Pact and Action Aid - Strengthening Civil Society Participation in the Governance Process

September 2003 - September 2007

Despite a legal mandate in South Africa for civil society participation in the local governance process, civil society engagement with local government is ineffective, inconsistent or lacking all together. Since the establishment of democracy in South Africa in 1994, the civil society sector, including NGOs and community-based organizations (CBOs), has found it difficult to make the transition from anti-apartheid activism to one of engagement and partnership with government in promoting development.

Many CBOs are unaware of how local government functions and how they can influence local governance in a way that will benefit their communities. They also have little understanding of how participatory democracy complements politically legitimate and legally responsible structures. At the same time local government authorities have shown a limited capacity to embrace and exercise the principles of participatory governance. Community participation structures (i.e., ward committees) are often absent or ineffective.

Working largely through Action Aid, one of South Africa's most effective democratic development NGOs, Pact recently began this USAID-funded project to strengthen CBO partnerships with local governments for improved policy development and service delivery.

Pact's approach

Together Pact and Action Aid bring capacity-building methodologies developed over two decades in South Africa and globally. The program employs a highly focused set of training and support interventions targeted at appropriate levels and conducted on-site wherever feasible.

Component 1: Strengthening Civil Society Participation in Local Governance
Based on the premise that communities understand their training and support needs best, the program allows beneficiary communities to establish informal contracts with Action Aid to ensure agreement on program interventions as well as each party's contribution toward the achievement of program objectives. The creation of these informal learning and delivery contracts ensures that accountability and control of the project are equitably distributed, and that expectations and Action Aid's exit strategy are agreed upon in the early stages.

Pact and Action Aid will add organizational tutoring, leadership mentoring, and extensive information dissemination methods to the more conventional training program to institutionalize productive relationships between targeted CBOs and local government officials. The local governance component of the program targets 45 CBOs and 15 local councils in KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng.

Specific approaches include:

• Skills transfer to CBOs through a series of training workshops on the effective functioning of the CBOs and public participation in local government.
• Support services for CBOs that ensure that CBOs put training courses into dynamic and habitual practice through three mechanisms: re-enforcement of training concepts through frequent follow-up, intensive technical assistance from an institutional capacity building tutor, and one-on-one mentoring for leaders in each selected CBO.
• Development of linkages between CBOs and local government councils by addressing constraints local councils face in engaging public participation and training CBOS on creating partnerships for development with local councils.
• Development and dissemination of information and learning products, ensuring the long-term sustainability of critical training interventions and the replication of capacity building modules and concepts for wider use in South Africa.

Component 2: Strengthening the Capacity of Criminal Justice and Victim Empowerment CSOs
As part of its rule of law portfolio, USAID has provided funding for NGOs working in the area of criminal justice and victim empowerment. NGOs funded by USAID provided victim support services, legal assistance to victims of domestic abuse, research on best practices for criminal justice procedures for juvenile offenders, rehabilitation for young offenders, and public awareness campaigns, among other activities. The objective of this component is to enable these CSOs to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of these programs.

Specific objectives include:

• Improved information sharing among criminal justice and victim empowerment CSOs
• Enhanced CSO fundraising skills and increased awareness of alternative sources of funding
• Improved CSO organizational and strategic planning capacity
• Increased CSO implementation of advocacy campaigns and/or partnerships with government

The program will begin by conducting an organizational capacity assessment with each CSO to identify organizational development needs in such areas as organizational structure and governance, strategic planning, financial management, project design and management, program evaluation, and fundraising. This assessment will be followed by a series of workshops on information sharing, program development and fundraising, organizational sustainability, volunteer management, public relations, corporate community engagement, growth and replication, institutional governance, financial management, program management, human resource management, conflict resolution, program planning, paraprofessional training, information management, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, and research. Participating CSOs will also receive subsequent coaching and mentoring support in these areas.

Component 3: Civil Society Anti-Corruption Initiatives
Corruption as a way of life is one of the many enduring legacies of apartheid. While corruption in South Africa is not as serious as in some other African countries, it is nevertheless a significant problem.

Strengthening of anti-corruption CSOs
The NGO members of the Civil Society Network against Corruption (CSNAC), a nascent network of anti-corruption civil society organizations, currently operates as a loosely organized and informal coalition. This component aims to strengthen the capacity of the CSNAC network to work together effectively, and will support the network in addressing specific anti-corruption issues.

The three primary objectives of this component are as follows:

• Improve coordination through the establishment of a CSNAC secretariat or coordinator on a formal or informal basis
• Improve policy advocacy for the CSNAC network
• Strengthen civil society participation in the national Anti-Corruption Forum

The program will pursue these objectives through the provision of financial support for the CSNAC Secretariat, strategic planning training and technical assistance, mentoring and guidance by senior Action Aid staff, sub-grants for specific advocacy activities, training in anti-corruption strategies, and dissemination of anti-corruption best practices from South Africa and elsewhere.

Investigative journalism training
The second element of the anti-corruption component is to develop a comprehensive, high-quality investigative print journalism instruction program in South Africa rooted in the following objectives:

• Improve journalists' knowledge of the existing laws and regulations that permit the practice of investigative journalism
• Increase journalists' understanding of the many tools and resources available for investigative journalism
• Provide journalism students ample opportunity to develop and practice investigative journalism skills

This program will be implemented through a sub-grant to a local institution of higher learning for a program targeting as many practicing journalists as possible from a wide range of small and medium-sized newspapers, focusing on the following topics:

• Rights and responsibilities of journalists, including ethics training
• Detailed case studies on small and medium-sized news organizations involved in investigative reporting
• Resources needed to investigate business and government
• The Promotion of Access to Information Act, including how to write a request for information and how to appeal and challenge denials
• Finding, cultivating and interviewing sources
• South Africa's anti-corruption laws and institutions, whistleblower hotlines, and businesses and NGOs that support the government's anti-corruption strategy

Interim results

Component 1: Strengthening Civil Society Participation in Local Governance

• 45 substantive problem-solving initiatives (up from 23) done in partnership between local councils and CBOs, including establishment of a multipurpose community center, initiation of a potable water plan, creation of an orphan care program, a program to address youth prostitution, resources for HIV/AIDS caregivers, and mobile clinics for health care CBOs.
• 60% of CBO partners participating on ward committees or other mechanisms for public participation, up from 24%.
• Fourfold increase in women's participation in local governance, from 11 instances of participation to 44.
• 26 project funding proposals submitted to access government and other resources, with 15 proposals successfully generating a total of $263,982 in government funding and $765,487 in private grant funding.
• 14 of 17 district and municipal government councils actively partnering with CBOs in the program.
• 25 CBOs (up from 11) actively participating in the Integrated Development Plan process.
• Several workshops on how government works have been conducted, as well as more than 15 seminars on public participation in local government.

Component 2: Strengthening the Capacity of Criminal Justice and Victim Empowerment CSOs

• Action Aid has delivered eleven training workshops while conducting individual capacity assessments with four CSOs.

Component 3: Civil Society Anti-Corruption Initiatives

• Action Aid finalized agreements with two universities regarding the teaching of investigative journalism courses. The Rhodes Investigative Journalism Course was then launched in conjunction with the Highway Africa 2005 Conference, and is being taught at the University of the Witwatersrand in the spring semester (starting October 2005).
• A subgrant with one organization for youth advocacy and anti-corruption activities has been issued, and several other groups are under review.