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At an awards function held on Friday 30 January 2009, Prof Willie Nel of the Department of Environmental Sciences received the "Best overall performance award" for 2008 from the City of Johannesburg for his commitment and innovative contributions to the city's National Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
A total of 11 different categories of awards were presented at this function and Prof Nel achieved the best overall performance award. His contributions relate specifically to the EPWP environmental sector.
The National Expanded Public Works Programme is a national programme which covers all spheres of government and state-owned enterprises, and is aimed at providing additional work opportunities linked to training and development. Two fundamental strategies underpin the government’s approach to reducing unemployment: (1) increasing economic growth so that the number of net new jobs being created starts to exceed the number of new entrants into the labour market, and (2) improving the education system so that the workforce is able to take up the largely skilled work opportunities which economic growth will generate. | 
