Briefing Paper

Women’s Contribution to Social Cohesion and Violence Prevention through the Community Work Programme

“The Community Work Programme (CWP) is a public employment programme that
provides two days of work per week to unemployed and underemployed people in
economically marginalised areas. The CWP aims to be an employment safety net,
ensuring a basic stable income for residents of CWP sites. CWP participants are intended to do ‘useful work’, defined as work that ‘contributes to the public good, community goods or social services’ and assists with community development.
This includes home-based care, early childhood development, support work at schools, community safety, and looking after the local environment by cleaning, building community gardens and planting trees. This policy brief looks at the role of women in the CWP, given their predominance in the programme. It discusses women participants’ effect on social cohesion and violence prevention in CWP sites.”