Briefing on SAMDI’s Mandate, Performance and Strategic Directions

1. Briefing on SAMDI’s Mandate, Performance and Strategic Directions Presentation to the Select Committee on Local Government & Administration Cape Town 9 June 2003

2. Statutory and Policy Framework • Constitution • Public Service Act, 1994 (Act ? Of 1994) • White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service (November 1995) • Batho Pele: White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (September 1997) • White Paper on Public Service Training and Education (July 1997) • New Public Service Regulations (1999) • White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (year?)

3. New century, new challenges • More complex public problems • Nature of politics, governance and intersection with public policy is more complex • New discourse and significant impulses that impact on the nature of the state – realisation that transposing, imposing or importing no longer tenable • Role of private sector is being re-defined • New technologies re-define work processes and options available • New labour market challenges • Contradictory pressures on the nation state • Public sector reform, budget reform, managing for results, accountability and monitoring and evaluation are reaching universal prevalence – convergence across countries

4. Public Sector Transformation • Transformation of the Public Service relates to the function and purpose of the Public Service – effective & efficient service delivery (within government’s mandate) • Also relates to nature and profile of the public service – race, gender, values, norms and orientation • Transformation of the Public Service inextricably linked to social and economic transformation • Building the new developmental state is a progressive process – we need to respond appropriately

5. Public Service and social and economic transformation • Most strategic and receptive site for state intervention • Mobility between public and private labour markets • “Bureaucratic petty-bourgeoisie” – historic possibilities • Feed skills into societal institutions • Articulation with the economy – including the “commanding heights of the economy”

6. Summary of operational objectives • Focused on service delivery outcomes • Assigns managerial responsibility for results and for resources applied in achieving outputs • Accountability for actions • Conducts business professionally, transparently and ethically

7. Report on the state of the Public Service (November 2001) • Assessed the values proposed on the constitution • Some progress, but serious challenges remain • Key challenges and opportunities – • combating corruption and mal-administration, improving service delivery and developing human resources • Improved monitoring and evaluation

8. Priority areas within the Public Service • Priority areas: government business processes, hard skills in policy analysis (data intensive), maturing institutions, policies, move to performance budgeting, indicators, priority to improve probity.

9. How? HRD? • HRD? – beyond a limited conception of education and training • Usefulness of “Human Capital” as a concept? • Clear generic skills training – improve efficacy • Responsive to the context – post-industrialisation, huge public sector reform (not “catching up with the past”), global parallels, focus on performance, results and service delivery • Articulation with business process reform, systems redevelopment, new practice

10. What HRD should entail? • Effective and transformed HRM • Training generic skills: procurement, basic business process, people skills, service delivery ethos • High level analytical skills: policy analysis, data analysis beyond narrow quantitative applications, problem-solving, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation • Link between “doing” and “learning” – moving beyond rhetoric, articulating with system design, development and implementation

11. Assessment of challenges and SAMDI’s programmes

12. Service Delivery challenges –current programmes

13. continue

14. In progress – programmes that impact on service delivery

15. Statistics on outputs

16. Recent impact studies Insideout / strategy and tactics have done impact studies on training provided for the public service through SAMDI and JUPMET. Studies were the folowing: • Selected SAMDI programmes (PSLDP, PAS and Service Delivery) from January to end May 2001- (151 trainees and 30 supervisors interviewed) • JUPMET training in 1998 and 1999.(392 trainees and 103 supervisors interviewed)

17. Summary The findings suggest that the three SAMDI programmes have contributed towards the • acquisition and implementation of new skills • the increased levels of staff motivation, confidence • the overall improvement of the departments’ perceived performance

18. Monitoring of SAMDI’s training programmes • Track implementation of AWP • Monitor attendance compliance with Course Bookings • Capture and analyse course reaction data • Monitor & evaluate training on-site • Assess course material compliance to outcomes • Provide administrative support to PAT & PSC meetings • Develop M&E Framework • Access specialised skills for Impact Assessment • Apply M&E Results strategically • Manage Information Effectively • Report timely and accurately

19. SIGNIFICANT NEW AND EMERGING CHALLENGES FOR SAMDI

20. Challenges identified in the PSETA Sector Skills Plan • Retaining effective managers • Developing career paths for lower level workers • Coping with limited resources • Increasing organisational complexity • Restructuring the Public Service, redeploying and retaining existing staff • Managing change and conflict • Managing ICT • Financial skills for managers • Creating new organisational structures • Improving service delivery • Employment equity

21. What are the strategic challenges • Public Sector reform • Budget reform • Accountability • Strategic Planning • Performance Management • Policy formulation • Policy implementation (includes project management) • Organisastional development (Procurement systems, business processes)

22. Emergence of new management development institutes • Cape Administrative Academy (operational); KZN Institute (not launched yet); Free State Institute (launched); North-West Institute (not launched yet) • Mpumalanga in conceptual stage and other provinces to likely to follow • National Departments – DTI; Health, Home Affairs; and NIA • Also have service level partnerships established (eg. Eastern Cape) • Implications for SAMDI?

23. Local Government Initiatives • Cabinet Lekgotla of 2002 – extended mandate to include local government • Benefits to having a national and uniform public service • Discussions underway to take this further with DPLG – proposal developed • Work closely with DPLG and SALGA • Have to develop innovative ways to meet challenges and scope

24. Beyond Public Service • Take a broad view on human capital development – medium term perspective and links with private sector labour markets • NEPAD – central challenge relates to the efficacy of delivery vehicles – public services

25. NEPAD • Two distinct dimensions to NEPAD that are relevant • First, the NEPAD programme raises many complex and urgent challenges (trade policy, market access, monitoring, good governance, peer review, managing external resources and mobilising more domestic resources, management of domestic macro-economic and fiscal policy, improving effective social services delivery) • This requires the formulation and stewardship of local policies that resonate with NEPAD, while collaborating in the elaboration and stewardship of the NEPAD programme • We will have to rise to these challenges with some severe shortcomings in our public sectors • Second, the focus and collective political investment in NEPAD creates unprecedented opportunities for public sector reform and MDIs

26. Challenges in the wider global context • Follow up on Millennium Summit, WSSD, UN, Pan African Conference of African Ministers of Public Service • SAMDI needs to advance SA’s foreign policy objectives and benefit from collaboration with national, regional and global institutes and expertise

27. OUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE GOING FORWARD!

28. First step to respond to requirement to have a strategic plan • Clarify strategic re-positioning of SAMDI • Address pressing organisational shortcomings • Formulate medium term strategic plan consistent with challenges • Establish and institutionalise commensurate organisational structure, modalities and business processes

29. Conclusion • Opportunities – context is becoming more enabling – policy and law, better sense of role of public service, maturing institutions • HRD – has immense potential leveraging power • We seek to build on SAMDI’s strengths to take further our capacity to discharge our present mandate • We seek to make maximum use of the strong political capital available to us