The national priority of bridging the gap between the provision of government service and the effective utilisation of service delivery by the poor and disadvantaged was today key at the provincial leg of the Eastern Cape Community Development Worker (CDW) Summit.
Led by the Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Mr Roy Padayachie, the summit consulted stakeholders at a provincial level on mechanisms through policy to enhance the effectiveness of the CDW programme; thus further accelerating service delivery.
Through policy there will be a re-design of the programme to promote a high standard of professionalism for community development workers and those involved in the programme; the efficient, effective and economic use of resources allocated to the programme; and to create a development-orientated public service which sees public servants visiting households to unblock obstacles to effective service delivery.
Stakeholders involved in the process included CDWs, heads of departments (HODs), municipal workers, non-governmental organisations/ community based organisations/ faith based organisations that have a working relationship with CDWs.
The overriding message throughout the summit has been that government is aware of the service delivery challenges in our communities. The CDW programme thus serves as an integral part of government’s access strategy, designed for the purpose of accelerating service delivery by taking government services to communities.
Delivering his welcome address, Eastern Cape MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs Mr Sicelo Gqobana gave an overview of the programme in the province.
MEC Gqobana indicated that government should seek to build its own capacity to communicate with the masses and to ensure dissemination of its own views and perspectives to the people as part and parcel of its strategy for mobilisation of communities behind government programmes and activities.
Sharing his commitment to the programme Mr Gqobana urged CDWs, “In this era of renewal and united by our common agenda for change, let us build a society in which our people are freed from the residues of apartheid, where we practice participatory democracy in all spheres of life and strengthen democratic institutions to enhance their capacity to better service the people.”
Delivering his keynote address, Deputy Minister Padayachie reiterated the sentiments shared by President of South Africa Jacob Zuma in his inauguration address.
In his 2009 State of the Nation Address, President Zuma committed government to speeding up service delivery. He further made a call for an inclusive society to do more in terms of realising a better life for all.
“The corner-stone of the CDW programme is the eradication of poverty and to bring to our people a better life,” Mr Padayachie added.
Mr Padayachie aligned the deliverables from the CDW programme with the priorities set out in the Medium Term Strategic Framework (2009 to 2014).
Priority area number ten of this framework seeks to build a developmental state including improvement of public services and strengthening democratic institutions. The aim would be to build partnerships with society for equitable development; and to strengthen democratic institutions. This objective will be achieved by consolidating and expanding the CDW programme in order to make government more accountable to the people.
The objectives of CDW programme are to:
* Improve the dissemination of information to the poor about benefits and services to which all citizens are entitled
* Assist the poor to access and benefit from the services that could materially improve their lives
* Provide an interface/bridge between municipalities and communities to enhance the existing local government structures so as to improve the level of participation between communities and the integrated development plans, urban renewal projects and integrated sustainable rural development programmes.
The inputs from the summit and that of key stakeholders in the other provinces will be consolidated into a final CDW policy document which will further entrench the programme and ensure that the objectives as outlined in the founding documents are met.
The consolidated policy document will be presented at a national summit to be convened in December 2009.
For more information contact:
Lebohang Mafokosi
Cell: 082 312 4641
Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
19 October 2009
