TOSU also runs 2 special programs that are intended to increase skills available  to rural regions of  the country.

The first program targets university & college students who are completing their studies. The objective is to increase awareness of development issues and encourage volunteers to work for the development of the rural areas.

The second program takes the idea of volunteering further and is designed to prepare suitable individuals to work as volunteers on SFD projects.

The Labor-Intensive Works Program (LIWP) does not fall under any of the other units.

The aim of the LIWP is to respond to emergency situations and reduce unemployment and poverty amongst the very poor communities.

This program, started in 2006, is responding to a government request to mitigate the adverse effects of economic and climate change that affects the poorest people in communities.

It is made up of 2 components:

1.   The Labor Intensive Works Program that aims to provide temporary employment of 8 to 10 million working days for unskilled and semi-skilled workers in urban, semi-urban and rural areas.

2.   The Emergency Program

This program has its own goals and standards which are designed to respond flexibly to crises situations 

1.  Labor Intensive Works Program

This component aims to provide job opportunities to absorb unemployment or to fill the gap between agricultural seasons when household food consumption falls to unacceptable levels. Projects supported under this component can also contribute to improving infrastructure in the poorest communities.

Targeting needs to be flexible to respond to severe poverty. However target locations are those with high unemployment rates, high poverty indices and few or no employment opportunities in the immediate area.

Criteria for project selection include:

• Low capital costs—the proportion of expenditure on wages should not be less than 40%

• Should be technically simple

• Have limited operational requirements and should be self-sustaining. This means schools, clinics and other government buildings are excluded

• The project should be sustainable with minimal external inputs and have a positive impact on the local area.

The types of interventions that might fall under this component include but are not limited to:

• Street paving in cities

• Simple, unsurfaced roads

• Rain water harvesting

• Maintenance of agricultural terraces

• Soil erosion prevention measures

• Removal of invasive weed species such as sysban, sool trees and types of cactus.

Implementation in this program differs from that of other units as in responding to severe poverty and emergency situations, speed of response is critical. To ensure accurate targeting of the poorest, close monitoring is also important.

Phase 1: Tender Preparation

Advertising for contractors and consultants differs from standard procurement. It can happen at any time and the period for responses should not exceed 2 weeks. A shortlist of preselected bidders is frequently used.

The duration of the contract is normally short to ensure more labor is employed and instructions to bidders differ from those of standard procurement procedures.

Phase 2: Implementation Phase

During this phase, there is greater emphasis on recording workers’ names and characteristics and the type of work they undertake. There is also greater intensity of follow-up visits. These should be no less than once a month and are usually more often. This helps ensure that targeting is reaching the poorest in the community.

2. Emergency Program for Labor Intensive Works

The Emergency Program is designed to respond to crises situations. The objective of this program is to help very poor families within societies that have been badly affected by climatic or economic change. Where families are experiencing a food gap or food deficit, the program aims to close this gap through the provision of temporary paid jobs for the poorest families for a period of 6 to 12 months. The jobs created will provide some basic services for the local community. Crises, by their nature, should be responded to quickly while development may be a slower process. As the Emergency program needs to be quick and flexible, project selection criteria and criteria for intervention reflect this.

• The number of families in a single intervention should not be less than 50 and at least half of the families assessed as needing support should be willing to take part and join the employment scheme

• The employment component should be at least half of project expenditure

• The whole community must agree & an assessment should be undertaken with the community

• The temporary jobs created should take place in the locality and result in gains for the community.

Temporary jobs supported by SFD might include, for example, building of agricultural terraces, erosion & weed control, rainwater harvesting, paving rural roads and urban footpaths, & other proposals from the field.