Labor-intensive public works for food security : experience in Africa

No comprehensive synthesis, to our knowledge, has been conducted to assess the short- and long- term costs and benefits of these public works programs and their impact on the food insecure population in Africa. Many programs have been somewhat short-lived and, combined with their rapid staff turnover and absence of monitoring information in general, institutional memory has not been built up. Collaboration with host governments is frequently limited. Not surprisingly, no information is available on scale economies of programs of different designs in different settings, which is critical for determining an optimal program size. This lack of information at the program level has resulted in ad hoc experimentation with public works programs by multilateral and bilateral agencies, as well as by nongovernmental organizations. This report attempts to start filling the information gaps. Much of the desired information on economic and food security effects of public works programs is location-, design-, and size- specific, and thus part of the ongoing micro-level research on public works. This report begins with a discussion of the theory and policy issues underlying food security and public works programs and defines key concepts and the research approach. Chapter 2 is followed by a review chapter on non-African experiences with public works programs. Chapter 4 assesses Africa"s changing economic environment and its implications for public works programs. The final chapter reviews, on a country- by-country basis, the public works experience and potential in 13 countries visited in the preceding few months by International Food Policy Research Institute researchers for the purpose of this research project. The overview at the beginning of that chapter culls general insights from these country reviews while the individual country sections are more detailed and geared towards those readers interested in specific experiences. (Author abstract)