Pretoria – An initiative by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) will give citizens an opportunity to participate in the monitoring processes at local government level.
Citizens and officials from the DPME this week collaborated on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Citizen Survey, which aims to create a mechanism for citizen participation in the monitoring of decision-making and implementation in local government.
The initiation of the first Citizen Based Monitoring (CBM) training for the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Citizen Survey in the local government sphere took place in Umsobomvu Municipality in Colesberg on Thursday and Friday.
“The CBM survey in the Northern Cape is premised on creating a mechanism for citizen participation in monitoring of decision-making and implementation of local government requirements of the Municipal Systems Act,” said the department on Friday.
To date, five CBM sessions have been facilitated by the DPME in partnership with the South African Police Service (SAPS) in various provinces since May 2016.
Members of the community were trained on how to conduct a survey of citizens’ perceptions and experience of services rendered at police stations in Cape Town, Rondebosch, Butterworth in the Eastern Cape, Amangwe in KwaZulu-Natal and Kopanong in the Free State. Police officers and administrative staff were also invited to give their views on service delivery during the sessions.
The CBM programme is due to continue on 9 February 2017 in Colesberg, with an IDP Representative Forum, which will lay the ground for community survey and multi-stakeholder feedback meetings.
The survey will run from 13 – 17 February 2017.The process is designed to set the conditions for establishing citizen-based monitoring of service delivery priorities agreed upon and contained in the IDP.
The community of Colesberg is expected to input into the IDP through a door-to-door survey, which will be conducted by a team of selected community members.
The National Development Plan (NDP) highlights the need to make citizen engagement more meaningful to build and active citizenry and a capable developmental state.
CBM is an approach to monitoring government performance that focuses on the experience of ordinary citizens in order to strengthen public accountability. The pilot phase of the CBM ran from September 2013 until March 2015. – SAnews.gov.za
