N Hangana: Integrated Development Planning skills training for women
councillors

6 August 2007

Programme director
Executive Mayor of Waterberg District, Ms Pinky Kekana
To all councillors, especially women councillors about whom we are here
tonight
Department of Provincial and Local Government officials
Ladies and gentlemen:

I am humbled to be talking at such an important event during such an
important month in the lives of South African women and all those who care
about their well-being. This is the month during which we celebrate our
achievements and reclaim our rightful positions for which we should neither be
ashamed nor apologetic. After all, 'South Africa belongs to all those who live
in it'.

During the last couple of years, the Department of Provincial and Local
Government (dplg) has gone a long way in providing a sound support system for
local government in fulfilling its developmental mandate. One of the key areas
of support for local government was and still is in the area of Integrated
Development Planning (IDP). IDP is legislative requirement for local
government, as per the Municipal Systems Act, 2000. The IDP is now an
established planning process and framework for local government. However
constant training and capacity building is required for two reasons:

* seeking solutions to development is a complex and needs constant
innovation
* there is a constant influx of new people, passionate and willing like you, to
assist in service delivery. For them to be able to deliver, this programme
would serve as the basic tool.

Since 2000, as part of this support system, numerous short courses and IDP
training sessions have been conducted. Other than this, municipalities and
individual service providers also started embarking on the provision of IDP
training in order to address the needs and capacity gaps identified. These
courses have in bigger or lesser degrees adhered to the National Qualifications
Framework (NQF) principles and have not been part of a registered
qualification, learnership or skills program, yet.

Dplg and the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority
(LGSETA) have with the support of German Agency for Technical Co-operation
(GTZ), jointly embarked on a process to ensure that IDP training is
professionalised and in line with the National Qualifications Framework
(NQF).

The professionalisation of IDP training means that through the development
and registration of unit standards and a Certificate in Municipal IDP with the
South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), learners are in a position to
acquire training that is recognised, like the IDP Skills Training. Having gone
through this programme, councillors, especially women councillors will have
better understanding of how to conduct IDPs, and find it easy to identify
issues that their male counterparts would very much like to downplay, and
thereby influence the results of IDP process.

Objectives of the Skills Programme

The IDP Skills Programme is a six-week course, composed of five days
theoretical and five weeks practical training. Due to the structured
combination of theory and workplace experience, the participants will gain
operational competencies and knowledge. I am not an expert on IDPs but my vague
knowledge is sufficient enough to be able to tell you what is and what is not
IDP. Here are a few examples of what is not IDPs:

When municipal officials get themselves together in a boardroom, decide what
they are going to build and where, then put together a document, allocate
resources and thereafter tell the people what they have planned, would not be
conducting IDP process. I will leave it to you to find another word for it.

When municipal officials decide to appoint consultants to conduct IDPs, you
know what the results will be? A very technical and way too academic document
that will only leave you with severe headaches when it comes to the
implementation, that's why some of our IDPs have not been successful in the
past.

Going to communities, find out what their needs are and on the basis of
that, analyse your budget, design an implementation plan, of course
prioritising those feasible proposals and going back to the communities to
explain how and when that process will unfold, give reasons for deferring some
of those proposals due to budgetary constraints would be very close to
conducting proper IDPs.

Why target women councillors?

Women have always been at the forefront of development, from conceiving
children to making a home, to building the nation. Our government, through its
policies, has also succeeded in putting women in key leadership and
decision-making positions. However, if power is not exercised, it does not mean
anything. That is where training and education plays a key role. Being in a
leadership position means you need to know when and how to use it to make the
best of it.

Some of the best leaders in the world keep on upgrading their skills and
knowledge, to become innovative in attempting to solve problems. You are
phenomenal women in a position to make decisions that can improve the lives of
people. But the best way to make decisions is to be informed, to know who is
who in the game, to understand how the system functions, to realise your own
potential, and to appreciate what is at stake.

This IDP Skills Training attempts to inform you about the intergovernmental
landscape, how to address the key development issues in a systematic manner,
the key role players to engage with and how to confidently talk about the tools
for addressing development.

Apart from the theoretical training, this gathering is also about women
coming together to share ideas, draw strength from each other and form networks
to support each other beyond this training session. It's about reflecting what
it is to be a woman, how to be responsible for a family and for a community and
how to balance the demands of daily challenges. Take a moment to think about
your role as a woman raising your boy. To what degree are you instilling the
culture of respect for women in that young boy?

I often tell women to first and foremost unite on issues that pertain to
their development, for if they don't, men will not volunteer to carry your
struggles. In fact, they need to be coerced into accepting that women are just
as equal and capable as they are. If we have women who are pulling others down,
then they must know they are shooting themselves on the foot because by so
doing they are limiting their power to fight for women's emancipation. This
coming together is just a beginning, keeping together marks progress, but
working together is success.

I would like to wish you all a phenomenal women's day on Thursday.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government
6 August 2007
Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government (http://www.dplg.gov.za)