Conference Agenda

Public service organisations in Eastern Africa are shaped by entrenched norms, limited resources, and the dynamic tension of evolving citizen expectations. This paper examines how deliberate shifts in public officials’ mindsets that emphasise collaboration, innovation, and accountability can catalyse adaptive governance. We analyze policy reform case studies and capacity-building programs across the eight member states of the East African Community, i.e. Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The paper examines critical mindset barriers, maps out successful interventions, and assess their ripple effects on service delivery. Our findings demonstrate that mindset transformation thrives when paired with immersive training, peer-to-peer learning networks, and data-driven decision tools. Public officials who embrace continuous improvement tend to deliver stronger collaboration, faster problem-solving, and heightened responsiveness to community needs. We introduce a scalable framework that empowers governments to institutionalize transformative approaches across public service organisations. We contend that by integrating targeted skill-building, dynamic knowledge exchanges, and evidence-based policies, this framework offers a roadmap for steering Eastern Africa toward adaptive, people-centered governance.

In 2016, the City of Cape Town launched the Law Enforcement Advancement Programme (LEAP) in a joint initiative between the City and the Western Cape Government. In 2022, in conjunction with LEAP, the city initiated the data-driven, real-time, rapid-response system known as EPIC. It is an open-source, data-driven tool. Over the past three years, the city has invested approximately R860 million in CCTV, drones, dashcams, aerial surveillance, and acoustic gunshot detection systems. The city has claimed some success. Safety and security are the competencies of the national government. However, the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town are attempting to combat the rising level of crime, as the South African Police Service struggles to effectively combat crime. The paper will analyse the data-driven crime-fighting strategy within the framework of a cooperative government, based on available data. The paper analyses data extracted from the data provided by the City of Cape Town's Open Data platforms. The analysis takes a two-pronged approach. One approach examines the number of arrests made as a result of the data generated by EPIC and the extent to which it has decreased crime incidents in crime hotspots in Cape Town. On the other hand, it analyzes the intergovernmental collaboration between the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Provincial Government, and SAPS. The paper uses statistical descriptive analysis as an analytical tool. The findings indicate that the introduction of the EPIC system has resulted in increased detection of crime incidents and arrests. However, there is little evidence that crime trends have decreased in the crime hot spots. This might indicate an insufficient collaborative relationship between the criminal justice system and the provincial and local governments, and a disconnect between crime detection and appreciation. In addition, SAPS's response to the call for rapid intervention has been effective.