Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 15.3
Plausible project improvements according to ARISE respondents
Respondents' suggestions about ways for ARISE to
Respondents suggestions about ways for ARISE to
improve working conditions and income
improve productivity
%of
%of
respondents
Comment
respondents
Comment
39
Requested higher wages
31
Indicated the need to increase
materials, especially fencing
material
14
Suggested that the company be
16
Indicated the need for an in-
enlarged
crease in equipment
10
Requested more training for skills
6
Indicated the need to plant more
not directly related to the tasks
trees
6
Suggested that the project provide
6
Suggested that ARISE workers
sanitation and shelter with fresh
could also be used to clean
water on the restoration sites
the streets during idle hours
(something that was absent dur-
ing the lifetime of the project)
4
Suggested the need to improve the
4
Indicated that each village and
means of transportation to and
restoration site should have its
from the worksites
own nursery to employ and
engage more people
4
Suggested that the company
should raise outside funds to con-
tinue and to improve on its work
Discussion
The ARISE project aimed at creating employment opportunities, the economic em-
powerment of rural Africans, and ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems. The
information presented here suggest that the program did succeed in providing em-
ployment, albeit temporarily, and resulted in some economic empowerment while
the project ran. We have not yet determined the success of the restoration effort.
The program also contributed to the financial income and apparent well-being of
its employees. Before ARISE, some of the respondents depended on their relatives,
friends, neighbors, or government transfers for their daily needs. They became less de-
pendent on their relatives, friends, and neighbors since they were earning their own
income due to ARISE, but that does not imply a reduction in their exposure to gov-
ernment support since ARISE was fully funded by the government. A fundamental
flaw within the public works program is that no single employee may be employed for
more than twenty-four months within a sixty-month period in the program. While the
stated goal is to create permanent jobs, using the public works program as a platform,
the program itself does not provide scope for such. Permanent job creation should
happen outside of, but as a consequence of, the program. Clearly such a goal is unat-
tainable within a pilot program since it means that ARISE workers had two years to
