Poverty alleviation and urban violence prevention : exploring the impact of the community work programme on urban violence

The Community Work Programme (CWP) is more than a poverty alleviation programme. Based on preliminary fieldwork carried out in a Gauteng township, this paper explores questions that are raised by a study from Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, including: relationships between poverty alleviation, job creation and the prevention of violence; the implications of the predominance of women in CWP; issues of the relationship between social cohesion and inclusion in urban settings within a context of high levels of inequality, poverty and unemployment; and the relationship between accountability, transparency, state legitimacy and civic inclusion