New opportunities waiting in Jozi@Work pipeline
23 December 2015
Jozi@Work has turned out to be one of the City’s major success stories. In the nine months since the first work packages were allocated the programme has created some 5 000 jobs with many more opportunities for emerging entrepreneurs waiting in the pipeline.
The Mayoral Lekgotla in November reviewed the progress made with the implementation of Jozi@Work and the opportunities for new initiatives to be launched in coming weeks.
• What is Jozi@Work?
It is an innovative way in which the City does business by equipping communities to respond to service delivery issues in their own back yards. Work packages are allocated to co-operatives and community-based companies who, in turn, take responsibility for service delivery in clearly defined areas.
The City has identified the following sectors to benefit from Jozi@Work
– waste management, water and sanitation, roads and transport, green services, construction and maintenance, digital services, food resilience, fleet services and back office support.
• How is the work allocated?
An initial public education programme was followed by a number of regional forums held at the end of 2014. Interested groups were assisted in the formation of companies and co-ops and the first work packages were allocated in March 2015.
• What measures are in place to ensure quality?
Each micro-company that is responsible for a Jozi@Work project is assisted by a Capability Support Agent (CSA) which ensures the work is done according to predetermined standards. The CSA also manages invoices and payments and assist the companies to rent equipment and purchase the required raw materials. During the initial support period the CSA provides training and advice to ensure the community-based company can grow beyond its current activities and start to do business with other customers.
• How much will be spent?
An initial budget of R3.2-billion work of project spend has been allocated by the City for the period leading up to June 2016. By the close of the 2014/15 financial year more than R107-million has been spent and the pace will pick up as the programme gathers momentum. Some 5 000 jobs have been created since April.
• What is the future of Jozi@Work?
The primary objective for the current financial year is to ramp up the programme and extend it into areas such as fleet support and larger scale capital projects. Regular Jozi@Work forums are being held at 35 sites city-wide where communities are given feedback on progress made on existing projects and briefed on upcoming work packages that will be allocated.