The City of Cape Town’s women-only road repair teams’ 116 participants is on the final stretch of this three-year skills development project. The Women-at-Work Programme has one working team in each of the City’s Roads Infrastructure Management Depots (RIMD). Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Management, Alderman Grant Twigg, recently visited a team in Area North and also spent time with them fixing potholes and cleaning stormwater drains. See the video here: https://youtu.be/YvQTX-KjuXA.
The EPWP Women-at-Work skills development project is a three-year project that started in July 2019. The project has entered its final year 2021/2022.
The concept for this project is based on transitioning women-only road repair teams into a male-dominated environment through a training and change management support programme.
The ultimate aim of the project is to ensure that all 116 beneficiaries attend and participate in accredited and non-accredited training for its duration.
‘One of our main objectives is to invest in public and community works programmes that support skill development and economic inclusion – empowering women with skills while earning an income. The programme will go a long way in helping them to support their families, as some of them are single parents and breadwinners in their homes. As an inclusive city, the programme also advances diversity and our commitment to dedicating resources and efforts to transformation’ said the Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Alderman Dan Plato.
‘The Women-at-Work Programme aims to endorse gender equality on all levels within the City. Women are generally under-represented in several key areas of the transport sector. As we move towards Women’s Month, this project is considered a strategic initiative as it will enable the City to deliver on its mandate of integrated transport and urban development, specifically in the area of safe road infrastructure and maintenance,’ said Alderman Grant Twigg, Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Management.
Key training opportunities include:
Foundational/occupational training such as literacy, Matric, learner/driver’s licence, Council driver’s licence, Code 14 licence, Supervisor (as required).
Formal advanced tactical training (Certification) about road repairs, stormwater cleaning, footway repairs and road markings.
Change Management workshops/awareness training about values, diversity, sexual harassment, social, family, health.
Life skills training, including financial and personal.
Formal generic training about communication, interpersonal, teamwork, supervisory interviewing.
Entrepreneurial training including administration, project management, financial management, people management and business start-up.
‘What excites me most, is that the women will at the end of this programme, be well equipped to either apply for permanent positions or start their own businesses and work directly with the City. The success of this programme has provided the opportunity to motivate for a further three-year project,’ said Alderman Twigg.
Source: City of Cape Town