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The South African Government adopted the District Development Model (DDM) as an operational model for improving cooperative governance and building a capable, ethical and developmental state. In his 2019 Budget Speech, President Cyril Ramaphosa concluded that the poor coordination within government departments results in incoherent planning (silo approach), and poor monitoring and implementation of programmes. Subsequently, Cabinet approved the model, through which, the Government sought a paradigm shift whereby 52 District and Metropolitan Municipalities in South Africa are to develop and implement ‘One Plan’ to improve coordination of state institutions in infrastructure development and service delivery. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) began piloting the DDM in three districts – eThekwini, OR Tambo and Waterberg District Municipalities.

In 2022, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) in partnership with Twende Mbele – a multilateral government partnership – commissioned a study on the DDM piloted in the Waterberg District. The main purpose of the study was to develop a consensus on the role of civil society organisations in the DDM, in particular their contribution to the planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the DDM ‘One Plan’. Planact conducted the research for the study over a three-month period. A total of 136 people representing 113 civil society organisations across all five local municipalities participated in the study.

The study focused on six thematic issues, which served as a basis of reporting the findings, namely:

•Awareness about the District Development Model (DDM);

•Awareness of the Waterberg One Plan;

•Modes of communication about the DDM and One Plan employed by the municipalities;

•Extent and quality of civil society involvement (including the DDM Hub);

•Challenges and opportunities regarding involvement of the civil society organisations in the One Plan; and

•Possible strategies that can improve the participation of civil society organisations in the development of the One Plan.

The South African Government has adopted the District Development Model (DDM) as an operational model for improving cooperative governance and building a capable, ethical and developmental state. In his 2019 Budget Speech, President Cyril Ramaphosa concluded that the poor coordination within government departments results in incoherent planning (silo approach), and poor monitoring and implementation of programmes. Subsequently, Cabinet approved the model, and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) began piloting the DDM in three districts – eThekwini, OR Tambo and Waterberg District Municipalities – in 2019. The model’s implementation is based on ‘One Plan’, a longterm 25-30 year strategic intergovernmental plan guiding investment, development and service delivery in relation to each of the district and metropolitan spaces, which has to be characterised by collaborative research, evidence and solution (CoGTA and NDP 2020). The main aim of this study is to identify current practices in the Waterberg District regarding participation of CSOs in the development of the Municipality’s One Plan and explore possible areas of collaboration between the state and CSOs. It employs qualitative research methods and triangulation to increase the validity of the data.

The One Plan process guidelines highlight that all relevant institutions and actors, including civil society organisations, need to be involved. While the guidelines are important, they do not sufficiently address how the involvement of civil society organisations (CSOs) can be actively facilitated in the various stages. The absence of processes for systematic engagements with CSOs specifically in One Plans for each district, and the subsequent failure to integrate their views into the document, suggests that service delivery and investments will remain misaligned with their needs. Ideally, CSOs should actively participate in the seven stages of developing the One Plans, namely: 1 Diagnostic, 2 Vision Setting, 3 Strategy Formulation, 4 Implementation Commitments, 5 Draft One Plan, 6 Approval and Adoption of Final One Plan, 7 Implementation, Monitoring and Review.

Certainly, CoGTA has realised that the technical aspects of intra and inter-departmental coordination at the expense of other district levels, and the exclusion of non-government actors, limits the success of the DDM to result in change in communities. This is also contrary to South African law such as the Constitution of 1996 (section 152), which promotes involvement of communities and community organisations in local government. Similarly, the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (section 5) highlights the importance of effective coordination between the three spheres of government (national, provincial and local government) and coordination and alignment of priorities, objectives and strategies.

En juillet 2022, le Haut Commissariat à la Modernisation de l’Etat (HCME), en collaboration avec le Ministère de la Santé Publique, de la Population et de l’Action Sociale (MSP/P/AS), a décidé de mener une évaluation rapide de cette mesure dans la région de Dosso.

L’objectif de cette évaluation rapide de la mesure de gratuité est de rendre compte de l’appréciation par les bénéficiaires et acteurs de la mise en oeuvre de la politique de gratuité. Cet exercice permet de déterminer dans quelle mesure la politique de gratuité des soins a atteint ses objectifs primordiaux de:

(1) améliorer l’accès aux soins ;

(2) réduire la mortalité des enfants ;

(3) renforcer les partenaires pour fournir des services de santé de qualité ;

(4) améliorer l’efficience et l’efficacité des approches de prestation de gratuité;

(5) identifier les obstacles politiques opérationnels et les politiques nouvelles/révisées adoptées et mises en oeuvre ;

(6) soutenir les acteurs locaux, la société civile, les prestataires de services, le collectivités territoriales dans la promotion de la politique de gratuité des soins ;

(7) documenter et diffuser les enseignements tirés des processus et expériences d’adaptation et de mise en oeuvre ; et

(8) identifier et coordonner les besoins des partenaires et des comités nationaux de gestion des médicaments. Cette évaluation rapide, conduite par le Gouvernement du Niger, vient compléter les efforts d’évaluation rapide déjà mis en oeuvre par d’autres partenaires.

Le présent rapport de cette évaluation rapide de la mise en œuvre de la mesure de gratuité des soins des femmes en âge de procréer et des enfants de zéro (0) à cinq (5) ans est structuré en cinq (4) chapitres. Le premier chapitre a trait à la description de la mesure et son rationnel. Le second présente les objectifs de l’évaluation rapide et la démarche méthodologique adoptée. Le chapitre 3 présente les résultats et le chapitre 4 est consacré aux recommandations.

One of Twende Mbele’s projects was a survey of the state of performance M&E culture in national departments in the three countries, tracking progress as they strengthened their M&E systems. This chapter draws on this research and integrates other literature to critically analyse the context for using evidence in African governments. The research findings describe the organisational context of the three governments, building on the analytical framework guiding this book in Chapter 3, particularly the component on context drawn from Politics and Ideas (Weyrauch et al., n.d.). 

The purpose of the research was to assess the state of performance M&E culture in the three participating governments by seeing how each country’s various M&E systems interact to improve performance and accountability, with a specific focus on policy, approach, concepts, framework and organisational arrangements in the public sector in Benin, South Africa and Uganda.

One of the key activities of Twende Mbele is to undertake a survey of the state of M&E culture in partner countries to be used to track progress in these countries as they strengthen their M&E systems. In Ghana, Twende commissioned the Ghana baseline study in collaboration with the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation in May 2019. 

The overall objective of the Ghana baseline study is to establish baseline information on the monitoring and evaluation culture within the Public Sector in Ghana. The focus is to establish the extent to which M&E information is used to inform decision-making and assess the state of monitoring and evaluation culture in government by delineating how various M&E systems interact with each other to improve performance and accountability in Ghana’s Public Sector.