The Impact of the Community Development Worker Programme

1
The Impact of the Community Development Worker
Programme

• Portfolio Committee
• Cape Town
• 14 November 2007

2
Background

• CDWP 5 years old
• 2954 CDWs deployed to approx 76 of countrys
  wards
• Target to place CDW in all wards across country
• Major focus Social upliftment
• Growing focus Local economic development

3
Background (2)

• CDW coordinating units housed in departments of
  local government (LG) and LG Housing
• One exception Limpopo Premiers office
• National programme office MPSA and
• DPLG

4
Impact An overview

• CDWs -
• Address development deadlocks
• Strengthen social contract
• Advocate for the poor
• Strengthen government-community network
• Facilitate and stimulate participation in local
  economic development for disadvantaged communities

5
Impact An overview (2)

• CDWs are making an impact in many respects and
  this is more noticeable
• Relationships at local government sphere uneven
  an important focus going forward
• Lack of common understanding of programme across
  government
• ME framework with national indicators being
  created to draw provinces into a centralised
  commonly understood reporting framework

6
Impact overview (3)

• CDWP moving from incubation to consolidation
• CDWs cadres a special type
• Intergovernmental relationship very central to
  success of CDW outputs
• Presently insufficient intergovernmental
  awareness of programme
• Tensions exist because of poor understanding of
  the programme

7
Impact overview (4)

• CDWs feel excluded from IGR structures where they
  need to channel information
• Know Your CDW broad based awareness campaign
  targeted at officials on one hand and on the core
  constituency on the other
• Where CDWs formally introduced - tensions are
  lessened

8
Impact overview (5)

• Introducing CDWs into local sectoral landscape
  will lessen negative perceptions
• Tensions and negative perceptions weakens impact
  on the ground
• Perception of impact is variable across provinces
  for eg
• WC and EC - less impact on lives of ordinary
  citizens perceived
• Limpopo and Mpumalanga - very positive impact
  perceived

9
Impact overview (6)

• General consensus is that CDWs have made a
  difference to lives of ordinary citizens through
• - offering a door to door service in their
  communities
• - providing information about government
  services
• - assisting with disaster mitigation
• - promoting government campaigns
• Impact has two dimensions
• - normal functions of government
• - specific community projects managed or
  assisted by
• programme

10
CDWs Government services and service delivery

• DPLG survey found significant impact
• Findings at all three levels
• Examples of impact
• - facilitation of services and service delivery
• - helping communities better communicate needs
• - fast tracking of basic services delivery
• - enhancing effective participation in local
  governance (integrated development)
• Citizens have become more confident to engage
  government as a result of interaction with CDWs

11
CDWs and social development

• Social welfare
• child support grants housing access government
  benefits
• Child security
• registering orphan households for benefits
• Education
• Bringing plight of poorly resourced schools to
  attention of authorities
• Food security
• support creation of food gardens registering
  indigent for food parcels

12
CDWs and LED

• LED has crosscutting (interdepartmental)
  implications
• Master Plan being worked on to map an inclusive,
  practical process to optimise CDW availability
  for facilitation and communication of government
  programmes in communities
• Important to avoid duplication and recreation of
  projects

13
CDWs and LED (2)

• Examples of LED initiatives to date
• Cooperative training by DTI
• Taking the DTI to the people CDWP facilitating
  community access
• Cooperatives that register qualify to apply for
  government tenders
• Limpopo includes LED as key performance area for
  CDWs

14
What CDWP reveals about government processes

• Insufficient political championship of
  developmental programmes
• intergovernmental operability seamless
  government needs to be improved
• communication lines need to be strengthened
• Turf issues across all spheres
• CDWs bear the brunt of these difficulties

15
Lessening impact Contributory factors

• Enabling working environment for CDWs not optimal
• No connectivity need wireless communication
  expected to be mobile agents of development
• Unable to contact their stakeholder community
• Obstacles frustrate their mandate and
• contribute to tensions and difficulties at the
  municipal level

16
CDWP A programme at the edge

• CDWP straddles and cuts across all of government
• Uneven budgetary arrangements in provinces
• Cuts against grain of traditional government
  structuring
• Bold solutions needed to strengthen CDWP as a
  sustainable instrument of government that assists
  in improving and accelerating service delivery

17

• Thank you