ANALYSIS OF WORK DURING APRIL 2010
Great Kei Municipality Stakeholder Invitation
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape, in collaboration with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, has introduced new approaches to assist municipalities towards improving service delivery, through the development of a Local Government Turn Around Strategy (LGTAS) which embraces, inter alia, the Municipal Capacity Assessment Tool (MUCAT).
Thabile Sokupa attended the event (7-8 April 2010) at the Komga Town Hall.
The main objectives of the Local Government Turn Around Strategy are:
* To ensure that municipalities meet the basic needs in communities.
* To build clean, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable local government.
* To improve performance and professionalism in municipalities.
* To improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support.
* To strengthen partnerships between communities, civil society and local government.
Afesis-corplan has a partnership with the Great Kei Municipality to help bridge the gap between communities and the Municipality, and building capacity. The organisation’s expertise in local governance is greatly valued by the Great Kei Municipality. As a result of the partnership, ward committees and the municipality are working towards a year plan that speaks to the improvement of the community, which will have input and buy in from both sides.
Through this event, the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape is trying to reach out to municipalities that are identified as hot spots in service delivery backlogs, which have resulted in community outrage. Therefore the intention of the Department is to help improve the working relationship between the municipality and communities. Factors that have to be taken into consideration are that the municipality will be able to maintain the ethos required to build and maintain a working relationship with its constituency and that the communities are willing to work with the municipality in a constructive way.
Afesis-corplan is seen as a worthy partner by the Great Kei Municipality as a result of the impact the organisation’s intervention strategy has had in communities and the municipality. This has cemented the confidence the municipality has in Afesis-corplan.
A positive aspect of Afesis-corplan’s involvement in the area has seen ward committee members each receiving a stipend of R1000.00, which can be used to fulfil the mandate of being available to the community as well as enable members to get the necessary resources to mobilise policy changes.
Fundamentals of Social Accountability Monitoring
Gugu Mgwebi attended two week training course (12-23 April) on Fundamentals of Social Accountability Monitoring hosted by the Centre for Social Accountability (CSA), which is based at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. The training course provided an introduction to a rights-based approach to social accountability monitoring, the social accountability system and a complete set of tools for public resource management monitoring (budget analysis, expenditure tracking, performance monitoring, integrity monitoring, oversight tracking, etc.).
The course was in line with some of the core concerns of Afesis-corplan in terms of the promotion of good governance practice.
Key concepts covered at the course that work towards achieving a strengthened and effective local government include:
• Policy Monitoring and Analysis: Focus on policy prioritisation versus the need and demands of civil society. This refers to resource allocation and planning.
• Process Monitoring: Focus on effective implementation of public resource management. This refers to performance management and expenditure management.
• Output verification: Focus and verify promised outputs and delivery of services at community, constituency or local level. This refers to integrity and oversight.
These concepts make us the Fundamentals of the Social Accountability Monitoring system by the Centre for Social Accountability (CSA). The CSA’s objective includes the adoption of the tool itself by civil organisations, like Afesis-corplan, and the rest of the African continent in order to achieve a socially just state that progressively realises human rights and capabilities.
The course was incredibly beneficial and questions have emerged regarding Afesis-corplan’s programme work that needs to be addressed in order to promote organisational and project growth:
• What selection criteria is Afesis-corplan going to take in identifying working group members?
• What approach is Afesis-corplan likely to take given the information gleaned at this course?
• How is the tool going to be adopted and how effective will the implementation of CSAG be?
• How can the CBFA tool be refined according to information gleaned at this course?
• What key concepts and tools are going to be adopted or used to evaluate output indicators?
Incremental Tenure Workshop, Kei Mouth
Afesis-corplan held a workshop on Wednesday, 21 April 2010 in Kei Mouth on Incremental Tenure. The organisation is working with the Great Kei Municipality and the Kei Mouth community to pilot a Managed Land Settlement (MLS) project in Kei Mouth. The purpose of the workshop was to share an overview of the theory of incremental tenure; learn how other municipalities and communities have worked with incremental tenure; and explore how incremental tenure can work in Kei Mouth.
The workshop was supported by many municipal representatives and members of communities and the provincial department of human settlements.
The workshop discussed how land tenure works in general and presented LANDfirst as an alternative way to secure land. Lauren Roysten of Urban LandMark made a presentation on the theory of land tenure, which was made in a simplified format for all participants to understand.
Understanding land tenure is very important. If community members don’t understand how it works out in practice, it results in high levels of frustration. Without land tenure, it is difficult to develop areas.
Vigorous discussion and debate took place at the workshop. One of the questions that arose was whether or not people who get land tenure were eligible for housing subsidies in the future. The emerging consensus was that they were eligible for the subsidy.
Community members agreed to go back to their villages and review the allocation list based on the knowledge gained in the workshop.
Kei Mouth is in a very fortunate position in that the people are able to get onto the land before housing subsidies are approved. This has a huge impact as it means individuals can start building their own houses instead of waiting for the government to provide a house, which can take many years.
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape, in collaboration with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, has introduced new approaches to assist municipalities towards improving service delivery, through the development of a Local Government Turn Around Strategy (LGTAS) which embraces, inter alia, the Municipal Capacity Assessment Tool (MUCAT).
Thabile Sokupa attended the event (7-8 April 2010) at the Komga Town Hall.
The main objectives of the Local Government Turn Around Strategy are:
* To ensure that municipalities meet the basic needs in communities.
* To build clean, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable local government.
* To improve performance and professionalism in municipalities.
* To improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support.
* To strengthen partnerships between communities, civil society and local government.
Afesis-corplan has a partnership with the Great Kei Municipality to help bridge the gap between communities and the Municipality, and building capacity. The organisation’s expertise in local governance is greatly valued by the Great Kei Municipality. As a result of the partnership, ward committees and the municipality are working towards a year plan that speaks to the improvement of the community, which will have input and buy in from both sides.
Through this event, the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape is trying to reach out to municipalities that are identified as hot spots in service delivery backlogs, which have resulted in community outrage. Therefore the intention of the Department is to help improve the working relationship between the municipality and communities. Factors that have to be taken into consideration are that the municipality will be able to maintain the ethos required to build and maintain a working relationship with its constituency and that the communities are willing to work with the municipality in a constructive way.
Afesis-corplan is seen as a worthy partner by the Great Kei Municipality as a result of the impact the organisation’s intervention strategy has had in communities and the municipality. This has cemented the confidence the municipality has in Afesis-corplan.
A positive aspect of Afesis-corplan’s involvement in the area has seen ward committee members each receiving a stipend of R1000.00, which can be used to fulfil the mandate of being available to the community as well as enable members to get the necessary resources to mobilise policy changes.
Fundamentals of Social Accountability Monitoring
Gugu Mgwebi attended two week training course (12-23 April) on Fundamentals of Social Accountability Monitoring hosted by the Centre for Social Accountability (CSA), which is based at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. The training course provided an introduction to a rights-based approach to social accountability monitoring, the social accountability system and a complete set of tools for public resource management monitoring (budget analysis, expenditure tracking, performance monitoring, integrity monitoring, oversight tracking, etc.).
The course was in line with some of the core concerns of Afesis-corplan in terms of the promotion of good governance practice.
Key concepts covered at the course that work towards achieving a strengthened and effective local government include:
• Policy Monitoring and Analysis: Focus on policy prioritisation versus the need and demands of civil society. This refers to resource allocation and planning.
• Process Monitoring: Focus on effective implementation of public resource management. This refers to performance management and expenditure management.
• Output verification: Focus and verify promised outputs and delivery of services at community, constituency or local level. This refers to integrity and oversight.
These concepts make us the Fundamentals of the Social Accountability Monitoring system by the Centre for Social Accountability (CSA). The CSA’s objective includes the adoption of the tool itself by civil organisations, like Afesis-corplan, and the rest of the African continent in order to achieve a socially just state that progressively realises human rights and capabilities.
The course was incredibly beneficial and questions have emerged regarding Afesis-corplan’s programme work that needs to be addressed in order to promote organisational and project growth:
• What selection criteria is Afesis-corplan going to take in identifying working group members?
• What approach is Afesis-corplan likely to take given the information gleaned at this course?
• How is the tool going to be adopted and how effective will the implementation of CSAG be?
• How can the CBFA tool be refined according to information gleaned at this course?
• What key concepts and tools are going to be adopted or used to evaluate output indicators?
Incremental Tenure Workshop, Kei Mouth
Afesis-corplan held a workshop on Wednesday, 21 April 2010 in Kei Mouth on Incremental Tenure. The organisation is working with the Great Kei Municipality and the Kei Mouth community to pilot a Managed Land Settlement (MLS) project in Kei Mouth. The purpose of the workshop was to share an overview of the theory of incremental tenure; learn how other municipalities and communities have worked with incremental tenure; and explore how incremental tenure can work in Kei Mouth.
The workshop was supported by many municipal representatives and members of communities and the provincial department of human settlements.
The workshop discussed how land tenure works in general and presented LANDfirst as an alternative way to secure land. Lauren Roysten of Urban LandMark made a presentation on the theory of land tenure, which was made in a simplified format for all participants to understand.
Understanding land tenure is very important. If community members don’t understand how it works out in practice, it results in high levels of frustration. Without land tenure, it is difficult to develop areas.
Vigorous discussion and debate took place at the workshop. One of the questions that arose was whether or not people who get land tenure were eligible for housing subsidies in the future. The emerging consensus was that they were eligible for the subsidy.
Community members agreed to go back to their villages and review the allocation list based on the knowledge gained in the workshop.
Kei Mouth is in a very fortunate position in that the people are able to get onto the land before housing subsidies are approved. This has a huge impact as it means individuals can start building their own houses instead of waiting for the government to provide a house, which can take many years.