The Social Action Fund is an evolving program that addresses the pressing needs of Malawians as they change. The first and second MASAF improved access to basic services and provided temporary income to citizens. The third MASAF focused on strengthening community empowerment and public engagement in their economic development strategies.

The SNRTP program, an ILO Employment Intensive Investment Program, was intended to improve rural transportation infrastructure. It was implemented through a “bilateral agreement signed between the Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DoLIDAR), Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD),” with the International Labor Organization. It is funded by the World Bank through a grant to the DoLIDAR and MoFALD of Nepal. 2,679 participants were recruited: 64% women, of which 8% were single women; 36% male; 80% from disadvantaged groups (1).

SYEP offers people ages 14 to 24 minimum-wage, entry-level jobs with public and private employers across the city, and educational workshops on work readiness, financial literacy, career exploration, postsecondary (college) education, and personal health. The program lasts six to seven weeks in July and August, and offers up to 25 hours of paid work and educational services each week. From 2004 to 2012, SYEP dedicated at least 10 percent of paid program time to educational services for all participants. Starting in 2013, participants of different ages have received different services: 14 and 15-year-olds can participate in up to 20 hours each week, 5 of which are to be in educational workshops, while older participants can work up to 25 hours a week and receive educational services only during a mandatory orientation (1).

This program seeks to employ tens of thousands of people to reforest and restore wildlife habitat in large areas of Pakistan. Reforestation is also an important tool in protecting Pakistani communities from flooding, erosion, and further environmental degradation.

The New Deal was a response by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration to the massive unemployment, poverty, and financial instability of the great depression. Direct employment programs were a core piece of this legislative movement to stimulate the economy by increasing employment, providing wages, and improving infrastructure. The programs helped construct essential public infrastructure, provide opportunities to youth, and supported the arts throughout the entire country (1).

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects (YIEPP) was a large-scale U.S. Department of Justice program to support youth participation in the labor market and successful completion of a high school education. The program was designed to test a job guarantee program linked with school performance for low-income youth 16-19 years of age. During the program (1978-1980) 76,000 youths were employed at 17 project sites operated by CETA sponsor organizations (1). The program demonstrated the feasibility of a Job Guarantee in the United states through its ability to create meaningful employment in the short term and through its long-term improvement of employment opportunities, earning, and outcomes (2).

There’s a Better Way provided employment and support services for people experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The program was launched by the mayor in May 2015, and led by Hope Works, a nonprofit organization working to end homelessness (1). The program was a collaboration between Hope Works, philanthropy, and the municipality. Transportation is provided to job sites where participants work under the supervision of the City of Albuquerque Solid Waste Department. Participants were paid at the end of each workday, and offered additional resources (2).

Trabaja Peru generates temporary employment for the unemployed and underemployed experiencing poverty with a focus on labor intensive, basic infrastructure projects. In an urban setting, it aims to reduce chronic, long-term unemployment while in a rural setting the program aims to mitigate unemployment caused by climate change and natural disasters.

This program provides employment to unemployed persons at short term projects (with no limit to participation duration) to complete infrastructure, environmental, and care projects in communities while also providing on-the-job training. This program awards special projects to small-scale contractors who provide the necessary materials.

This program, a subset of the Kenya Youth Empowerment Program, provided short-term training and employment opportunities to young people in the private and public sectors through labor-intensive programs that focused on the challenges of local communities. This program was launched in response to social unrest in 2007-2008 and extremely high levels of unemployment. While corruption and nepotism in recruitment and administration has been reported, surveys found that most participants “would recommend the KKV to other youths,” (1).

Since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, long-term unemployment has been higher across developed economies. The Zero Long Term Unemployment Territories experiment with implementing a Job Guarantee, albeit geographically limited for the moment, with the engagement of public sector, community, and private sector stakeholders. In 2023, it was announced that 50 new zones will be added to the program. There were 68 territories as of April 2024 (1).