Description
The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), which was launched in May 2004, is one of government’s short to medium-term strategies to address the challenge of unemployment in South Africa. President Mbeki announced the programme in his State of the Nation Address in February 2003. The target is to provide one million employment opportunities with training to unemployed people, within the first five years of the programme.
The EPWP will achieve this aim through the provision of work opportunities combined with training so that workers gain skills while they work and increase their capacity to earn an income. The programme utilises public sector budgets in the infrastructure, environmental, social and economic sectors. Monitoring and evaluation of the EPWP is regarded as integral to the successful implementation of the programme. A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework has been designed for the EPWP. The framework combines ongoing reporting and monitoring (using existing departmental channels) with a number of new evaluation tools to measure the impact of the programme. Conducting case studies and completion reports are two of the methods appropriate for the evaluation of the EPWP, which is the object of this study. The purpose of the assignment was to develop case studies and compile
completion reports, across the infrastructure, environment and culture, and social sectors to investigate the nature and extent of the relationship between the EPWP and specific outcomes. This will help feedback implementation lessons to improve the program.
In this assignment 10 Case Studies were written up and 10 Completion Reports were prepared. This report represents the synthesis report for the entire study i.e., case studies and the completion reports. Table 1.1 shows the specific projects that were investigated. The structure of this report is such that each project has briefly been discussed, the main findings indicated, areas of concern highlighted, and recommendations made. The study
involved interviewing about 1000 people, focus group discussions, and beneficiary/stakeholder surveys. Both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained and analysed. The results have also been compared to draw common lessons and to analyse trends.
