Genealogy

The group idea for the governmental organization began when the scientists in South Africa became concerned that the Cape Floristic region, one of the most diverse plant regions in the world, was beginning to be overrun by alien invasive plants such as the pine tree. However, the scientists' concerns came during the 1970s and that was when the South African government was under sever budget cuts due to the apartheid regime. The scientists then collected data that they were able to present to Kader Asmal who was the Minister of Water Affairs and a cabinet level official for Nelson Mandela. The scientists were able to organize a meeting with Asmal and in the meeting he agreed that the problem of alien invasive plants should not be contained to just the Cape Floristic Region but to across the nation. Asmal and the scientists reached a secondary agreement that while the program was combating the invasive plants that it would hire more people and target the unemployed and women. Asmal saw the opportunity to increase awareness around the country about invasive plants while helping the unemployment rate and the disparity of unemployment between men and women.   

sources: 

van Wilgen, Brian W., and Andrew Wannenburgh. "Co-facilitating invasive species control, water conservation and poverty relief: achievements and challenges in South Africa's Working for Water programme." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 19 (2016): 7-17.

Chutel, Lynsey. "Record Unemployment Affects These South Africans the Most." Quartz. November 23, 2016. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://qz.com/844825/south-africas-unemployment-rate-is-at-a-13-year-hi....

 

Structure

The Working for Water Program is run by the South African government and it hires full time contractors that then go out into rural communities with high unemployment rates. The contractors hire people from these areas and especially target the women population because they have higher unemployment rates than the men. The process is extremely organized and has been streamlined so that the program can get as many people employed as possible.