The Eastern Cape government departments have scooped three Public Service Innovation Awards during a national prestigious awards ceremony held in Johannesburg. The awards were officially handed-over to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of Transport by the Minister of Public Service and Administration Richard Baloyi and the CEO of Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI), Thuli Radebe on 6 November. All nine provinces participated in the awards.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development won the Innovative Partnership in Public Service Delivery for its project on beekeeping and honey value chain. For this the department has received trophy, a certificate and a cheque to the amount of R6 000. The same project also became the first runner up in the Public Service Innovator of the Year.
The Department of Transport was selected to be the second runner up on innovative enhancements on internal system on its project: service delivery self assessment tool (Balasela).
The Office of the Premier’s innovation and knowledge management unit submitted the projects on behalf of the province. Speaking on the achievements, Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet said, “The Eastern Cape has always been at the forefront of leading the country in various ways. We have demonstrated this politically and otherwise. The winning of these awards means the province is recognised and its projects and innovations in general are nationally approved. We will use them to produce the best results in our endeavours to bring service delivery to our people.” The awards were based on the innovation, impact and sustainability that they would ring in bettering the lives of people.
Background of the awards:
The seventh annual CPSI Public Sector Innovation Awards is to promote and encourage best practice in public sector innovation and service delivery. The awards recognise successful and effective service delivery projects and initiatives that have been achieved through the application of innovative approaches, methodologies and tools.
The Eastern Cape Provincial Administration has committed itself to transform public service and improve citizen satisfaction with the services it delivers. Through innovation and knowledge management the Eastern Cape Provincial Administration strives to provide innovative strategies and assistance to various projects undertaken and facilitate sharing of knowledge to all provincial departments in the province in order to fully utilise the Intellectual Capital in various institutions.
It is against this background that the innovation and knowledge management called for entries from the provincial departments and identified projects and initiatives from the existing provincial pool of case studies (e.g. Balasela Awards) for submission to seventh annual Centre for Public Sector Innovation Awards. The opportunity was therefore taken by the Office of the Premier to submit the following projects on behalf of the provincial departments for consideration:
Department name of the project previous award:
* Transport household contractors programme gold (balasela awards)
* Balasela programme certificate of commendation (balasela awards) agriculture
* Commercialisation of beekeeping platjie / qamza women’s dairy farm silver (balasela awards) bronze (balasela awards)
For further information contact:
Mzukisi Ndara
Tel: 040 609 6007
Cell: 083 3244 269
Nomfundo wakwa Luphondwana
Tel: 040 609 6015
Cell: 082 440 2728
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
16 November 2009
Source: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
(http://www.ecprov.gov.za/index.php)
