356 research outputs found
Localising the sustainable development goals (SDGs) : the role of local government in context
The United Nations (UN) has of late been debating the new international development
framework that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) post–2015.
This process has been popularly referred to as the post-2015 development agenda. It is a
fact that many of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that have been identifi ed will
impact on the role and responsibilities of local government, namely, poverty reduction;
access to water and sanitation; health; education; economic growth; development of
cities and human settlements; and resilience to climate change. A critical issue that
was highlighted when the MDGs were introduced in 2000 was the implementation
modalities as it was felt that the process and goals were primarily top down (CLGF
2014:3). Consequently, there has been strong advocacy for local government to be a
key implementation partner in the achievement of the new sustainable development
goals that would have been finalised in September 2015 (www.worldwewant2015.org/
localising2015; CLGF 2014:3; www.capacity.undp.org; Slack 2014:1).
Key aspects of the debate and discussion to date have been how to localise the new
development framework, evaluate the local impact of the future SDGs and ensure
that the local dimension is prioritised and successfully implemented (UNDP 2014a:3).
There is a firm belief that the issue of localisation has to extend beyond national,
provincial/state/regional implementation and there should be a focus on how the new
development agenda will be implemented locally and the implications for the local level
of government in this regard. According to the UN, localisation denotes the “process
of defining; implementing; and monitoring strategies at the local level for achievable
global, national and subnational sustainable goals and targets” (UNDP 2014a:3). This
process would involve the utilisation of distinct tools, mechanisms, strategies, platforms
and innovations to ensure that the development agenda is effectively translated into
firm action and concrete results at the local level to benefit communities. It is envisaged
that it will be an inclusive process and will move beyond the municipal jurisdiction to
draw in relevant stakeholders to create a strong and capable local authority. Viewed in this context, localisation is an integral part of the multilevel governmental system and
more so in terms of attaining the sustainable development goals that will be shortly
adopted by the international community (CLGF 2014:3)
Performance monitoring and evaluation : the eThekwini experience, South Africa
Monitoring and Evaluation is a management tool that tracks and assesses the
performance of the public sector, thereby contributing to service delivery outcomes.
Although it has been practised and has been relevant for many years, it is a fairly
new applied concept to public sector organisations internationally. Stemming
mostly from the lack of a clear and understandable minimum legal reporting
framework, the results of performance management/monitoring has been highly
subjective in the past. Furthermore, there was little or no assessment or evaluation
of the impact of performance on the organisation or society in general. In addition,
the information needs of the community to assess service delivery from different
spheres of government were not clearly understood. With the implementation
of various legislated frameworks on performance monitoring and evaluation of
late globally, different stakeholders are provided with the means to ensure that
service delivery is monitored and evaluated, thereby providing positive outcomes
or impacts on society at large.
The establishment of a dedicated Department of Performance, Monitoring
and Evaluation within the South African Presidency has been viewed as a fi rm
commitment by the Government to address the on-going service delivery challenges.
The policy, practice and systems relative to monitoring and evaluation have in turn
cascaded to the three spheres of government thereby ensuring that it is integrated
into all aspects of public sector governance. The Performance Management System
(PMS) legislated for in South Africa will assist the municipality in monitoring and
evaluating the implementation of its IDP which is also a legislative requirement. It
will lead to increased accountability, continuous learning, and informed decision making
as well as provide an early warning system of impending deviations from the
plan. The ultimate aim of performance management is to ensure improved service delivery.”The IDP and Performance Management process appear to be seamlessly
integrated. The IDP fulfils the planning stage of performance management.
Performance management fulfi ls the implementation management, monitoring and
evaluation of the IDPs” (Van der Waldt 2007:124).
eThekwini City Council is one of the eight metropolitan municipalities in
South Africa. It is a major port and industrial centre in the Province of Kwazulu
Natal and is viewed as being “one of the best run and financially strongest
municipality on the continent.” (KwaZulu Natal Province- Department of Economic
Development and Tourism 2011:8). The article expounds on the eThekwini
experience, reflecting on how through its institutional re-arrangement/process reengineering
and automation resulted in an effective monitoring and evaluation tool
for all levels of management in the organisation. It will also reflect on how the
Municipality has implemented legislation on performance information in order to
add value to the organisation and provide an evaluation tool for key stakeholders
at the local sphere namely, the political and administrative component and local
communities. It will also highlight some of the key challenges encountered in the
implementation of the system and furthermore how they can be addressed
Failing the public through public policy : a review of the local government experience in South Africa
South Africa’s public policy approach since 1994 has been robust and forwardlooking.
The policy process has been stretched over all areas of governance. Many
policies have been translated into law, regulations and institutions aimed explicitly
as serving the public good. The key is narrowing the gap between the institutions
of governance and people’s needs. However, despite the good intentions, public
dissatisfaction and mass protest in the local government sphere is endemic.
Mass public protest consumes public capability and is therefore wasteful and
counterproductive. The response of the authorities entering the contested space
is usually reactionary and is hardly successful in addressing the core grievances
of communities. Crucially, political representatives, that is, ward and proportional
representative councillors, are crowded out of resolution processes.
Communities argue that mass protest and the appropriation of public space is an
essential tactic of gaining the attention of the highest authorities. Most community
protests are accompanied by acts of violence. Sometimes, the presence of policing
services and/or the media exacerbates the crisis. The concern is that communities
are acting outside democratic processes as well as institutional arrangements meant
to bridge local delivery issues and intended community beneficiaries. It is possible
that communities are either unaware of public policy instruments or that they do
not respect them as bona fide channels of engagement with the state. Consequently
protest, usually lacking organisation, strategic direction and leadership pervades the local government landscape. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to
examine how and why public policy provisions fail the public. The focus is on policy
provisions in local government legislation and the relatively recent (2007) local
government policy review process, which was intended to address, among other
aspects, good governance and public participation approaches, thereby enhancing
service delivery. Overall, the article attempts to evaluate policy gaps at the local
government sphere in South Africa
Community participation in Ethekwini Municipality with particular reference to ward committees
Local government has been constitutionalised as a sphere of government and this has
signified a conceptual shift from serving as administrative service delivery agents to the
promotion of developmental goals and principles, namely local democracy, sustainable
development, a safe and healthy environment and co-operative government. The
White Paper on Local Government mandates municipalities to involve communities in
facilitating development. Participation is an integral part of local democracy and it is a
legislative requirement for the local community to be drawn into the process through
integrated development planning, budgeting, performance management and ward
committees. However, there are serious disparities between policy and practice as the
success of public participation will not depend on the regulation of the system, but
through innovative and creative local policies and legislation. A participatory culture
should be inculcated and furthermore the appropriate and relevant mechanisms,
processes and procedures should be developed. EThekwini Municipality has created
an environment for active participation through ward committees. However, the active
participation of the rural populace is still problematic and there are challenges that have
to be addressed. Given the fact that the largest percentage of developmental backlogs
are in the rural areas, which are inhabited by the disadvantaged communities, it is
imperative that they are actively involved in the process of addressing these backlogs
through the formal structures of community participation that have been set up
A review of local government experience in South Africa : successes and failures
South Africa’s public policy approach since 1994 has been robust and forwardlooking.
The policy process has been stretched over all areas of governance. Many
policies have been translated into law, regulations and institutions which aimed
explicitly as serving the public good. The key is narrowing the gap between the
institutions of governance and people’s needs.
However public dissatisfaction and mass protest in the local government sphere
continue. Mass public protest consumes public capability and is therefore wasteful
and counterproductive. The response of the authorities entering the contested space
is usually reactionary and is hardly successful at addressing the core grievances
of communities. Crucially, political representatives, i.e. ward and proportional
representative councillors, are crowded out of resolution processes.
Communities argue that mass protest and the appropriation of public space is an
essential tactic of gaining the attention of the highest authorities. Most community
protests are accompanied by acts of violence. Sometimes, the presence of policing
services and/or the media exacerbates the crisis.
The concern is that communities are acting outside democratic processes
as well as institutional arrangements meant to bridge local delivery issues and
intended community beneficiaries. It is possible that communities are either
unaware of public policy instruments or that they do not respect them as
bona fide channels of engagement with the local state. Consequently, protest,
usually lacking organisation, strategic direction and leadership pervade the local
government landscape.
Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to examine how and why public policy
provisions fail the public. The focus will be on policy provisions in local government
legislation and the recent (2007) local government policy review process, which
were intended to address, among others, good governance and public participation
approaches, thereby enhancing service delivery. Overall, the article will attempt to
evaluate policy gaps at the local government sphere
Public accountability at the local government sphere in South Africa
One of the major challenges faced by municipalities in South Africa is quality
service delivery and lack of accountability. Public accountability is an important
component of local governance as it promotes community involvement and
participation. Local government is viewed as the vehicle for service delivery given
the notion of wall-to-wall local government. All programmes and projects such as,
interalia, housing, water supply, sanitation and roads require accountable municipal
functionaries, so that they gain the confi dence and trust of local communities
who will then take ownership of it thereby ensuring that it is successful and in the
final analysis sustainable. The continued success of a municipality is determined
to a large extent, on the accountability of all key role players and stakeholders
in the local governance process. Public accountability is a tool for participatory
local democracy. The Government has introduced legislation to ensure that all the
key local role players and stakeholders discharge their respective obligations and
responsibilities to facilitate the delivery of quality municipal services. Despite these
measures and initiatives, public accountability remains a buzzword and is certainly
not taken seriously by particularly the municipal functionaries. The recent marches
by the local citizenry in protest against poor service delivery countrywide bear
ample testimony to this. This article critically reviews public accountability in the
local sphere highlighting some of the key challenges that has to be addressed to
ensure good local governance
Perl module and PISE wrappers for the integrated analysis of sequence data and SNP features
Background
There is a need for software scripts and modules for format parsing, data manipulation, statistical analysis and annotation especially for tasks related to marker identification from sequence data and sequence diversity analysis.
Results
Here we present several new Perl scripts and a module for sequence data diversity analysis. To enable the use of these software with other public domain tools, we also make available PISE (Pasteur Institute Software Environment) wrappers for these Perl scripts and module. This enables the user to generate pipelines for automated analysis, since PISE is a web interface generator for bioinformatics programmes.
Conclusion
A new set of modules and scripts for diversity statistic calculation, format parsing and data manipulation are available with PISE wrappers that enable pipelining of these scripts with commonly used contig assembly and sequence feature prediction software, to answer specific sequence diversity related questions
Environmental governance at the local government sphere in South Africa
There has been a relatively systematic and ordered development of the environmental
legal regime in the past 17 years in South Africa. The first dedicated piece of
legislation was the Environmental Conservation Act, 100 of 1982. However it was not
particularly effective as it sought to co–ordinate environmental matters as opposed
to focusing on environmental management (Glazewski 1999:13). It was replaced
by the Environmental Conservation Act, 73 of 1989 which provided an impetus for
equitable development and environmental protection. The Act is based on the
Constitution, 1996 to promote the notion of co-operative environmental governance
which constitutes the basis of South Africa’s environmental legislation. Critical to the
process are four basic principles, namely fairness, accountability, responsibility and
transparency. A particular focus is spreading the responsibility for the interconnection
between social well-being and environmental protection across state departments
and spheres of government. Considerable emphasis is placed on citizens’ rights to be
granted opportunities for effective democratic and economic involvement in future
development processes (Hamman and O’Riordan 1999:3). The Act provided an
enabling framework for far-reaching reform in environmental governance and can
be viewed as a flagship statute of the National Department of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism (DEAT). This article critically reviews the legislative and administrative
arrangements for environmental governance in the local sphere of government in
South Africa, highlighting challenges that have to be addressed. The principles of cooperative
governance and particularly the role of local government in responding to
local environmental issues will also be critically reviewed
Evaluation of different cultivars of sorghum for fodder quality and agronomic performance in Semi-Arid Tropics
Thirty four improved sorghum cultivars were evaluated for fodder quality and agronomic performance using two
cuts harvested during the rainy season 2014 at ICRISAT, Patancheru following randomized complete block design
with two replications. Within cuts consistent significant cultivar difference were only observed for biomass yields
which ranged from 17.3 - 33.8 t ha-1 in the first cut to 3.2 and 17.4 t ha-1 in the second cut. Within and across cuts cultivar-dependent variations in fodder quality traits were statistically largely insignificant and inconsistent
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