SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

In order to achieve its underlying objective of leaving a legacy of social equity, economic empowerment and transformation, Working for Water creates employment for a significant number of people in its more than 300 projects nationwide. Social development is an integral part of Working for Water in that it affects all operations and seeks to ensure that the marginalised and previously disadvantaged sectors benefit from its activities.

It is essential that Working for Water address the impacts of its social interventions as well as identifying social best practices in the pursuing of its goals, through research. At the very least, Working for Water sets out to achieve the following social objectives:

• Reducing poverty: This is facilitated through employment opportunities that provide participants with an income.

• Enhancing skills and knowledge: Training is aimed at increasing the worker’s ability to find longer-term and sustainable employment.

• Improving health and fostering responsible citizenship: This can be achieved through the preceding initiatives and a variety of special interventions.

To date, Working for Water has commissioned research to identify areas of intervention that will enable communities to benefit from the programme’s activities. It also identifies problem areas. Studies on gender, substance abuse and personal financial management have been undertaken thus far. Research has also provided more information on the impacts of Working for Water employment on household incomes and primary health care issues. Although the research outcomes tend to be site-specific, there are general recommendations that can be applied more widely.

According to the research outcomes, Working for Water is making a positive change and is facilitating economic empowerment for its workers, especially women. Workers are now able to provide for their families and participate in savings or cash flow-enhancing schemes. This has enhanced the quality of life for women and has enabled them to provide the basic necessities for their families. Training programmes remain an important tool in capacity building, and it improves the chances of workers to advance within the programme and also find alternative sustainable employment. It is also clear however, that a lot more can and needs to be done.

Most of the constraints identified by the research are also not unique to the programme and addressing them require an integrated approach and commitment from the affected communities, the private sector and the local, provincial and national government. A common finding and recommendation emanating from all research studies was the inconsistent and unreliable payment system for emerging contractors, which caused serious inconvenience to workers. This needs to be addressed in the management of the programme.

Based on the challenges faced by this research programme, the Research Management Unit seeks to apply a more structured approach to formulating and commissioning research. This will involve working closely with the Social Development Implementation Unit as well as the Social Development Research Review Panel. Areas that warrant further investigation include:

• Nature and marketability of the skills training given to workers. Based on the training offered, what are the alternative employment avenues available to workers?
• Monitoring of previous interventions. This relates to monitoring of the Working for Water’s activities to ascertain the impact on target communities.