THE EXPANDED PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME

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THE EXPANDED PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME

• 18 NOVEMBER 2003

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BACKGROUND

• ANC policy conference Stellebosch 2002
• Presidents State of the Nation Address February
  2003
• Growth and Development Summit June 2003
• Cabinet approved conceptual framework November
  2003

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DEFINITION

• Nation-wide programme which will draw
  significant numbers of the unemployed into
  productive work, so that workers gain skills
  while they work, and increase their capacity to
  earn an income

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OBJECTIVE

• To utilise public sector budgets to reduce and
  alleviate unemployment

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• This will be achieved by
• Creating productive employment opportunities
• Increasing the labour intensity of
  government-funded infrastructure projects
• Creating work opportunities in public
  environmental programmes (eg Working for Water)
• Creating work opportunities in public social
  programmes (eg community health workers)
• Utilising general government expenditure on goods
  and services to provide the work experience
  component of small enterprise learnership /
  incubation programmes

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• Enhancing the ability of workers to earn an
  income, either through the labour market or
  through entrepreneurial activity
• Provide unemployed people with work experience
• Provide education and skills development
  programmes to the workers

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(No Transcript)
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SCOPE

• Covers all spheres of government and SOEs
• Each public body must formulate plans for
  utilising its budget to draw significant numbers
  of the unemployed into productive work, and to
  provide them with training

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TARGETS

• Target the unemployed and marginalised
• To provide one million employment opportunities
  with training to unemployed people, within the
  first five years of the programme

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INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

• Overall coordination by EPWP unit in DPW
• DGs Steering Committee
• Sector coordinating Depts DEAT, DTI, DSD
• Link to NEDLAC Public Works committee

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WORK OPPORTUNITIES

• Need to be careful to avoid displacement of
  existing workers and SMMEs by workers on EPWP
  programmes
• Employment conditions during work experience will
  be governed by the following frameworks gazetted
  by DOL
• Code of Good Practice for Special Public Works
  Programmes, or
• Learnership Determination for unemployed learners

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• Key aspects of the EPWP employment conditions
  frameworks
• Gazetted after negotiations at NEDLAC
• Allow for special conditions of employment to
  facilitate greater employment on Public Works
  Programmes
• Employers may set rates of pay locally at
  self-targeting rates, to avoid attracting workers
  away from more permanent employment
• Reduced obligations for employers, eg no UIF
  insurance payments
• Task-based payment for labour-intensive works

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• These special conditions of employment are on
  condition that
• Workers have an entitlement to training
• The duration of employment of a worker under
  these special conditions is limited

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TRAINING

• Exit strategies to be developed for each sector
• Identify possible exit routes for beneficiaries,
  eg into longer-term employment, self-employment,
  or further training
• Exit strategies should inform the training
  provided to beneficiaries under the programme
• In some sectors, training provided may be
  unrelated to work being carried out
• Training related to exit strategies for
  longer-term income opportunities and further
  education and training should be focused on the
  youth

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Examples of possible exit strategies
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INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMMES

• Plan in place for provincial and municipal
  infrastructure
• Large-scale programme of labour-intensive
  upgrading and maintenance of rural roads and
  municipal infrastructure
• Targets types of civils infrastructure most
  amenable to use of labour-intensive methods,
  where large numbers of additional work
  opportunities can be created

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• At least R15 bn will be spent on labour-intensive
  upgrading of rural and municipal roads and
  municipal pipelines, stormwater drains, and
  sidewalks over the next five years
• Aim to create work opportunities for 750 000
  targeted unemployed people (250 000 person-years
  of employment)
• Will build 37 000 km of roads, 31 000 km of
  pipelines, 1500 km of stormwater drains, 150 km
  of urban sidewalks

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Implementation of the labour-intensive provincial
and municipal infrastructure programme

• Additional conditionalities will be attached to
  the conditional provincial and municipal
  infrastructure grants
• Total conditional infrastructure grants over next
  five years R45 bn (targeting 1/3 of this)
• Total public sector infrastructure spend over
  next five years gt R150 bn (targeting 10 of this)

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• Conditionalities on the infrastructure grants
  will require provinces and municipalities to
• Allocate an increasing proportion of targeted
  infrastructure projects as labour-intensive
  projects over time
• Use PWD guidelines for identifying, designing,
  and producing tender documentation for
  labour-intensive projects
• Apply eligibility requirements for appointment of
  contractors and engineers on labour intensive
  projects (they must be qualified in the use of
  labour intensive methods)

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• Public Works will provide support to provinces
  and municipalities to simplify implementation
• Change to labour-intensive production techniques
  requires capacity building in the construction
  industry
• DPW putting in place NQF unit standards,
  qualifications, and accredited training
  programmes for contractors and engineers for
  labour-intensive construction
• DPW will inform the industry of eligibility
  requirements for appointment
• Pace of change to labour-intensive methods will
  be linked to pace of capacity building, to ensure
  that quality is not sacrificed

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• Training
• All 750 000 workers will obtain training funded
  by the Department of Labour
• CETA-funded learnerships for 500 emerging
  contractors in labour-intensive construction
• Learner contractors will receive classroom and
  on-site training, exit from the programme with
  qualifications, experience, and credit record
• Graduate contractors will tender for ongoing
  labour-intensive projects issued by government

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• Other infrastructure programmes with potential
  (plans still to be developed), eg maintenance of
  government buildings, trenching in the
  electrification programme
• Aim to create a further 150 000 work
  opportunities (50 000 person-years) for targeted
  unemployed people from other infrastructure
  programmes over the next five years

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ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL PROGRAMMES

• Includes
• DOA Land Care programme
• DEAT People and Parks, Coastal Care, Sustainable
  Land-based Livelihoods, Cleaning up SA, Growing a
  Tourism Economy programmes
• DWAF Working for Water, Wetlands, Fire programmes
• DAC programmes

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• Aim to create work opportunities for 200 000
  targeted unemployed people over the next five
  years (200 000 person-years of employment)
• Aim to create 400 sustainable SMMEs
• Physical outputs over next five years have been
  quantified, eg
• control invasion of alien plants on 1 million
  hectares of land
• improve 1200 km of coastline
• Scope for further expansion, eg waste management

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SOCIAL PROGRAMMES

• DSD to produce sector plan
• Initial focus of social sector initiatives
• Home-based care workers - Community Health
  Workers (DOH) and Community-based Care and
  Support Workers (DSD)
• Early childhood development (ECD) workers (DOE
  and DSD)

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• NGOs and CBOs to be main delivery agents of
  social sector programmes, funded by government
  and possibly business
• All social sector programmes involve recruitment
  of unemployed people, providing them with
  on-the-job experience, a stipend and training for
  a period, leading to NQF qualifications and
  possible longer-term income opportunities
• More work needs to be done on common delivery
  models

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ECONOMIC PROGRAMMES

• DTI to produce sector plan
• Examples of possible economic sector initiatives
• Community production centres (DoA)
• Community-based / cooperative income generating
  projects (GDS) (possible funding from business)
• Enterprise incubator / learnership programmes
  (DOL, DTI)

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• Micro-enterprise incubation / venture
  learnerships
• Selection of learners from amongst the
  unemployed, using open and transparent process
  with predetermined selection criteria
• Registration on full-time SETA-funded
  learnerships
• Classroom training funded by SETAs
• Practical work experience (departments allocate
  learning contracts to the learners, using general
  government expenditure on goods and services)
• Mentoring (possible assistance from Business)
• Access to micro-finance (possible assistance from
  Business)
• Graduate with NQF qualification, experience and
  credit track record
• Target 3000 learnerships over 5 years, 3
  employees per learner

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SUMMARY OVER FIRST FIVE YEARS
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FUNDING
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ROLES OF BUSINESS, LABOUR, NGOs, CBOs

• Role of Business
• Participate in NEDLAC advisory body
• Assist with the development of exit strategies
  and appropriate training
• Business Trust to play a role

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• Role of Labour
• Participate in advisory body
• Inputs into overall programme policies, exit
  strategy, training and qualifications frameworks
• Support EPWP programmes and projects
• Role of CBOs, NGOs, and experts
• CBOs involved in project prioritisation and
  selection of workers on infrastructure projects
• Management of social sector projects
• Expert (eg academics) involvement in advisory
  body

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PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION TIMEFRAMES

• Complete remaining aspects of all sectoral plans
  February 2004
• Implementation has started on parts of sectoral
  plans which are ready
• Preparations for labour-intensive infrastructure
  programmes are under way, some programmes are
  running, expansion from April 2004
• Environmental programmes are running
• END