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CONTENTS
PRINCIPLES
One of the objectives of the iSLP is to improve the economic viability of communities within the project area, in a sustainable way. An appropriate policy would have to equip people with skills that are marketable or with skills that can be employed entrepreneurially, and would have to foster the creation, expansion and availability of markets.
IMPLEMENTATION
Employment of people from local communities has been an absolute requirement in all contracts awarded in the iSLP. As at 30 May 2001 the iSLP had provided 589 654 person days of employment through infrastructure contracts and contracts for the construction of schools and other major buildings. This was the product of 6 658 jobs - each of which therefor lasted an average of 88,5 days - about 4 months. Excluded from these figures, however is the labour employed by mostly small builders in constructing 20 000 houses. (If a house were to take 3 people 4 days to build the house building would account for another 240 000 person days of employment.)
This highlights the short term effect of employment policies. There must be training in skills that can enable sustained employment. The amount of formal training recorded in the major construction projects is 28 282 person days - an average of 4 days per job, which reflects the nature of the work involved. The other aspect is that all these skills are related to the construction industry, which is cyclical in nature and, in the housing field within South Africa, is heavily dependent upon the availability of subsidy funds.
For these reasons job creation within the iSLP has been made primarily a function of Economic Development and of Capacity Building - the latter with a focus towards leadership and entrepreneurial development.
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