An evaluation of the implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems in the office of the Premier, Free State provincial government

Thesis (Master of Public Management) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2019The study examines the current implementation challenges with respect to monitoring and evaluation systems in the Office of the Premier, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Directorate of the Free State Province. M&E systems are indispensable for ensuring the effective functioning of the spheres of government in such a way that policy objectives and effective service delivery are achieved. Since the inception of the Government Wide Monitoring and Evaluations System (GWM&ES) in 2007, provinces are at varying levels of institutionalizing M&E. M&E is an imperative tool for the Office of the Premier to achieve its objectives by providing strategic leadership and to coordinate provincial policy formulation and reviews, planning as well as overseeing effective service delivery. Furthermore, the Office of the Premier is mandated with monitoring the performance of the various departments and ensure that they achieve the government’s 12 priority outcomes as set out in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). Lastly provincial governments are tasked with the monitoring of basic municipal services. For the realization of the aim and objectives of this study, qualitative research methodology is adopted. A semi structured, and structured interview was utilized as a tool that contains the predetermined questions prepared to acquire insight, knowledge and application of the people who are involved and familiar with M&E systems, its implementation challenges as well as best practices that can be replicated across the various provinces. The literature study is based extensive literature, legislation, policy documents, journal articles, books, conference papers, internet and government reports about, requirements, purpose, principles, objectives, components, and systems of monitoring and evaluation with specific reference to the introduction of the South African Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System. Furthermore, the study investigated the role of the Offices of the Premier M&E Directorate concerning the effective implementation of M&E systems including the GWM&ES as well as identify current monitoring and evaluation processes, practices, challenges as well as best practices. An empirical study, by a process of semi-structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with selected public officials in the Office of the Premier, M&E Directorate and Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) of the Free State province. The study found that there is a lack of M&E culture within the Free State Provincial government (FSPG). The FSPG should clearly, establish a culture of M&E across all provincial government institutions

Resilient Critical Infrastructure Management using Service Oriented Architecture

Abstract—The SERSCIS project aims to support the use of interconnected systems of services in Critical Infrastructure (CI) applications. The problem of system interconnectedness is aptly demonstrated by ‘Airport Collaborative Decision Making’ (ACDM). Failure or underperformance of any of the interlinked ICT systems may compromise the ability of airports to plan their use of resources to sustain high levels of air traffic, or to provide accurate aircraft movement forecasts to the wider European air traffic management systems. The proposed solution is to introduce further SERSCIS ICT components to manage dependability and interdependency. These use semantic models of the critical infrastructure, including its ICT services, to identify faults and potential risks and to increase human awareness of them. Semantics allows information and services to be described in such a way that makes them understandable to computers. Thus when a failure (or a threat of failure) is detected, SERSCIS components can take action to manage the consequences, including changing the interdependency relationships between services. In some cases, the components will be able to take action autonomously — e.g. to manage ‘local’ issues such as the allocation of CPU time to maintain service performance, or the selection of services where there are redundant sources available. In other cases the components will alert human operators so they can take action instead. The goal of this paper is to describe a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that can be used to address the management of ICT components and interdependencies in critical infrastructure systems. Index Terms—resilience; QoS; SOA; critical infrastructure, SLA

The impact of business process outsourcing on firm performance and the influence of governance : a long term study in the German banking industry

Does BPO pay off at the firm-level? Although there are several studies which analyze the potential benefits of BPO, there is a virtual absence of research papers on BPO outcomes. Based on an analysis of 137 Business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures at 254 German banks in a period between 1994 and 2005, we found that the outsourcer's financial performance in terms of profitability and cost efficiency was increased significantly compared to industry peers without BPO. The increase stems not from workforce reductions but rather from increased employee productivity. Further, we show how BPO governance ensures BPO success: individually negotiated outsourcing contracts help to improve cost efficiency and profitability measures. Relational governance based on trust has only positive effects on profitability. Keywords: Business Process Outsourcing, firm performance, firm characteristics, banking, German banks, governance JEL Classifications: G21, L14, L21, L2

Semantic Web Technologies in Support of Service Oriented Architecture Governance

As Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) deployments gradually mature they also grow in size and complexity. The number of service providers, services, and service consumers increases, and so do the dependencies among these entities and the various artefacts that describe how services operate, or how they are meant to operate under specific conditions. Appropriate governance over the various phases and activities associated with the service lifecycle is therefore indispensable in order to prevent a SOA deployment from dissolving into an unmanageable infrastructure. The employment of Semantic Web technologies for describing and reasoning about service properties and governance requirements has the potential to greatly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of SOA Governance solutions by increasing the levels of automation in a wide-range of tasks relating to service lifecycle management. The goal of the proposed research work is to investigate the application of Semantic Web technologies in the context of service lifecycle management, and propose a concrete theoretical and technological approach for supporting SOA Governance through the realisation of semantically-enhanced registry and repository solutions

Devolved governance systems

This article assesses the extent, nature and outcomes of the recently devolved health service governance in the four countries which comprise the United Kingdom. This four-part configuration can be seen as a natural experiment in comparative governance which could therefore carry important lessons not only for the UK but in other countries too. While remaining under the aegis of the National Health Service, each constituent devolved administration has a developed a substantially different governance system. These systems reflect fundamental issues and priorities concerning the decentring of authority, the production and deployment of authority, the suite of incentives required and the preferred role of quasi-market mechanisms. The paper makes an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each governance regime

Confronting corruption in the health sector in Vietnam: patterns and prospects

This repository item contains a single issue of the Health and Development Discussion Papers, an informal working paper series that began publishing in 2002 by the Boston University Center for Global Health and Development. It is intended to help the Center and individual authors to disseminate work that is being prepared for journal publication or that is not appropriate for journal publication but might still have value to readers.Corruption in Vietnam is a national concern which could derail health sector goals for equity, access, and quality. Yet, there is little research on vulnerabilities to corruption or associated factors at the sectoral level. This article examines current patterns of corruption in Vietnam’s health sector, identifies key corruption vulnerabilities, and reviews strategies for addressing corruption in the future. The article builds on the findings and discussion at the sixth Anti-Corruption Dialogue between the Vietnamese Government and the international donor community. Development partners, government agencies, Vietnamese and international non-governmental organizations, media representatives and other stakeholders explored what is known about important problems such as informal payments, procurement corruption, and health insurance fraud. The participants proposed corruption-reduction interventions in the areas of administrative oversight, transparency initiatives and civil society participation, and health reforms to change incentives. The analysis assesses the prospects for success of these interventions given the Vietnamese institutional context, and draws conclusions relevant to addressing health sector corruption in other countries

Is the Water Sector Lagging behind Education and Health on Aid Effectiveness? Lessons from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Uganda

A study in three countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Uganda) assessed progress against the Paris Principles for Aid Effectiveness (AE) in three sectors – water, health and education – to test the assumption that the water sector is lagging behind. The findings show that it is too simplistic to say that the water sector is lagging, although this may well be the case in some countries. The study found that wider governance issues are more important for AE than having in place sector-specific mechanics such as Sector-Wide Approaches alone. National political leadership and governance are central drivers of sector AE, while national financial and procurement systems and the behaviour of actors who have not signed up to the Paris Principles – at both national and global levels – have implications for progress that cut across sectors. Sectors and sub-sectors do nonetheless have distinct features that must be considered in attempting to improve sector-level AE. In light of these findings, using political economy approaches to better understand and address governance and strengthening sector-level monitoring is recommended as part of efforts to improve AE and development results in the water sector

A Monitoring Network for Spectrum Governance

Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) is an exciting new technology, which has introduced a paradigm shift in spectrum access. As a result it also changes the role of the regulator. On one hand the scarce radio spectrum should be used in an optimal way, so that society is best served. On the other hand interference between users and between networks should be avoided. For that reason rules have to be defined for spectrum use. This topic is called spectrum governance. For evaluation and to check whether devices obey the rules, a monitoring system is needed. In this paper, we propose to use a fleet of mobile monitoring vehicles for this purpose.\u

United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Kenya

The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2014-2018) for Kenya is an expression of the UN's commitment to support the Kenyan people in their self-articulated development aspirations. This UNDAF has been developed according to the principles of UN Delivering as One (DaO), aimed at ensuring Government ownership, demonstrated through UNDAF's full alignment to Government priorities and planning cycles, as well as internal coherence among UN agencies and programmes operating in Kenya. The UNDAF narrative includes five recommended sections: Introduction and Country Context, UNDAF Results, Resource Estimates, Implementation Arrangements, and Monitoring and Evaluation as well as a Results and Resources Annex. Developed under the leadership of the Government, the UNDAF reflects the efforts of all UN agencies working in Kenya and is shaped by the five UNDG programming principles: Human Rights-based approach, gender equality, environmental sustainability, capacity development, and results based management. The UNDAF working groups have developed a truly broad-based Results Framework, in collaboration with Civil Society, donors and other partners. The UNDAF has four Strategic Results Areas: 1) Transformational Governance encompassing Policy and Institutional Frameworks; Democratic Participation and Human Rights; Devolution and Accountability; and Evidence-based Decision-making, 2) Human Capital Development comprised of Education and Learning; Health, including Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Environmental Preservation, Food Availability and Nutrition; Multi-sectoral HIV and AIDS Response; and Social Protection, 3) Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth, with Improving the Business Environment; Strengthening Productive Sectors and Trade; and Promoting Job Creation, Skills Development and Improved Working Conditions, and 4) Environmental Sustainability, Land Management and Human Security including Policy and Legal Framework Development; and Peace, Community Security and Resilience. The UNDAF Results Areas are aligned with the three Pillars (Political, Social and Economic) of the Government's Vision 2030 transformational agenda