The Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo today hosted a provincial Community Development Workers (CDWs) and Practitioners Workshop in Mpumalanga.
Opening the workshop, the Acting speaker Councillor J Mavuso said that CDWs need to be conscious and dedicated to their roles because the people of South Africa have experienced quality, “they know what quality is and they know their rights are as enshrined in the constitution”.
He added that everyone needs to be dedicated to their roles and tasks to enable the community to communicate with government, “we need to make sure that we do the best we can to provide services and information to the community”.
In his remarks the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Mr Simon Skhosana, acknowledged that a gap was previously identified in the Community Development Workers (CDW) Programme in the province which has since been remedied.
In addition to the remedy, CDWs in the province have been provided with equipment to assist them in carrying out their work. The MEC reminded CDWs that they “are a special cadre of public servants who play a pivotal role in bringing services to the people”. He reminded them that they need to be able to “pick up problems in the community before they explode”.
In her address the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo, outlined the purpose of the workshop as a mechanism to ensure that CDWs take messages and information to communities. She reminded CDWs of the importance of their role in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the information that they need to take to their communities.
The minister also added that CDws need to “ensure periodic dissemination of information of government services to our people” as well as “gathering information from communities to help us plan”. She also expressed excitement at the CDWs momentum in the province.
With the theme, “Empowering Community Development Workers through access to information for service delivery improvement”, the workshop was an information session that aimed to arm CDWs with information that they can take back to their communities on government’s programmes and progress.
For further details contact:
Dumisani Nkwamba
Cell: 082 885 9448
Tel: 012 336 1704
Email: dumisanin@dpsa.gov.za
Olebogeng Kgasi
Cell: 0767934229
Tel: 012 336 1206
Email: olebogengk@dpsa.gov.za
