ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROJECT REPORT (MAVC E-CITIZENRY PHASE 2) by rentia ellis

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PILOT PROJECT REPORT (MAVC E-CITIZENRY PHASE 2) Asset Based Community-Driven Development In Municipal Planning Processes Eastern Cape, South Africa

“It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another” Nelson Mandela 1

Table of Contents About this Report

Acknowledgements

Implementing Partners

Strategic Partners

Section A: Partner Perspectives

Section B: Project Background and Overview

Section C: ABCD Roll Out Plan

Section D: Recommendations and Conclusion

ABOUT THIS REPORT This report is an overview of Asset Based Community Development ABCD in Municipal planning pilot (phase 2 Making All Voices Count, E – Citizenry), which was implemented from January 2015 – July 2017. However, it must be noted that the processes with the donor HIVOS commenced in March 2014 through the submission of a concept note, after approval submission of a full proposal, a due diligence process and finally the signing of the funding agreement. This public domain publication consists of 3 parts namely this report, case study and Portfolio of Evidence (POE) to provide a full spectrum of how the project was rolled out. The purpose of a detailed publication is to offer a "working model” that has been piloted within the municipal space both as a social innovation as well as a “good practice" model. The ECNGOC will welcome feedback / enquiries for those local municipalities that are keen to scale up and replicate ABCD (phase1 ABCD in municipal planning processes) and ABCD (phase 2 - Making all Voices Count – E-Citizenry Surveys) so we customise each roll out based on the demographic profile of a particular municipality. The core issue that was addressed by the ABCD Pilot in municipal planning processes was to bridge the gap between citizen/state interface, stimulate active citizen participation through the E-Surveys, address community dissatisfaction on service delivery issues, align community participation to the Independed Development Plan (IDP) and Local Economic Development (LED) planning processes and most importantly strengthen citizen confidence in democratic processes. I trust you will find the report both inspiring and practical so that you will be empowered and equipped to take the ABCD pilot to the rest of South Africa and Africa as a starting point. Tata Nelson Mandela said “What separates one community from another is not so much what they have but they do with what they have.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Eastern Cape NGO Coalition (ECNGOC) wishes to express their profound gratitude and acknowledgement to all our key partners who in one way or the other had contributed immensely to the successful implementation of the just concluded ABCD Pilot 2; •

Making All Voices Count (MACVC) for their outstanding technical expertise and financial assistance in funding the pilot to

•

Mott Foundation for their long standing partnership towards operational funding for the past 21 years.

•

Eastern Cape Socio Economic Consultative Council (ECSECC) for their immense technical expertise and support in strengthening and sharing various valid strategies in local government intervention.

•

Raymond Mhlaba Municipality for their participation, views and commitment as a pilot site.

•

Enoch Mgjima Municipality for their participation and commitment displayed as a pilot site.

•

Streetwise Company being represented by Shaun Fourie for providing and customising the streetwise device and continued technical assistance

•

David Du Preez for his Monitoring and Evaluation Expertise

•

Technical Task Team for providing overall monitoring and reviewed the implementation and results throughout the whole process.

•

Reference group for providing ongoing strategy and technical expertise (Office of the Premier (OTP), ECSECC, South Africa Local Government Association (SALGA), Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) , GIZ (German Development Partner)

IMPLEMNTING PARTNERS

STRATEGIC PARTNERS

SECTION A PARTNER PERSPECTIVES

ECNGOC - Chairperson David Claassen The Eastern Cape NGO Coalition is a membership based network that derives its mandate from its members. It has developed and grown to 900 members, who are a collective of non-governmental, faith and community based organisations that are committed to changing conditions of the most disadvantaged people of South Africa, especially in the Eastern Cape Province. The ECNGOC is accorded recognition as the most representative structure of the development sector in the Province. It has also played a significant role in many consultative stakeholder forums and government led development structures and processes. For the past 22 years of its existence, the ECNGOC has managed to stick to its primary mandate of creating a vibrant civil society. Over the past 3 years, the ECNGOC’s main focus has been entrenching Asset Based Community Development in Municipal planning processes. This project promoted public participation in local government processes (IDP / LED). ECNGOC piloted this project in Enoch Mgijima and Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipalities, through GIZ funding in Phase 1 yielded good results which led to a new donor partnering with ECNGOC for Phase 2. Phase 2 was funded by HIVOS, under Making all voices count. The use of the streetwise device encouraged citizens to freely voice out their opinions and views around service delivery issues without fear and prejudice. The village approach also created platforms for the inclusion of marginalised groups, i.e. older women, unemployed youth and people with disabilities to participate and be heard in conducting the E-Survey. A lot of lessons can be drawn from this project. It became evident that there is high rate of computer illiteracy. Regardless of this, communities were still looking forward to participate in this project. Communities are always looking for opportunities like these, to air their voices and be heard. Therefore the ECNGOC sees the NGO sector playing a critical role as it has entrenched within its development trajectory an “assets orientation “rather than a “needs approach “to development. In addition, it has a critical role to play in promoting active citizenry and public participation.

ECNGOC - Director Rooks Moodley The Eastern Cape NGO Coalition is an umbrella structure representing more than 900 NGO’s in the Eastern Cape. The primary mandate of ECNGOC is to create a vibrant civil society through its primary target group – (NGO’s) NonGovernmental Organisations. The ECNGOC in implementing its mandate has 3 key focus areas:

1. To strengthen NpO compliance to legislation 2. To influence the development trajectory – a shift from a “needs” to an “assets” orientation to development – Asset Based Community Driven Development - ABCD 3. Strengthen NGO sustainability The ECNGOC as part of its second focus area to influence the development trajectory – implemented 2 pilots – ABCD in Municipal Planning (phase 1) and ABCD IN Municipal Planning (phase 2 – MAVC – E- Citizenry). The ECNGOC is of the view that both pilots phase 1 & phase 2 have immense “value add” in enhancing meaningful public participation. However it must be emphasized that the effectiveness of phase 2 was very much built & embedded into phase 1 as a crucial foundational component, phase 2 enhanced the Municipal Planning processes of both the IDP & LED planning processes. The ABCD development approach as a social facilitation methodology & theory of change catalyses people placing citizens at the centre of their own development agenda. The MAVC (pilot – phase 2) through the use of a digital device (streetwise collaborator) & the completion of ESurveys (electronic) provided an opportunity for citizen engagement through meaningful public participation. The voices of citizens through E-Surveys provided content & created inclusion of the voices of community in both the IDP & LED processes. This pilot phase 2 helped to bridge the gap between citizens & state in a meaningful way. Citizens were also provided an opportunity to evaluate the services within their local municipalities aligned to the Back to the Basic Pillars of putting people first.

Therefore the ECNGOC / HIVOS – ABCD (phase2 – MAVC – E-Citizenry pilot) has the potential to bring citizens at the centre of the state planning processes. In addition the voices of citizens are included in the IDP & LED planning processes. The State / Citizens interface is strengthened & through citizen engagement and feedback greater trust, confidence & commitment grows and joint planning (bottom up) becomes central. The ECNGOC is convinced that citizen engagement is a game changer for development. The ECNGOC /HIVOS (phase 2 – MAVC –E-Citizenry) pilot has the potential for scale up & replication not just in the Eastern Cape but in South Africa. Tata Nelson Mandela said “…. the real makers of history are the ordinary men and women of our country. Their participation in every decision about the future is the only guarantee of true democracy and freedom.” (Address at a rally in Durban, 25 February 1990)

ECNGOC – Programme Facilitator Pinkie Nibe

During the period of December 2015 – July 2017, the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition has been an implementing partner of the ABCD in Municipal Planning Processes Pilot (Phase 2) Project in two municipalities - Enoch Mgijima and Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. The key objective of the project was to bridge the gap of meaningful public participation between citizens and the state through the use of a digital device called the streetwise collaborator. The pilot kicked off with strategic discussions from strategic partners who did not only review the design and layout of the survey but gave technical support and strategic direction on (1) how best the pilot can be rolled out (2) replication in other municipalities and (3) how the ABCD approach can be used as the government planning tool. Following the strategic discussions which were ongoing were Community surveys / Community Engagements where communities did not only have an opportunity to voice out their grievances concerning service delivery but had continuous engagement with Local Government on community development and public services. The engagements were in line with Pillar 2 of the Back 2 Basics Campaign. The project also promoted public participation using a bottom up approach and created platforms where communities would effectively engage with sector departments and local government on public services and community development issues. From the surveys conducted, it is evident that service delivery issues are key and that it results to protest from local government sphere to provincial sphere. The implementation of the programme also revealed that the sector department’s work in silos, the Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR) structure at local level is not functioning as it should. The pilot then revived the IGR structure through Community Feedback Sessions where sector department scame together to give feedback on survey findings.

The project implementation plan was not implemented as planned due to 2016 Local Government Elections and other External Environmental factors which impacted on the project time frame and project targets. While we had to adapt our rollout plan due to factors in the external environment, we happy to report that we achieved our project outcomes with maximum impact as stated in our project proposal. The pilot indeed has potential for replication in other municipalities. The ABCD approach also is a developmental approach that should be used as a Government Planning Tool and that will enable communities to be the drivers of their development and promote public participation and active citizenry.

COGTA-EC Amathole District Support Centre Manager Mr Wandile Naku The department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA-EC) has been part of the ABCD approach towards changing and streamlining new approaches to planning, in particular our municipal IDPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. I have learnt a lot in the process of working with the ECNGOC in particular the workshops which were held in Raymond Mhlaba LM wherein communities were directly involved an actively participating. We further appreciate the training provided to our communities and we wish the programme well.

The Streetwise Company Managing Director Shaun Fourie The Streetwise Company was contracted by The Eastern Cape NGO Coalition (ECNGOC) to develop an E-Survey Application for the ABCD programme. This application was successfully developed as per the specification and integrated into the Streetwise Collaborator product. The Streetwise Collaborator product is a content access solution that has been developed in order to provide customised and proprietary solutions to problems associated with the collection and delivery of content and information in underserviced areas. I am confident that the relationship that has been established between both parties has allowed us to run an open forum when addressing and resolving a few minor challenges experienced in the initial stages of the project. The encouraging fact is that the relationship has proved that public and private sector can successfully collaborate resulting in the delivery of a successful project such as the ABCD programme. Many thanks for allowing us the opportunity to work with you and hopefully this is only the start of many successful projects in the future. Best wishes.

SECTION B PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION Citizen’s participation in governance matters is regarded as one of the key pillars of democracy and social accountability in any stable and thriving democracy. In the South African context, the National Development Plan (NDP) specifically mentions citizens participation and social accountability as areas that should be strengthened not only to ensure that citizens can hold government institutions accountable but also to ensure that citizens voices find expression in government planning processes, particularly so, in the communities in which they reside. Government has made positive strides in its attempts to promote citizen participation. Numerous approaches and methods including the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) process, Ward Committee System and the Community Development Worker (CDW) Programme were all introduced to encourage citizen participation. However, civil society, practitioners and academia have repeatedly pointed out a number of shortcomings in citizen participation processes which they say; adversely affect social accountability and responsiveness of the state to service delivery and development priorities of citizens. The continued lack of ‘proper engagement’ which ECNGOC terms ' meaningful public participation “, where members of the public are often only consulted at the later stages of planning is seen as a major weakness. Citizens are not offered a real opportunity to influence the pre-decided development priorities which are not only presented in highly complex documents but also written in technical language not easily understood by ordinary citizens. Additionally, even where local government holds consultations at ward level in earlier stages of planning, the over reliance on external service providers, the silo approach of different municipal units and interfering political priorities often result in the raised concerns of communities not finding adequate expression in the aggregated planning documents of municipalities. Therefore the ECNGOC implemented a pilot project called ABCD in Municipal Planning processes (MAVC phase 2 – E-citizenry). The project was implemented in two municipalities (Enoch Mgijima & Raymond Mhlaba). The project aimed to bridge the gap on citizen participation in the local government sphere with the use of a digital device called the Streetwise Collaborator. 20

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS Like many other countries, especially in Africa, South Africa is struggling with food insecurity, ill-health, poverty, unemployment and crime. South Africa’s democratic transition is considered one of the miracles of the 20 thcentury and people hoped for a prospect of a better life after the apartheid era (Country review report no.5, 2007). South Africa today is generally considered as an upper middle income country. But for many South Africans it has little meaning, as they are struggling to access quality education, affordable healthcare, access to basic services, and are struggling to find work. Since the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa has conducted three censuses: 1996, 2001 and 2011. Statistics South Africa has also conducted two Community Surveys (CS), the CS 2016 is the second inter censual survey, following the CS 2007. The survey captures changes in structure and movement of the population. It provides information on population size; age and sex composition; labour force composition; the changing patterns of rural/urban movement and concentration, education and health; geographic distribution and housing characteristics; and other facilities that have bearing on the social aspects of housing. The Survey 2016 results are thus critical in promoting optimal resource allocation and utilisation in all spheres of government in order to reduce poverty and vulnerability among South Africa’s most marginalised. This provides essential data to government for policymaking, planning and administration. This is also critical for the decisionmaking processes of the private sector. Population size and characteristics can influence the location of businesses and services to satisfy the needs of the target population South Africa’s Population at a glance in Community Survey 2016 showed total population for South Africa is 55, 653 654 (49.0% Male and 51.0% Female) Total population for the Eastern Cape depicted 6 996 976 (47.6% Male and 52.4% Female). Eastern Cape’s population increased from 6,6 million people in 2011 to 7 million in 2016, making it the third most populous province in the country, behind Gauteng (13,4 million) and KwaZulu-Natal (11,1 million). The number of households in the province has also increased to 1,8 million in 2016, from 1,7 million in 2011.

The district municipality with the largest share of households in the province is Buffalo City (368 520), followed by OR Tambo (313 889), Nelson Mandela Bay (247 759), Amathole (222 415), Alfred Nzo (195 979), Chris Hani (191 356), Sarah Baartman (138 182) and Joe Gqabi (95 294). This population index showed that Eastern Cape has grown in population between Census 1996 and Community Survey 2016. According to the Community Survey 2016 Eastern Cape population, the provincial population share has declined from 15.1% in Census 1996 to 12.6% in CS 2016. The province has also the second lowest population growth rate in the country. One of the reasons for this is that the province has the highest out-migration in the country. Nevertheless, this survey shows that 1 914 036 people migrated out of the province while only 320 619 people migrated into the province, leading to a net migration of 1 593 417 people, up from 1 592 798 in census 2011. Eastern Cape population growth rate between the Census 2011 and the Community Survey 2016 showed that the Eastern Cape grew by 6.6%, compared to 7.5% for the country as a whole. This is due to the large number of young people leaving rural provinces to seek employment in urbanised provinces. This statistic revealed the alienation of human condition as a pivotal area that hinders the effective landscape development, therefore, there should be a paradigm shift for social mobilisation of propagating a strategy where people working together in term of social cohesion with little or no dependence of external support. This has now resulted in the importance of the application ABCD in municipal planning processes. This project is a strategy and approach that reinforces community-led and sustainable development and builds on the assets that are already found in the community. The approach essentially mobilizes all the ABCD champions such as individuals, associations, and institutions to come unanimously together to build on their assets through social cohesion. This is in contrast to more conventional community development strategies and approaches that tend to focus primarily on community problems and needs. ABCD pilot phase 2/ MAVC E-Citizen Survey is also a strategy directed towards sustainable economic development and uses the social capital of communities that includes networks, norms, technological innovation and trust that help to increase productive potential in our community. The dominant narrative in the case of the protests in South Africa has been attributed to alleged failures of government. However, the protests are not simply the result of failures of government but also of the success in delivering basic services. 22

When 95% of households have access to water, the 5% who still need to be provided for, feel they cannot wait a moment longer. According to President Zuma “Success is also the breeding ground of rising expectations”, which explained the circumstance where communities can’t wait any longer for their expectation to manifest. Here in our province of Eastern Cape report showed that since 2012, thousands of residents of municipalities in the Eastern Cape, have taken their battle for running water and other basic services to the streets. According to Municipal Audit Report, it painted a grim picture of the state of municipalities across the country. As municipalities battle to keep their books in order, they’re also dealing with growing frustration among South Africans. It is important that we also take a careful examination and acknowledging that since 1994 the integrated system of local government has delivered much serviced communities in the form of water, electricity, roads, local economic development and sporting facilities however many of our communities remain un-serviced and consciously true integrated development planning programme we are pushing the frontiers of delivery to make sure that those areas that were not serviced indeed they get into the bandwagon of service delivery,” said (SALGA) . In view of this the ABCD pilot project, is used as a public participation mechanism to bring the communities together with their various municipalities to be able to make their voice counts and also able to convert their existing assert in their disposal to the most advantage. Therefore the ABCD Pilot (phase 2)/ MAVC E-Citizen Survey embedded further the principles of ABCD and strengthen meaningful public participation in municipal planning processes. The ABCD pilot in municipal planning processes (phase 2) also provided opportunity for citizens to be engaged directly through e-surveys using the digital tool. This entails that this digital platform provides opportunity for meaningful public participation for service delivery within wards in the two municipalities. The ultimate aim is to develop public participation mechanisms that will enhance the interface between the state and the citizens at local government as well as ensure that citizens are meaningfully engaged and actively participate in municipal planning processes.

To be able to achieve these objectives the project implementation and roll out plan included capacity building where trained ABCD Champions together with ward councillors (which involve both past and present councillors), ward committees and community development workers were trained on how to use its tools called streetwise collaborator. The community survey was also conducted and during that process communities had an opportunity to raise issues pertaining to service delivery which can then be cascaded to the municipalities for attention using the streetwise collaborator.

Defining ABCD ABCD is a strategy and approach that reinforces community-led and sustainable development and builds on the assets that are already found in the community. Differently stated, the approach essentially mobilizes individuals, associations, and institutions to come together to build on the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assets and social cohesion (ubuntu). This is in contrast to more conventional community development strategies and approaches that tend to focus primarily on community problems and needs. ABCD is also a strategy directed towards sustainable economic development and uses the social capital of communities that includes networks, norms, and trust that help to increase productive potential.

Background to ABCD ABCD model has been designed to encourage citizen action and to link to municipal planning processes. ABCD has been developed in order to enhance citizen participation in the development planning of government and at the same time meet the wishes of the people and government in a bid to deepen democracy. This ABCD approach requires citizens to actively get involved in implementing and managing their own development, while claiming their rights and carrying out their responsibilities as citizens.

Paradigm shift: from a needs based approach to the ABCD model of development In the past, development planning in South Africa tended to focus on needs with a view of bringing development to communities. Unfortunately, this kind of planning had disastrous effects for developing communities. We have witnessed on the daily basis how young people and the well-educated have continued to relocate to metropolitan areas as a result of their shattered hopes of finding employment opportunities. The launch of ABCD project was seen by many stakeholders and role players as an opportunity where community assets as well as the capacities and energies of ordinary people could be channeled to promote community driven 25

development. A growing number of civil society organizations have incorporated ABCD into their work with the view that model empowers citizens and stimulates local community development. It has been demonstrated that the ABCD model has been able to stimulate community action. Piloting of ABCD in municipal planning Processes phase 1 & 2 has stimulated government interest to enhance community participation. The ABCD model entails the following process:

SECTION C ABDC ROLL OUT PLAN

ABCD ROLL OUT PLAN

No.

Activity Title

Beneficiary

Outputs

Timelines

Purchase & set up of digital streetwise tool

50 (ABCD champions)

To have a tool for conducting surveys and use as a feedback mechanism tool

Quarter 1

Reference Group meetings Advice relevant departments (OTP/ SALGA/ COGTA)

13 (comprising of ECNGOC/ ECSECC/ OTP/ SALGA/ COGTA, NGO member)

Monitor progress of the pilot, share information on how to strengthen the pilot

Quarter 1 - 4

Training 2 days per Municipality

30 people in each municipality each day (90% women)

Increase public participation and service delivery in the 2 Municipalities

Quarter 1

Monitor service delivery as well as leveraging assets to strengthen and sustain local government processes by use of the Streetwise electronic device 4

Community feedback engagement

30 people in each municipality (90% women)

Increase public participation and service delivery

Quarter 1 - 4

Reports & Publications

N/A (to reach a lot of people as possible)

Sharing of the pilot and to leverage more resources so to replicate in more municipalities

Quarter 4

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT The project was an expansion of the ABCD Pilot Phase 1. Therefore the main objectives of the project ere to; •

•

Bridge the gap of meaningful public participation by use of a streetwise collaborator and community engagement sessions. The streetwise collaborator is a digital tool that will be used by ABCD Champions to monitor service delivery in their local municipality through electronic- surveys customised for engagement and centrally captured by the coalition, Develop good practices on how ABCD can be embedded in Municipal planning processes through collaboration between civil society and local government. Generate lessons learnt on integration of ABCD methodology into ward based planning and IDP, as well as LED sector planning.

OUTCOMES •

• • •

Increase number of ABCD champions (4 extra) per ward in ABCD awareness which looks at what citizens have to address what they need. It is a strengths based / appreciative enquiry approach to development, a shift from the needs, this includes a paradigm shift. E-surveys used to increase public participation and service delivery monitoring, E-surveys will be aligned to IDPs to monitor service delivery Active engagement with office of Premier (OTP), SALGA, COGTA and local. municipality to enhance service delivery interventions Community feedback loop

• • Replicate this model in other local municipalities to increase public participation and address community dissatisfaction with service delivery and also help communities deal with anger and shorten the gap between citizens and the state

PROJECT TIMEFRAME The project was initially planned to be implemented from January 2016 to December 2016, however the local government elections in August 2016 resulted in delays in implementing some of the project activities, the project had to be extended till June 2017.

KEY ROLE PLAYERS IN IMPLEMENTATION The ECNGOC was the key implementing organisation in this pilot project. During the implementation, it worked closely with key officials in the two municipalities. Since ECSECC is a champion of ABCD theory of change, their technical expertise both on reference group and throughout the project roll out has added immense value to the implementation of the project. Provincial government partners such as COGTA and SALGA and sector departments were in the course of project implementation, continuously kept in the loop and invited to key milestone events such as the community feedback sessions. Below is s table showing stakeholder/ Government engagement and how the project engages relevant government officials. KEY ROLE PLAYERS

No.

Institution

Role

Link to the ABCD Pilot

1. ECNGOC

Coordinate strategic partnership

Acts as a coordinating structure, use the information from the documented results in phase one in municipal planning process to initiate dialogue in quarterly reference groups

2. MAVC

funding partner 30

3. Eastern Cape Socio Economic Consultative Council (ECSECC)

ECSECC is mandate to offers technical support on governance issues in the province

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been offering technical support from the onset of the pilot, one of its senior members presented on the Eastern Cape context on

4. Office of the Premier (OTP)

Planning, coordination, and policy imperatives on public participation and scale up in the Eastern Cape

Their role is to review the public participation policy and establishment of public participation mechanism using interventions from the ABCD Pilot as a point of reference - in addition the OTP will be responsible to replicate and scale up the ABCD model to the other 45 municipalities in Eastern Cape

5. (SALGA)

Strengthen capacity building initiatives at all spheres of local government

SALGAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is to increase ABCD training as a structured intervention to all municipality official and ward councillors -SALGA has been part of the reference groups meeting and we hoping it will keep the momentum -In addition SALGA will make use of results from the pilot to create awareness on citizen participation.

- Link to the local government capacitation of local municipalities both officials and community development workers in strengthening support to municipalities, the coal face of service delivery SALGA to assist in replication and roll out of the pilot 6. (COGTA)

Enhance municipal support for service delivery Conduct quarterly reference group meetings and submit reports Lop joint action plan for responsiveness and monitoring

COGTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role would be to align community profiling tool used in the pilot with ward based planning to develop all future ward based plans the assets oriented way. Link to the Back to the Basics Campaign Link to the Provincial War on Poverty strategy , the ABCD theory of change is being embedded in citizens and stakeholders ( conceptualisation and integration) Assist in replication and roll out of pilot

7. Local IDP& LDP departments in Lukhanji & Nkonkobe municipalities

Planning and coordination of the pilot (training sessions and focus group meeting)

These departments have already aligned the community profiling tool used in the pilot to the 2016 ward based planning

PROJECT SITES The pilot project was implemented in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality and Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality. The selection of the two areas as suitable pilots involved consultation with various stakeholders during the pilot phase 1 stage, since this pilot project builds on from pilot project 1 it was essential we use the same municipalities for continuity.

Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality The Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality situated in the Winterland of the Eastern Cape under the jurisdiction of the Amathole District. It is approximately 200km from Port Elizabeth. It is the largest municipality of the six in the district, making up a third of its geographical area. Raymond Mhlaba was established by the amalgamation of the Nkonkobe and Nxuba Local Municipalities in August 2016. It is a countryside municipality that includes the imposing and majestic mountain range of the Winterberg (IiNtabazeNkonkobe). The rural hinterland forms part of the municipal area. Most of the farming activities take place in the rural areas, which consist of partly-owned farms, and this plays a major role in the economic growth of the area.

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality The Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality is situated within the Chris Hani District in the central part of the Eastern Cape Province. It is the largest of the six municipalities in the district, making up over a third of its geographical area. It was established by the amalgamation of the Tsolwana, Inkwanca and Lukhanji Local Municipalities in August 2016. The area has a rich historical background dating back to the 18th century, with a number of monuments and key places of interest. The Enoch Mgijima municipal area is an economic hub, due to its strategic position in the middle of the national corridors to the Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and Free State Provinces. Parts of the municipality are developed with the relevant infrastructure so that modes of transport such as railway, road and a small airport are available to be utilised. Other parts of the region are experiencing a low economic growth rate, with high levels of unemployment and poverty in the towns.

SECTION D RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATION     

It can be recommending that the Asset Based ward base plans that were developed during phases should be incorporated to the new IDP. ABCD should be made a Municipal Planning Tool and be the Eastern Cape model for development. It is also recommending that ABCD should align with Premiers programmes, Operations Masiphatisane and War Rooms. It is also recommending during one the session that ECNGOC with the support of SALGA and COGTA to present the pilot to various senior forums of Government. If COGTA and SALGA can engage with MUNIMEC and influence them about ABCD.

CONCLUSION This Second phase of the ABCD Pilot projects is no doubt a game changing programme in term of bringing together all the ABCD Pilot project participant and thereby bridging the gap between local government and communities through the newly adoption of digital device. However, the fourth quarter of the project was very challenging. The planned activities were not implemented due to change of leadership during the elections and other internal municipal activities that follow elections. In terms of activities, the objectives are not met but with regards to deliberations on how ABCD can be escalated there has been a meaningful input and participations as well as commitment Despite the challenges encountered during this phase because of the level of computer literacy of some of community’s older members in implementation of Streetwise Collaborator devices, the community engagement session and the survey went very well ECNGOC Team were able to successfully met some of the objectives and anticipated that the target reach was met by the end of the pilot and thereby Made All Voice Heard. The community members received the programme very well with the hope that the issues raised on the survey will be addressed soon The communities have hope in the project in terms of service delivery issues that will be cascaded to the municipality and relevant sector department. The new councillors form all the municipalities also accepted the approach with the view that the approach it is aligned to the IDP and will assist with service delivery in their various communities. 36

DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM Mobilisation of Social assets for Social action & Social Change

What is Asset Based Community-Driven Development? ABCD is a strategy and approach that reinforces community-led and sustainable development and builds on the assets that are already found in the community. Differently stated, the approach essentially mobilises individuals, associations and institutions to come together and build on their assets and social cohesion (ubuntu). This is in contrast to more conventional community development strategies and approaches that tend to focus primarily on community problems and needs. ABCD is a strategy directed towards sustainable economic development and uses the social capital of communities that includes networks, norms and trust that helps to increase productive potential.

ABCD Principles 1. Seeing a glass as half full rather than half empty ABCD focusses on the half full part of the glass, where the strengths, capabilities and assets of the community lie.

2. Identifying and naming assets rather than seeing needs ABCD uses asset maps to illustrate strengths and skills of people, organisations and businesses 37

Physical Address Block C East London IDZ Science & Technology Park, Harbour Arterial Street, Sunnyridge Postal Address Postnet 227, Private Bag X9063, East London, 5200 Tel: 087 373 1082 / Fax: 086 622 4780 Email: info@ecngoc.co.za Web: www.ecngoc.co.za / Digital Portal: www.ecngoportal.org 38