Hi everyone! I wanted to share the research poster for our team's community-engaged research project on the value of public employment programs (PEPs) in South Africa in partnership with the Office of the South African Presidency and the Presidential Employment Stimulus. This work would not have been possible without the support of our faculty advisor, J.D. Catherine Admay, the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University, and the Laidlaw Scholars Research and Leadership Program.

South Africa’s persistent unemployment crisis, characterized by the world's highest unemployment rate, extends beyond the immediate economic consequences of income deprivation. The unemployment crisis negatively impacts economic participation,  skills development, individual dignity, mental health, and community well-being. Although long-term macroeconomic reforms are necessary, their effects will take time to actualize, creating an urgent need for an immediate, intermediary intervention. The goal of our research is to highlight the role public employment programs (PEPs) can play in mitigating the multidimensional effects of unemployment, through the economic, skills-development, psychological, social and community, and constitutional value generated by PEPs.

The poster features background on the South African unemployment crisis, a description of our methodology, an explanation of the five dimensions of PEP value: economic, skills development, psychological, social and community, and constitutional, key takeaways about the importance of PEPs, and stories from PEP beneficiaries that illustrate the value of PEPs beyond the statistics.