eThekwini Zibambele: Poverty Alleviation Programme

摘要

The Zibambele Poverty Alleviation Programme is run by eThekwini's Roads and Stormwater Maintenance (RSM) Department. Zibambele is a poverty alleviation programme which targets destitute women-headed households, mainly in the rural areas. The purpose of the programme is to provide essential road maintenance and other labour-intensive activities, in return for a monthly payment. Over time the programme has matured into a very significant employer of mainly unskilled and otherwise unemployable labour, reaching into every corner of the municipality. Households, rather than individuals, are engaged to carry out the maintenance activities. Each contractor is assigned a length of road, varying from 0.3 km to 0.5 km, depending on the difficulty of the terrain. Currently there are approximately 6 000 beneficiaries in this programme. This equates to an estimated 2 500 km of eThekwini's road network maintained under the banner of the Zibambele Programme.