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| In 2005 the Business Trust set up a support programme to help the Department of Public Works accelerate
the implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The national programme had been
established to provide one million work opportunities for the unemployed within five years. |
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| The five-year target was met in four years. By 2010 it had
provided 1,4 million work opportunities, a plan had been developed
to expand the programme four-fold, and funding had been secured
to take the programme to a new scale. |
| The Expanded Public Works Programme Five-year Report
2004/5 to 2008/9, published by the Department of Public
Works shows that: |
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37 000 km roads, 31 000 km pipelines and 1 500 km storm
water drains were provided using labour-intensive methods |
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113 000 work opportunities were provided through the
home and community-based care programme, benefitting
over 4 million people |
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the number of children benefitting from care increased
from 270 000 to 618 000 by 2009. |
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| The Business Trust strategy was to: |
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provide strategic support to the Department of Public
Works to enable it to implement the national programme |
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provide operational support to the Department of
Public Works to help provinces, municipalities and the
private sector contribute to the programme in respect of
Infrastructure, the social sector and the environment and
culture sector |
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support the programme evaluation and the development
of proposals for its expansion |
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velop systems, procedures and skills for the expansion of
the programme. |
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| With Business Trust support,
the Expanded Public Works
Programme provided one
million work opportunities a
year ahead of schedule. |
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| Results |
| Provide strategic support to the Department of Public Works |
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Supported the development, review and expansion of the programme |
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52 targeted assignments undertaken to investigate and clear blockages. |
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Mid-term review of the Expanded Public Works Programme managed for the Department of Public Works. |
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Initiatives developed to secure funding for increased capacity. |
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| Infrastructure sector |
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Provided a basis for recording results and involving large contractors |
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| A management information system was developed to increase the application of the public works guidelines and report on work created. The Large Contractor Programme was set up to create an additional 150 000 person years of work. |
| Social sector |
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Management information system developed for the social sector |
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| These systems enabled provincial departments of Health, Social Development and Education to implement the Home and Community-based Care and Early Childhood Development programmes, and report on services provided and work opportunities created. |
| Environment and culture sector |
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Waste development programmes developed |
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Model developed for increasing labour-intensive domestic waste collection by municipalities. |
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Enabled municipalities to implement a Food for Waste Programme. |
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| Second phase of the EPWP |
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Enabled the EPWP Unit to design and implement the second phase of the EPWP Programme |
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| This will see a four-fold expansion in the impact of the programme over five years, providing income and work for a million people per year by the end of that period. |
| Capacity building |
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Capacity built in the Department of Public Works to manage the expansion of the programme |
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| Systems transferred included: |
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a management information system to enable government to manage and report on progress |
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a milestone monitoring system to ensure targets are achieved |
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a programme for the utilisation of large contractors in the Expanded Public Works Programme |
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a system to support the management of workers on the home-based community care and early childhood programmes |
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a programme to support municipalities in the use of labour-intensive methods for the collection of domestic waste in under-serviced areas |
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a set of systems and procedures for the implementation of the incentive-based scheme for the next phase of the programme. |
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| The creation of a support programme by the Business Trust focussed resources and attention on producing targeted results over a sustained five-year engagement with the Department of Public Works. |
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| Lessons |
| Sustained engagement |
| Sustained engagement is needed if a meaningful contribution is to be made to large-scale public programmes. |
| Scale of support |
| Resources must be mobilised at scale and applied creatively to have a meaningful impact. In this case over R100 million was available. |
| Technical expertise |
| Sufficient skill is required to grapple with the scale and complexity of the problems to be addressed in large-scale public programmes. |
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| Government capacity |
| The Department of Public Works created a special unit with the skills necessary to work effectively in the partnership structures mobilised by the Business Trust. |
| A mechanism is required to channel private support |
| The creation of a support programme by the Business Trust focussed resources and attention on producing targeted results over a sustained five-year engagement with the Department of Public Works. |
| Sufficient skill is required to grapple with the scale and complexity of the problems to be addressed in large-scale public programmes. |
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For Public Works Publications please click here |
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