This thesis critically explores the concept of the Public Works Programme (PWP) and interrogates the social protection performance of public works programmes (PWPs) in the context of chronic poverty, with a particular focus on the fundamental questions of programme incidence and impact. It reviews PWPs from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, using original qualitative and quantitative data drawn from a range of sources, including extensive field analysis and evaluations of PWPs in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa, interviews with the major multilaterals implementing PWPs and original survey work, designed, implemented and analysed by the author in South Africa to address the empirical issues arising from the current literature regarding PWP incidence and impact, as well as a literature review of over 200 PWPs implemented in east and southern Africa, detailed case studies of six international PWPs, and a review of both the social protection and public works literature.