EPWP needs to adapt existing projects to respond to COVID-19 risks

Samson said the EPWP would have to adapt some of the existing projects to respond to the COVID-19 risks and expand some of the EPWP projects to deliver more opportunities.

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) plays a vital role in the government's comprehensive COVID-19 response and mitigation strategy.

This is according to the International Labour Organization's Michael Samson, who was one of the key guest speakers at the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure's EPWP Webinar on the repositioning of Public Employment Programmes (PEPs) in the era of COVID-19 and Economic Downturn, which was held this week.

In his presentation, Samson argued that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic effects on social protection, the EPWP needs to strengthen its role in supporting government's long-term strategic goals by strengthening its health care capacity, as well as assisting those who have lost their jobs as a result of the health pandemic.

Samson said the EPWP would have to adapt some of the existing projects to respond to the COVID-19 risks and expand some of the EPWP projects to deliver more opportunities.

Another key speaker, Dr Miriam Altman, a Commissioner in the National Planning Commission in the Office of the Presidency, said although COVID-19 has a negative impact on labour-intensive industries, there is a lot that the EPWP can still do to provide work opportunities to many unemployed people.

Altman said during and post COVID-19, the number of people who are working through public and social employment can be increased through government support.

“For instance, the government may buy COVID-19 goods, such as face masks from community-based organisations that provide work opportunities to the unemployed," she said.

Altman said the EPWP, as a public employment programme, must deepen service delivery and warned against using it to displace formal employment.

The EPWP Webinar was hosted by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), in partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)