As Public Employment Programmes (PEPs) gain popularity as social safety nets the world over, there is very little that speaks to the problem of measuring their impact on local economic development (LED), yet this is a key part of the policy case for programmes such as the Community Work Programme in South Africa.
On further examination, this lack of methodological clarity seems to apply to impact evaluation of LED interventions in general – and is not confined to the context of public employment programmes.
This paper provides a scoping study of a range of methodologies currently in use, and assesses their strengths and weaknesses in relation to different dimensions of local economic development.
Please join us to discuss the paper and to contribute to the debate on this issue.