnosis of what prevents it members from working formally
C) A legal framework that supports and helps implement the developed incentives system
D) A Capacity development programme for national authorities to continually implement the above.
The $475,335 project will be signed by H.E. Amer Husni Lutfi, Head of State Planning Commission on behalf of the Syrian Government, H.E. Abdullah Al Dardari Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, on behalf of the implementing partner and Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Resident Representative UNDP.
