Municipal Innovation Maturity Index

A NEW TOOL TO ENCOURAGE INNOVATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOR IMPROVED SERVICE DELIVERY.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has developed and introduced the Municipal Innovation Maturity Index (MIMI), an innovative tool to assess the capabilities of municipalities and municipal officials to support innovation for improved service delivery. The project is funded by the Department of Science and Innovation.

The MIMI was developed in line with the country’s 2030 National Development Plan (NDP), which recognizes the development of innovation and technology as priorities to enable the state to achieve improved governance and enhance the quality of basic services. Additionally, the MIMI is expected to enhance the capacity of municipalities to plan, integrate and embed innovation and technology in their daily operations.

What is MIMI and what are its advantages?

MIMI is made up of many facets that are interlinked and work together to promote innovation and learning within and across municipalities. The multifaceted tool also measures innovation maturity of the municipality as an organization and of municipal officials. MIMI consists of:

1. An Information engagement instrument for self-reflective learning – the instrument is a set of questions that requires officials to reflect on the state of maturity or extent to which their activities and the municipal environment is innovation ready. The instrument consists of 2 dimensions. Firstly, the organizational Innovation Culture and Governance which speaks to creating an enabling environment and providing leadership support for innovation, and secondly, the individual innovation capabilities which considers the learning of officials and how the official promotes and partakes in innovation, networking behavior and rates of collaboration.

2. Information processing and analysis – information collected from the instrument is processed generating individual scores for each municipality against the maturity level.

3. Learning forum - MIMI is an interactive information and decision support tool for local government. It relies on the direct and active participation of municipalities through learning forums to open a space for selfreflection and shared learning among municipal officials.

4. Uptake and use in decision support - Along six maturity levels in the MIMI platform, individuals and municipalities can make informed decisions on how to better their innovation capabilities i.e., at an individual, management or organizational level as illustrated in the instrument. 5. Innovation maturity framework - MIMI consists of an innovation capability maturity framework that captures the key underpinning organizational and individual capabilities that can sustainably influence innovation activity.

Continuous engagement with MIMI gradually improves on the innovation maturity of the municipality until innovation is entrenched in all structures of the municipality.

The project team hosted two learning forums with municipal officials during the project implementation. These engagements revealed that MIMI will be instrumental in assisting individual employees and municipalities to learn, adopt, implement, and institutionalize innovations that can improve the functioning and performance of municipalities. Participating in the MIMI enables a municipality to reflect on their innovation capabilities and assists them to make informed decisions and think of ways to manage innovation ideas, institutionalize innovation to migrate to higher levels of innovation maturity.

Piloting and Implementation Testing

The MIMI tool underwent rigorous pilot and implementation testing. However, a low response rate was recorded due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the duration of the implementation testing, 55 responses from municipalities were recorded. Results from the implementation testing show that while municipalities are forging strategic partnerships with external stakeholders, they (municipalities) have faced constraints in the implementation of innovation. These constraints include legislative red tapes, funding, human resources, and management. The implementation testing demonstrated the value of the MIMI tool in assessing the innovation maturity and innovation readiness in municipalities.

The testing also provided some valuable insights on how MIMI can be improved by:

• Developing strategies/incentives to increase the participation of municipal officials

• Providing timeous/scheduled feedback to municipalities on the outcome of their participation

• Regular publication of the state of municipal innovation in South Africa to encourage participation in MIMI.

• Harnessing the strength of the learning aspect of MIMI through increased learning forum/shared learning

CARRS

National Rollout Launch:

The national Rollout of the MIMI was officially launched on the 21st of July 2021 through a webinar. The webinar was attended by various stakeholders including municipal officials, local government policy and decision-makers, government officials from national and provincial departments, research institutions and private-sector partners supporting innovation and innovative programmes. During the launch, Dr Phil Mjwara, (the Director-General of the DSI) encouraged all stakeholders in the national system of innovation to support MIMI and partner with the government to work towards creating an enabling environment for innovation to happen in municipalities. This is particularly important at a time when the local government sector is under pressure to deliver basic services.

Way Forward:

The MIMI tool is now accessible to municipalities through the website (www.mimi.org.za). The next steps are to enroll more municipalities and increase the participation of municipal officials. Coupled with this is the introduction of an accreditation system and the municipal innovation awards that will recognize and encourage the uptake of innovation in municipal policies and processes.

What is MIMI?

MIMI was developed and piloted through a DSI partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

This allows municipalities to assess their science, technology and innovation readiness levels and utilise a technology-based tool to inform them to upscale or take-up innovation in order to improve service delivery.

Algae Based Ponding Water Treatment (IPRDP) CONTACT DETAILS:

Dr. Sithembiso Myeni University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Email: Myeni1@ukzn.ac.za Tel: 031 260 1270