The Social Protection Function of Short-Term Public Works Programmes in the Context of Chronic Poverty

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of public works programmes offering one-off, short-term episodes of employment, as a social protection instrument in the context of chronic poverty. Such programmes are characterised as ‘short-term public works programmes’ to differentiate them from public works programmes offering sustained or repeated employment. The chapter does not question the appropriateness of public works as a tool to deal with problems of acute conjunctural poverty, such as the 1997 crisis in East Asia, but is concerned with the use of short-term public works in situations of chronic poverty.1 From a wide range of possible social assistance options,2 public works are experiencing continued popularity and policy prominence, in Asia, Latin America and Africa, often with funding from international donor agencies. This is based on the assumption that they offer a ‘win–win’ social protection option, providing employment while also creating assets, and offering a welfare payment that is also a tangible economic investment. The efficacy of public works in situations of chronic poverty is, however. challenged in a growing body of literature from a range of critical commentators, as well as within the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Even so, such programmes continue to be implemented, and this chapter examines the assumptions underlying their popularity, and some of the challenges to these assumptions, drawing on experiences from South Africa and Malawi.