Designing for sustainable development

Training course: Designing Public Employment Programmes for a Sustainable Recovery

Public Employment Programmes (PEPs) - or public works programmes - provide an adaptive policy instrument that can create employment, fill gaps in the provison of assets or services, complement social protection provisions and contribute to Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs). This course will discuss how PEPs can contribute to a sustainable recovery.

This online course will discuss policy and design features of PEPs that take into account these challenges and will share current experiences on how these programme have been used to respond to the current crises. This will include experiences from both high, middle and low-income countries and will provide tools for enabling effective programme design, to achieve the multiple objectives.


By following the course, the participants can expect to:
  1. Get an overview of how these programmes have been used for economic recovery over history and in the context of COVID-19;
  2. Gain an understanding of the role of PEPs in achieving full employment and decent work, as well as some of the key policy dilemmas and trade-offs encountered in the use of PEPs;
  3. Get familiarized with several tools for effective public programme design and implementation and assessment;
  4. Acquire insights into the expansion of PEP activities into: 1) Environmental works including the use Nature –based Solutions for Disaster Risk reduction as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation, and 2) the care economy, including community based care and early childhood development;
  5. Acquire knowledge of innovations and best practices of PEPs for decent work creation, including 1) Getting exposure to operational and work organization methodologies and capacity building approaches; and 2) Learning from several countries’ experiences and good practices.
The attached flyer offers a detailed description of the event.