Community Work Programme

Funder
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Description
The high levels of unemployment in South Africa impact more heavily on the rural poor, who have limited employment options. The Presidency's Second Economy Strategy and the Special Projects Unit of the Extended Public Works Programme responded to this critical situation through the development of the Community Work Programme; which focuses on employment creation for youth in identified poverty nodes across South Africa .

The President's Office appointed Teba Development and Lima in November 2007 to implement the Community Work Programme as a pilot in the Eastern Cape . The programme has since expanded into all provinces, with Lima now implementing the programme in fifteen municipalities across the Eastern Cape , KwaZulu-Natal , Limpopo and Mpumalanga .

Work opportunities are provided in agriculture, construction, education and home based care. The CWP provides participants with portable skills in formal training, work experience and the rural economy. Communities in which the programme is implemented benefit through community mobilisation, infrastructural development, food security and social support. The projects and services within a community are selected using participatory planning methods hence there is a strong sense of community ownership of the program across all sites.

Compulsory household visits are conducted as part of the home based care programmes, which has exposed severe socio-economic conditions in some households across South Africa . This has enabled targeted intervention support to destitute households, in consultation with the appropriate government departments.

Impacts
Lima has implemented the programme in the following 15 local municipalities, providing over 18 380 individuals with a wage, work experience, skills and training. The programme implemented by Lima represents a R120 million investment by government into targeted rural communities.

Areas Of Implementation

Pietermaritzburg	Bizana	Lusikisiki	Nongoma	Mzimvubu
Burgersfort	Matatiele	Jozini	Bushbuckridge	Elliodale
Burgersfort	Nkomazi	Msinga	Ladysmith	King
Sabatha	Dalinyebo

The programme represents an R80 million investment by government into targeted rural communities.