Purpose of the sub-programme
The aim of the Public Sector Sub-programme was to
ensure that prioritised Municipalities and Provinces set and achieve
EPWP targets for training and job-creation in respect of the EPWP.
Work undertaken
The initial intention of this sub-programme was to
work with 12 Municipalities, 4 Provincial Departments dealing with
Infrastructure (Roads, Works or Transport) and at least 2 State Owned
Enterprises.
In 2005 engagement commenced with six Municipalities and two
Provinces. The Support Programme appointed Facilitators and Technical
Experts to work in each Municipality and Province with a focus on
assisting them to identify and implement labour intensive EPWP
infrastructure projects and to report on the work opportunities
generated to the EPWP Unit. The process included identifying those
projects that were blocked from being implemented and finding ways to
resolve these blockages. To assist this process, the Support Programme
developed a Management Information System (MIS) to monitor project
implementation progress. In addition engagements commenced with State
Owned Enterprises.
By the middle of 2006 it was clear that Municipalities and Provinces
face different challenges and have a different focus in respect of
implementing EPWP projects. Accordingly it was agreed that the Public
Sector Sub-programme should focus only on Municipalities and a new
sub-programme (Provincial Roads) should be implemented with a focus on
Provinces (see below). In addition after a number of interactions with
State Owned Enterprises it was decided that these entities were
insufficiently interested in engaging around the EPWP and that support
resources would be better focused elsewhere.
With respect to the Provinces, a key learning of the Support Programme
as a result of its interactions during this period was that the
programme had been engaging with the wrong Officials in the Province
and that was why success had been limited. The Support Programme
engaged with the officials in the EPWP Unit of the Province. However
these Officials did not have line accountability for implementing EPWP
projects and were not in control of the budgets. Accordingly their
ability to influence decisions was limited. The Support Programme came
to understand that in order to be more effective there was a need to
support those Officials that had the budget and accountability for
directly implementing EPWP projects. This finding was applied in
respect of the Provincial Roads Programme (see below)
By the end of 2006 the activities undertaken by the Support Programme
had led to a clear understanding of the core functions that are
required in order to support Municipalities to implement the EPWP.
These functions included:
- Ensuring that there is a will and commitment from senior
personnel in the Municipality to meet EPWP targets.
- Facilitating relationships across the municipality to support
the planning, implementation and reporting of EPWP work
opportunities through a management information system.
- Providing engineering support to the Municipality to expedite
project delivery and labour intensive design and implementation.
- Developing and operating a management information system to
record EPWP projects, their progress in implementation and the
number of work opportunities that they provided per quarter.
In addition a methodology had been developed by the
Support Programme as to how this support could be provided to a
Municipality. The Support Programme also determined that the intensity
of the resource required to enable municipal delivery was substantial.
It was therefore decided that there was no further value in the
Support Programme itself extending its activities to additional
Municipalities. Rather a process was put in place whereby the EPWP
Unit would procure technical resource which could work with additional
municipalities.
While the Support Programme continued to work directly with selected
Municipalities, at the same time it began to work with the EPWP Unit
to put in place a “Joint Engagement Strategy” whereby the Support
Programme and EPWP Unit would work together to offer the support to 45
municipalities with the highest MIG allocations. This required
‘translating’ the methodology being applied by the Support Programme
into a methodology that would be appropriate for a public entity and
could be applied at scale.
At the start of 2007 implementation of the Municipal Joint
Engagement Strategy commenced on the following basis:
- The Support Programme continued to provide direct support to
four Municipalities
- The EPWP Unit procured the services of Virtual Inkhanyiso to
provide technical support through a structure to be called the
‘National Technical Support Team’. Work began initially with 41
municipalities and over time expanded to 130.
- The Management Information System developed by the Support
Programme was adapted to support all participating municipalities,
with the Support Programme retaining management responsibility for
the system. This system comprises a national internet based
monitoring and information system, together with a DataBureau that
verified information being put onto the system and produced progress
reports on the data loaded.
By 2008 the systems, processes and procedures
developed by the Support Programme through the Public Sector
Sub-Programme had been fully adapted and taken over by the EPWP Unit
who continued to run the sub-programme as one of their permanent
activities. The Support Programme exited the last of the direct
engagements with municipalities, but continued to run the DataBureau
and MIS and to provide support to the National Technical Team and the
EPWP Unit in undertaking the programme.
During 2009 the MIS system and DataBureau adjusted for the second
phase of the EPWP. The Support Programme handed over the system to the
EPWP Unit in 2010.
All of the above work was undertaken in close cooperation with the
EPWP Unit. Task Team meetings were held monthly to agree the work to
be undertaken and monitor progress.
Achievements
Key achievements in respect of this sub-programme
include the following:
- The Support Programme worked with six municipalities and two
provinces, assisting them to identify and facilitate labour
intensive EPWP infrastructure projects.
- The Support Programme developed a Monitoring and information
System and Data Bureau to report EPWP projects, monitor progress and
identify blockages. This system is being used by the EPWP Unit in
the implementation of the second phase of the EPWP.
- Based on the lessons learnt, the EPWP Unit rolled out the
approach developed by the Support Programme with its own Technical
Support Team to 110 Municipalities. The Support Programme provided
ongoing support to this process in hosting the MIS, quality assuring
all data and setting up all required monitoring processes to monitor
the support.
- A target management process aimed at ensuring that senior
leadership manage target achievement was developed and adopted by
the EPWP Unit.
Lessons learnt
Through this sub - programme the Support Programme
identified, developed and applied critical lessons about the
functions required for effective support to Municipalities to
create and report work opportunities and the capacities
required to effectively undertake these functions.
These learning’s were initially learnt through the direct engagement
with the original six municipalities, and then refined through ongoing
application and review with the EPWP Unit and the National Technical
Support Team. Finally, the learning’s were applied in the development
and implementation of the incentive grant during the second phase of
the EPWP.
The learnings are as follows:
1) Prioritise the areas where EPWP delivery can
most likely be achieved:
- Initially, provide support to the institutions with the best
chance of succeeding.
- Prioritise projects which are already labour intensive, or where
there are standard or explicit ways for increasing labour intensity
(i.e. as set out in the EPWP Guidelines).
- Allocate expensive resources (such as engineering support) only
in the places where there is a will and capacity to implement EPWP
principles.
2) Establish clear targets for EPWP delivery:
- Targets should be explicit,
- Targets should be agreed by senior management (MMC or Portfolio
Councillor),
- Achievement of the targets should be actively monitored, and
- Achievement of the targets should lead to recognition and
affirmation.
3) Formalise
agreements on support :
- The support to be provided should be explicitly defined and
agreed.
- Provision of the support should be monitored.
- Support should be withdrawn if there is not mutual participation
or appreciation of the activities from the entity being supported.
4) Maintain all information on one single project
database:
- The Management Information System allowed one database of
projects to be reviewed by the EPWP Unit at all times- to monitor
both the anticipated EPWP delivery; and the actual performance at
any one time of any public body towards its targets.
- This database of projects was fully visible to any stakeholder
interested in viewing it and immediately allayed fears that the EPWP
Unit was reporting invalid data.
- As the programme developed, options were developed to enable
national EPWP staff, deployed resources (e.g. technical consultants
and or data capturers), municipal staff or others delegated by them
to enter data. This was useful in increasing the ease by which data
could be loaded. However it required the need to maintain ruthless
integrity in:
- Ensuring data validity.
- Monitoring the system to show where there was movement or not.
- Incorporating “authoriser” functions, to ensure public bodies
explicitly authorised information loaded on their behalf.
- Identifying projects and public bodies which were not updating
information and ensuring interventions were established to resolve
this problem.
5) Provide dedicated technical/engineering
support to municipalities only where collaborative reporting capacity
is in place:
Originally, it was understood that the purpose of
providing technical support- through the form of qualified civil
engineers, would be to assist the municipalities to:
- Identify projects most suitable for labour intensive
implementation.
- Ensure that the MIG Business Plans or other project
documentation allowed for labour intensive engineering methods.
- Support municipal staff to require labour intensive methods in
the contracting documents with consultants and contractors.
- Monitor application of labour intensive methods and ensure all
subsequent work opportunities were reported to the EPWP Unit
nationally.
The significant lack of engineering capacity in
municipalities however often meant that technical support personnel
were caught between conflicting priorities:
- Municipal staff were grateful for their assistance in performing
their normal functions- regardless of EPWP or labour intensity.
- EPWP Staff, caught in the quarterly panic of needing to get jobs
reported, wanted them to capture data as their primary objective-
from any infrastructure project regardless of their labour
intensity.
By the end of the fifth year of the programme, it
became clear that there is little point in having a technical support
capacity, if there is not an equally clear and collaborative reporting
capacity in place.
6) Provide Management Reports and Monitor
Performance:
A significant learning is the need to ensure that
EPWP performance is monitored regularly and not only at the time of
submitting reports. The critical milestones for municipalities to
monitor, particularly in the second phase of the EPWP, if they are to
ensure they receive the maximum amount of incentive grant payments
are:
- Ensuring that projects with sufficient budget are identified for
EPWP delivery. The Incentive targets are based on budget
allocations, so projects must be identified and loaded onto the MIS
with budgets equivalent or more to those used to calculate the
incentive targets.
- Ensuring that projects are progressing through the project
preparation milestones and that EPWP work opportunities are planned
for. Any delay in the normal project cycle will impact on EPWP
achievements. Projects identified as providing opportunities for
labour intensity, must be designed by the consulting engineer in a
way which maximises the job opportunities. Managers should regularly
review their planned projects and ensure that any problems are
swiftly dealt with.
- Ensuring that projects create the work opportunities expected.
In addition, that data is captured at site in the correct manner.
The incentive grant has stringent requirements for public bodies in
regard to its financial and beneficiary reporting. It is therefore
essential that managers monitor compliance with these requirements
throughout the process.
Perhaps the most significant learning however is
that many public bodies do not routinely manage the performance of
projects, staff or contractors and considerable assistance is required
to enable them to do this.
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