ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Resour. Manag.
Sec. Safe and Just Resource Management
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsrma.2025.1468908
Rethinking the Expanded Public Works Programme for Sustainable Income Generation in South Africa: Insights from Duncan Village
Provisionally accepted
- Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
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Expanded Public Works Programmes (EPWPs) in South Africa aim to tackle unemployment and poverty, particularly in informal settlements, by offering temporary employment and skills development. Despite more than a decade of implementation, concerns remain about their long-term impact on sustainable income generation and community development.This study adopted an interpretivist research design, using qualitative methods to investigate the effectiveness of EPWPs in Duncan Village, an informal settlement in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with five key informants from the Department of Public Works and local government, alongside four focus group discussions involving 40 EPWP beneficiaries. A thematic analysis approach was applied, complemented by a comprehensive literature review to contextualise findings.
Keywords: Expanded Public Works Programmes (EPWPs), sustainable income generation, Unemployment, Poverty alleviation, skills development, programme implementation, socioeconomic empowerment, South Africa
Received: 22 Jul 2024; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Moto, Hamunakwadi and Mbanga. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Babongile Moto, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
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