Briefing Paper

Working for Safety: The Community Work Programme as a Tool for Preventing Violence and Building Safer Communities

The primary purpose of the CWP is to provide an employment safety net. By working in the CWP people who are poor can obtain a basic stable income. But the CWP also makes a big difference to life in the communities in which it is situated.
Through the work that it does it contributes to community development. CWP participants do many different types of work. These include things like care work,
support work at schools, early childhood development (ECD), and looking after the local environment by cleaning, clearing drains, and planting trees. This Policy Brief looks in more detail at questions about how the CWP can prevent violence
and crime, thereby making communities safer.