Investigating the effectiveness of external partnerships to promote sustainable provision of water services in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM).
Oratilwe Anastacia Khoza, Tafadzwa Clementine Maramura
University of the Free State, South Africa
Problem Statement and Purpose
The current reality of climate change, inequality, and environmental degradation stimulate existing water crises around the world. In this context, South Africa is one of the countries that is water-stressed. This is unfortunately caused by the inability of the government to efficiently manage water infrastructure, with exacerbating imbalances in water demand and supply. However, overcoming the water issues in South African local municipalities is a challenge that is constantly attributed to bad governance and maladministration. Like many other municipalities, the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) is experiencing an inadequate level of water delivery in addition to water scarcity. One of the key challenges tied to policy implementation is the inability to involve the target beneficiaries in policy process. Likewise, there must be sound theory underlying the program and the target group, the theory must link target group behavior to the objectives of the program. However, it is evident that the crisis remains immense, and there is a need for sustained support and investment in municipal partnerships and collaborations to ensure the sustainable provision of water services. It is on this premise that the study aims to investigate the effectiveness of external partnerships to promote the sustainable provision of water services in MMM.
Methodology
The study employed a qualitative research approach and semi-structured interviews as primary data to achieve the objectives of the study.
Findings
In diagnosing the obscurity in MMM, the findings of the study revealed that the municipality does not have sufficient partnerships apart from the existing government departments, institutions, and structures. The study argues that the minimal inclusion of community members and external stakeholders undermines a great contribution of knowledge, premises, staff, and resources that will be vital to policy implementation process and public value.
Proposals
By actively involving communities and stakeholders in the decision-making process, the municipality can harness local knowledge, address concerns, build trust, and promote equitable and inclusive policy outcomes to deliver water services. Furthermore, during public meetings, Community members can be educated about water conservation and the importance of using water wisely. In this view, community members will also be informed of the damage caused by water theft and how much harm it causes at economic, social, and infrastructural levels.
References
Adom, R.K. and Simatele, M.D., 2024. Overcoming systemic and institutional challenges in policy implementation in South Africa's water sector. Sustainable Water Resources Management, 10(2), pp.1-18.
Chitonge, H., Mokoena, A. and Kongo, M. 2020. Water and sanitation inequality in Africa: challenges for SDG 6. In Africa and the sustainable development goals (pp. 207-218). Springer, Cham.
Jiménez, A., LeDeunff, H., Giné, R., Sjödin, J., Cronk, R., Murad, S., Takane, M. and Bartram, J. 2019. The enabling environment for participation in water and sanitation: A conceptual framework. Water, 11(2), p.308.
Mandiriza, T., 2022. Assessment of factors influencing the adoption of public private partnerships in water infrastructure projects in selected municipalities (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria).
Innovations in Enhancing Public Service Delivery in India
Amitava Basu
Centre for Environmental Management & Participatory Development, India
Problem Statement and Purpose
Over the last decade India had rapid economic growth. However, the economic gains have not percolated to all sections of the society. A major reason for this anomaly is that there have been inefficiencies in public service delivery. There is pressing need to ensure accessibility of the citizens, especially the marginalized and the vulnerable population, to quality basic services such as health, education and hygienic facilities, which facilitate for participation in the economic growth.
In late 1990s, the Citizens’ Charters were established starting with the sectors that have large public interface such as public distribution system, postal service, railways, etc. The Citizens’ Charters prescribed the service standards and time limits for service delivery, and avenues of grievance redress and a provision for independent scrutiny with the involvement of citizen and consumer groups. In 2011, number of provincial governments enacted the Right to the Public Service Delivery Acts (RTPSDAs) to ensure efficient delivery of notified public services to the citizens within the stipulated time limit. RTPSDAs provide strength to the Citizens’ Charters The Acts fall short in terms of enforcing an accountability ecosystem that can enable to meet the mandate.
A foremost challenge for public administration in India is to ensure inclusive growth. National and provincial governments have recognized addressing the problem of accessibility to quality public service as a priority area. This paper describes the journey for enhancing public service delivery in India, discusses the innovations, the challenges and the way forward.
Methodology
This paper is based on desk study and literature review, group discussions with the bureaucracy, and other relevant stakeholders to ascertain the ground reality, and review the challenges.
Findings
The mindset of the public administration staff has not changed primarily due to the old bureaucratic procedures and the general perception of the service providers that The exercise is carried out because of a direction from the top. To effectively implement the Citizens’ Charters and the RTPSDAs, many provincial governments have, of late, introduced ‘Doorstep Delivery of Public Services’ For example, in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, the citizens can access public services from their homes without visiting any government offices and without navigate the maze of brokers and middlemen and pay.
Proposals
Government needs to provide adequate training and orientation of staff for commitment to time-bound quality public service. Simultaneously, there is need to carry out awareness campaigns to educate the citizens about their rights to the notified public services in stipulated time and of prescribed quality. Further, the shortcomings of the RTPSDAs require to be addressed. Also, effective grievance redress system and robust IT-based architecture are important.
In sum, enhancing access to public service delivery is an evolutionary and on-going process. Government has to reflect extensive and continual changes taking place in the domain of public services.
References
a) Report on Study of Right to Service Acts of Selected Indian States, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India;
b) The Road Ahead for Public Service Delivery, Delivering on Customer Promise, Public Sector Research Centre, PricewaterhouseCoopers;
c) Doorstep Delivery of Public Services – Delhi’s Model of Transforming Public Service Delivery, Case Study, Observatory of Public Sector Innovation.
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