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School of Economics

The anatomy of public works : an exploration of the social protection function of public works programmes in contexts of chronic poverty

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This thesis critically explores the concept of the Public Works Programme (PWP) and interrogates the social protection performance of public works programmes (PWPs) in the context of chronic poverty, with a particular focus on the fundamental questions of programme incidence and impact. It reviews PWPs from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, using original qualitative and quantitative data drawn from a range of sources, including extensive field analysis and evaluations of PWPs in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa, interviews with the major multilaterals implementing PWPs and original survey work, designed, implemented and analysed by the author in South Africa to address the empirical issues arising from the current literature regarding PWP incidence and impact, as well as a literature review of over 200 PWPs implemented in east and southern Africa, detailed case studies of six international PWPs, and a review of both the social protection and public works literature.

Degree

thesis:*
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
School of Economics
Year dc:date.issued
2009

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • McCord, Anna Gabriele
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Leibbrandt, Murray

Rights

Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5755
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5755

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of Cape Town
Base URL
open.uct.ac.za/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
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citation

McCord, Anna Gabriele. The anatomy of public works : an exploration of the social protection function of public works programmes in contexts of chronic poverty. School of Economics, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5755