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National Members Assembly - CMRA raffle winners
The National Members Assembly (NMA) was held from 10 – 12 May 2010, in Kimberly. The NMA is the highest decision-making structure of SALGA and takes place annually. The NMA’s core membership is derived from political heads of municipalities, specifically Executive Mayors and Mayors, Councillors and representatives from member municipalities. The event focused on issues of a strategic nature in the Local Government sector. The overall theme of the event was, ‘Together serving our people with Integrity and Dedication to speed up service delivery.’
Running with the excitement of the Soccer World Cup, CMRA held a raffle for delegates attending the NMA, who visited the CMRA exhibition stall. The lucky winners of soccer t-shirts and Zakumi’s were:
1st: Cllr. M.S. Kutshwa – Greater Kokstad Municipality - Speaker
2nd: Mr. Tshego Mentor – Sol Plaatije Municipality
3rd: Ms. Tobela Nota – Umzimvubu Municipality – Municipal Manager
4th: Cllr. Winnie Ngobeza – Sol Plaatjie Municipality – MMC Sports and Culture
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INVITATION FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR BENCHMARKING PROJECTS
Local municipalities in South Africa are hereby invited to register their interest to participate in upcoming benchmarks for the following individual topics: HIV and AIDS, Local Economic Development, Public Participation, and Housing.
The new benchmarks will be implemented by CMRA, in partnership with SALGA. Some of the new benchmarks are expected to be supported by international donors and participating municipalities will co-fund. The projects will aim to assist municipalities to strengthen their developmental and governance response to the topics mentioned above and can significantly contribute to improving municipal service delivery. A Benchmark cycle would on average take place over a one-year period.
The benefits of benchmarking are:
- Insight in achievements of a municipality
- It shows the strengths and weaknesses of a municipality compared to others
- Participants learn how they can improve their performance and overcome challenges based upon the experiences of peers in other municipalities
- Benchmarking is an efficient and effective tool to implement national policies
- The benchmark will provide your municipality with an individual confidential Recommendations Report, outlining good practices and areas for improvement.
If your municipality is interested in participating, please contact CMRA to request an Expression of Interest (EOI) form.
For further information please contact Ms. Merle Voigts at 012 – 347 3848 or mvoigts@cmra.org.za.
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CMRA Benchmarking LED in Namibia
In March 2010, CMRA will begin implementing the project ‘Benchmarking LED initiatives of Local Authorities in Namibia’. Through this project, approaches and achievements of Local Economic Development (LED) amongst 13 Namibian local authorities will be compared using the benchmarking method, in order to identify and implement ways of strengthening their performance. Benchmarking is an innovative instrument for capacity building and peer review. The process allows local authorities to identify their comparative strengths and weaknesses.
The purpose of LED is to build up the economic capacity of local authorities to improve their economic future and the quality of life for all. Local authorities in Namibia started LED efforts, but have only recently become proactive on strategic planning and in identifying economic development at local level as priority, laying the foundation for proactive planning to influence the local economy positively. However, major challenges exist, especially in terms of capacity.
Four categories of LED initiatives are benchmarked, which are Small Medium Enterprises parks, Open Markets, LED strategy development, and Public Private Partnerships. The benchmark on LED initiatives in local authorities in Namibia, which includes the collection and comparison of these LED initiatives, followed by identifying and disseminating best practices, will lead to increased insight of local authorities in existing informed LED approaches in other local authorities and encourage the establishment of partnerships with local authorities. The best practices coming out of this project will be published in booklets. The project is part of a programme Partnership for Economic Growth in Namibia implemented by GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit). The project will be finished by the end of 2010.
For more information on the project, please contact Ms Nienke Meijer, Project Manager: nmeijer@cmra.org.za
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CMRA Building Sustainable Human Settlements
CMRA has expanded its advisory services to include the expertise area of Rental Housing. CMRA now has the capacity to assist you in planning for the future human settlement needs of your municipality.
Rental Housing covers a relatively small part of the total housing market in South Africa. For most people Rental Housing is not the preferred form of housing, but for many people it can be the right option in a certain phase of their lives. There can be many reasons to rent instead of buy a house; people looking for temporary housing due to work opportunities, people who have just entered the housing market and are not able to buy yet, etc. The private sector does not cater for all rental housing needs. Therefore, the government has initiated a number of subsidy instruments that enable the sector to deliver rental housing at affordable prices for specific target groups. Municipalities need to be aware of the opportunities of Rental Housing, not only as a means to tackle part of the housing backlog, but also as a catalyst for urban development. Therefore, within the planning process for Human Settlements in your municipality, Rental Housing needs to be considered.
Although Housing is not a funded mandate at the local government level, municipalities have a very important role in the delivery of Housing. Municipalities need to plan for Housing and include it in their IDPs. Housing is closely linked to many other services which are the responsibility of the municipality, such as the delivery of water, electricity and infrastructure. One cannot deliver houses without these services and vice versa.
The National Government has made it very clear, through the change of the Department of Housing into the Department of Human Settlements, that it is not just about the delivery of houses, but the delivery of everything else that is needed for people to live properly. This includes all necessary services, but also social and economic amenities, such as schools, shopping centres, health services etc. Therefore, the municipality as the sphere of local government that is closest to the people and aware of their needs, is at the heart of the community and the appropriate place from where the planning for the ‘Sustainable Human Settlements’ needs to start.
As a municipality it is in the interest of your constituency that you know what the Housing needs in your municipality are and that you make the plans that will enable you to fulfil these needs. Because so many other services are involved, it is crucial to ensure that all departments involved in the delivery of Human Settlements are working towards the same goal and know what they have to contribute to the delivery of Human Settlements. Only then can you serve the people in your municipality properly.
In January 2010, the CMRA team welcomed a new Project Manger Housing, Ms. Michelle Essink. Michelle Essink has been working in the Rental Housing Sector in South Africa since 2005, specifically working with municipalities to increase their capacity in this field of work.
For more information on Rental Housing, please contact Ms Michelle Essink, Project Manager Housing: messink@salga.org.za or messink@cmra.org.za
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Decentralised Response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa Project
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Africa commissioned CMRA, a joint initiative of the International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG-I) and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), to implement the Decentralised Response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa project. The project was implemented from January 2006 to September 2009. The project aimed at strengthening municipal responses to HIV and AIDS in 7 selected municipalities in South Africa.
The project implementation was completed at the end of September 2009 with a national conference to share the lessons learned. The conference achieved the objectives of disseminating the lessons to benefit all municipalities in the country. Prior to this conference a study on the “lessons learned” was carried out and the results became one of the focal areas for discussions during the two days of the conference. The objectives of this conference included:
· Sharing of lessons learned from the seven pilot municipalities, viz. eThekwini Metro, Buffalo City Local Municipality, Emalahleni Local Municipality, Hibiscus Coast Local Municipality, Greater Marble Hall Local Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and Madibeng Local Municipality.
· Stimulating participants to work with the lessons learned, and
· Motivating Local Government Leadership and personnel to mainstream HIV and AIDS in their policies, plans and projects.
The conference drew participation ranging from Political Leadership from 43 District Municipalities in South Africa, HIV and AIDS Coordinators, Planners, Members of SALGA Community Development Working Group from national and provincial level, SALGA officials from national and provincial level, other organisations working in local government and the CMRA project team.
There was also international representation from municipalities in Namibia participating in LOGO South. The conference was also graced by the presence of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands which was represented by the Deputy Head of Mission, Mr Peter Mollema, SALGA CEO Mr. Xolile George, and SANAC Deputy Chairperson Mr. Mark Heywood. More information on this project, conference reports and the lessons learned document can be obtained from Ms. Pertunia Mothiba on +27(0)12 347 3848 or pmothiba@cmra.org.za.
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