The 4th Annual Service Delivery Learning Academy
Date: 13 - 15 July 2005
Venue: Holiday Inn, Strand Street, Cape Town
Theme: Building the Capabality of the State for Improved Service Delivery
Background & Rationale
The theme of this year's Annual Service Delivery Learning Academy reinforces the government's commitment to deepen and accelerate service delivery improvement as the country enters the second decade of democracy. The challenges of building the state as vehicle for development are enormous, and one of government's top challenges and priorities in this decade is to build a state that is capable of delivering on its developmental agenda in bridging the gap between the two economies.
This year's Academy will once again be used as a unique platform to showcase action and initiatives to accelerate service delivery, whilst also providing a platform for learning and sharing amongst public service colleagues.
Most of the presentations in both plenary and breakaway will be case studies and experiences of senior leaders and operational officials in their quest to build the organizational and functional capability and capacity of government at all levels to achieve optimum service delivery, pursuing an integrated approach to implementing development programmes, and efforts at getting services closer to the people. They will do so by sharing their own real experiences, ideas, and lessons from both a strategic/policy and operational point of view.
Format of the Academy
The format of the Academy is structured in a way that will create a very good balance between high-level strategic and programme issues, and real service delivery action on the ground, complemented by rigorous discussions and cross-fertilization in between the presentations over the three days. Plenary presentations by strategic leaders and managers will provide the audience with very informative ideas about the prospects and challenges of making the organizational machinery and configuration of government work better and in alignment, outline the country's growth and development trajectory, building partnerships between government and other social partners, present some thoughts on how to build the optimal capability of the public service to deliver on the developmental agenda, and getting access to government services closer to the public. The breakaway commissions presentations will once again demonstrate innovative projects that public servants are driving throughout the country in such areas as acceleration of service delivery at institutional level, resource planning and management, monitoring and evaluation, job creation and sustainable development, urban and rural development, and skills and capacity development.
PROGRAMME
Day 1
PROGRAMME MANAGER:
Khaya Ngema, DDG: DPSA
SUB-THEME:
Strengthening the Structural and Organisational Machinery of Government
COMMISSIONS
1. Building Optimal Service Delivery Capability at Institutional LevelThis group will share and discuss very case study projects on initiatives to improve service delivery where service delivery takes place. Lebowakgomo hospital in Limpopo will share its experience on how the hospital was turned around using a variety of interventions to build hospital management capacity, improving patient services, and management of resources and assets. The national labour economic development institute (NALEDI) will present a research case study of the state of workplace organization at Baragwanath hospital and how this influences and has bearing on service delivery and staff. The Department of Education will share its efforts towards rebuilding the colleges of further education to build a sound skills base for the country, and share experience son how some of the colleges have been transformed to deliver further education services better.
This commission will discuss and share experiences on how best to manage resources and assets, and manage service provision using a variety of systems and tools. The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) will present its innovative initiative working with department of health to exploit wireless and mobile technologies to enhance citizen access to health services. Durban Metro will share its experience on the use of enterprise resource planning as a planning, management, decision-making, and operational tool and system, and how other municipalities could possibly replicate this. The City of Cape Town will also present its 'smart-city' strategy as an effort to make the city world-class, competitive, and deliver services more efficiently, effectively, and economically using latest technologies.
Keeping track of the results and impact of government programmes has become a critical need. The group will share experiences of several initiatives to put in place M&E systems to keep track of the implementation of government policies and programmes. DPSA will present the HR M&E and service delivery early warning systems that it plans to roll-out throughout the public service in the next fiscal year. Free State has put in place an M&E system to monitor and keep track of the progress in the implementation of the provincial growth and development strategy, and they will share the methodology they have used, and highlight results and achievement, challenges and difficulties, and lessons learnt going forward. The CSIR will present highlights of the pilot project on setting up the IDP Nerve Centre in the North-West province, and the plans to rollout the project in all the municipalities in the country.
- The Early Warning System - Henk Serfontein, DPSA
Day 2
PROGRAMME MANAGER:
Ms. Tshidi Masutha, SAMDI
SUB-THEME:
Making Integrated Development Programmes Work
The service delivery imperative in the growth and development scenario/trajectory - Growth and development are inter-twined, and Mr Khaya Ngema will highlight the public service delivery imperative in the context of the current growth and development trajectory, and the role the public service should play as a driver of development and growth.
Strategies to accelerate growth and development to bridge the gap between the first and second economies - Mr. Lumkile Mondi of the Industrial Development Corporation will provide both a conceptual and practical critical reflection on government and other social partners' strategies to drive bridge the social and economic divide. He will reflect on some of the initiatives, achievements to date, and challenges going ahead.
The MDGs - where do we stand? - South Africa, like many developing countries in the world, has committed itself to meeting eight-time bound United Nations millennium development goals targets. Are we falling behind, are we on track, are we ahead? Stats SA will reflect progress towards achieving the eight time-bound targets.
Excellence - this group will share various experiences in turning around government institutions and service points for better and maximum service delivery. The Mpumalanga safety and security department will present an innovative partnership based excellence awards project to reward and recognise good performing police stations. The Western Cape provincial office of Correctional Services will share their experiences in turning around Polsmor prison (corrections centre), and how the model has now been replicated in Goodwood prison (corrections centre). KZN will showcase its innovative HIV-AIDS home based care project and share the experiences in implementing the project.
Information and records management - this group will discuss and share experiences towards improving information and records flow in government with as part of a streamlined, efficient, and effective supply chain management process. The Eastern Cape department of Social Development will share their experiences on the electronic file management system. The national department of Health will also share their own experiences in designing, and implementing an effective health management information system for better decision-making and service delivery.
Strengthening Corporate services - this group will discuss efforts towards improving back-office support services and linking them up with front-end service delivery. The Eastern Cape based Free Hospital will share its experience in putting in place corporate service centre as an attempt to streamline and integrate corporate service functions like finance and payments, procurement and logistics, HR, etc. The Department of Labour will share with the group the progress made and successes in putting in place an IT system in partnership with the private sector (Siemens).
COMMISSIONS
1. Job-creation and Sustainable DevelopmentDay 3
PROGRAMME MANAGER:
Mr Tony Wadsworth, Eastern Cape
Ms. Tshidi Masutha, SAMDI
SUB-THEME:
Bringing services closer to the people
Drama : putting people first - Gcina Mhlope is Africa's Favourite Storyteller. Storytelling has become a popular business medium for conferences and seminars and Gcina is a master at creating stories to complement business themes. She will render an artistic item/play to demonstrate and show why and how public servants should put people first.
PPPs as a vehicle for maximising access: a partnership between government and Business Against Crime to build an integrated justice system - Mr Alvin Rapea, Project Leader with Business Against Crime and a former senior civil servant, will present a case study of a joint business and government initiative to improve the justice system in the country, and how through this project access to justice and efficiency and effectiveness in the system is being achieved.
The Community Development Workers programme - DPSA is coordinating the deployment and functioning of over 1000 community development workers, spread throughout the country and located in various municipalities to facilitate communities access to government services. Mr. Emmanuel Kgomo will give a reflection and assessment of how this programme has progressed, and challenges going ahead to achieve higher levels of impact.
Mbazwana gateway portal - Mbazwana is a rural area located in northern KwaZulu-Natal, and through various initiatives of different government departments and agencies, one of the flagship e-government gateway portals was established there. Centre Manager Ms. Nana Tsatsi will share with the audience the services rendered in the portal, highlight achievements and results, and challenges.
Innovation mechanisms to improve access to services: international trends and CPSI experiences - The Centre for Public Service Innovation is tasked with the development of innovative, sustainable and responsive models for improved service delivery. They will share their own and international experiences on innovative mechanisms and programmes to bring services closer to the people.
