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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT LEARNING EXCHANGE: SALGA PRESENTATION

Durban, 14 March 2013Mapule Letshweni

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BACKGROUND

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is the solerepresentative voice of Local Government, constitutionally recognisedand referred to as Organised Local Government. There isn’t anotherinstitution like SALGA in the country and there are not many with suchConstitutional backing or mandate on the continent nor the world.

SALGA is recognized and entrenched in the Constitution and

legislation (i.e. Organised Local Government Act, Municipal Systems Act,

White Paper for Local Government and the IGR Framework).

SALGA is Local Government leadership because SALGA leadership (NEC)

is democratically elected into power by the leadership of 278 municipalities,

with the mandate to represent, advocate and speak on their behalf in the

highest offices of the country. Organised Local Government ensures

municipal participation in the system of IGR by articulating municipal

interests and coordinating their policies and programmes with those of the

other spheres. 2

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EmployerBody

Act as an employer body representing all

municipal members and, by

agreement, associate members.

The Voice of Local Government

Support and advise our

members on a range of issues

to assist effective

execution of their mandate.

Build the capacity of the municipality as an institution as well as leadership

and technical capacity of both Councillors and

Officials.

Lobby, advocate, protect and

represent the interest of local government at

relevant structures and

platforms.

Transform local government to

enable it to fulfil its

developmental mandate.

SALGA Mandate

Lobby, Advocate & Represent

Support &Advice

CapacityBuilding

Build the profile and image of

local government within South

Africa as well as outside the

country.

StrategicProfiling

Serve as the custodian of local

government intelligence and

the knowledge hub and centre of local

government intelligence for the

sector.

Knowledge & Information Sharing

The Voice of Local Government

SALGA MANDATE

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GOALS

1. Local Government delivers equitable and sustainable services

2. Safe and healthy environment and communities

3. Coherent Planning and Socio-economic development at the local level

4. Effective and responsive Local Govt that is accountable to communities

5. Human Capital development in local government

6. Financial and organisationally capacitated municipalities

7. An effective and efficient administration

APEX PRIORITIES

1. Fiscal and Financial Management

2. Legislative and Policy Review

3. Municipal Capacity Building 4

STRATEGIC GOALS & PRIORITIES

2012-17

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PRIORITY PROGRAMMES

FOR 2013/14

1) CAPACITY BUILDING:

• Develop a Holistic Capacity building

strategy for the sector

• Initiate a Local Government academy

• Build SALGA municipal intelligence

capability

• Facilitate training & knowledge

sharing

• Facilitate Peer Learning networks

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2) RAPID RESPONSE/ SUPPORT:

• Facilitate SALGA led, technical and

political support to manage crisis

situations that arise from time to time

4) LOCAL GOVERNMENT FISCAL REVIEW:

• Push for fundamental overhaul of the Local

Government fiscal dispensation

3) PROFILING OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT:

• Profile the LG sector (Tangible success stories on

service delivery and development)

• Enhanced interface between communities and elected

local public representatives eg “Know your Councillor”

campaign

5) INTERFACE WITH LEGISLATURE

• Popularise and step-up the SALGA parliamentary

programme

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FLAGSHIP PROJECTS 2013/14 (KM)

Focus

Area Flagship Projects for 2013/14

Knowledge

Sharing

Facilitation of Municipal peer learning networks

Roll out of the SALGA Municipal Barometer (Municipal data & information

system)

Profiling

Local Govt

Profiling of Local Government and Councillors;

Improving the participation of SALGA in the International Arena

Profiling Local Government at international level

Internal

Focus

Implementation of a phased sustainable conditions of service for SALGA

employees (employee benefits)

Capex project – implementation of video conferencing across all SALGA offices

to improve operational efficiency.

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STRATEGIC GOAL 5HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN LOCAL

GOVERNMENT

5-YEAR KPI (STRATEGIC PLAN 2012-17)APP 2013/14

KPI No DELIVERABLESTRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 5.3 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Enhanced peer learning and knowledge sharing within and between municipalities

47Knowledge sharing and inter-municipal peer learning programme implemented

Local Government Human Resource Policy and Strategy developed and rolled out

48Implementation framework and guide for HR Strategy completed

49Stakeholders lobbied on Proposals on HR Norms and standards; systems and policies for LG Administration Integration

APP 2013/14 (KM)

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

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KEY OBJECTIVE

• To improve service delivery and

performance of local government

• by building the collective and

individual skills and capacity

of municipal practitioners

• through developing a strong

culture and practice of peer

learning and knowledge

sharing across local

government and its

stakeholders

KM as

critical

strategic

resource

“Leading and learning is one of 4 key elements of developmental

local government” (Local Govt White Paper, 1998)

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KEY PRINCIPLES

• Many KM definitions, approaches and

methodologies - find one that works for your

municipality;

• All workers are knowledge workers – everyone has

a role to play;

• Connections more than collections - create

platforms for engagements;

• Institutionalisation of KM - through strategies /

frameworks; processes; technology;

• KM must produce tangible result i.e.

– better decision making;

– improve productivity / governance;

– employee development;

– better customer-service;

– innovation.

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KEY PRINCIPLES

• Effective management of knowledge requires hybrid

solutions involving both people and technology -

technology makes it possible, people make it

happen.

• Knowledge management requires resources -

financial, human, technology, training &

development.

• Location of KM - there is no set location that is

best; the following considerations are important:

• KM function must be driven by the strategic

objectives & plans of the Municipality (GDS,

IDPs)

• The function must cut across the entire

organisation through platform such as steering

committee, champions forum; central KM

support group etc.

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Peer Learning (Networks / Events)

Knowledge Hub(Portal/Resource Centre)

Research, Benchmarking & Performance Reviews

The effective transformation of SALGA into a learning / knowledge

organisation requires each portfolio to contribute to each of the

three pillars

STRATEGIC PILLARS

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PEER LEARNING

Facilitate Vertical & Horizontal Learning

Facilitate Inter-sector / Inter-Stakeholder Learning

Facilitate peer learning within Municipalities

Facilitate peer learning within SALGA

Turn SALGA and Municipalities into learning organisations

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RESEARCH & BENCHMARKING

• Initiate municipal research partnerships with academic and other research agencies;

• Develop a national benchmarking programme focusing on a variety of focus areas;

• Develop a national peer review programme for municipalities.

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LG KNOWLEDGE HUB

/ RESOURCE

Champion a comprehensive, integrated, highly accessible (web-based) portal for all LG information and knowledge

• House local government research, data, guides, toolkits, legal and policy briefs and other knowledge products

• Disseminate electronic newsletter regularly to a wide local government audience

• Provide platform for online CoPs

• House internal SALGA documents that must be accessible to all SALGA officials

• Build wide user base through aggressive marketing and communication of the portal

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SALGA WEBSITE:

KNOWLEDGE HUB

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SALGA WEBSITE:

KNOWLEDGE HUB

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LG Knowledge Hub /

Resource

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LG Knowledge Hub /

Resource

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LG Knowledge Hub /

Resource

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LG Knowledge Hub /

Resource

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PROGRAMMES 2013/14

Focus Area

Structured Knowledge

Sharing & Learning

(Networks & Events)

Host and or coordinate knowledge sharing and learning events /

engagements;

Facilitate peer learning and sharing;

Facilitate the following structured learning networks to share

information, knowledge, best practices and lessons:

Municipal Managers Forum

District Learning Network

Mining & LG Network

SA Cities Network - KMRG

LED & ICT Networks

LG Migration Network (LOMNET)

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PROGRAMMES 2013/14

FOCUS AREA OPERATIONAL PLANS

Local Government

Knowledge Hub /

Portal

Develop a comprehensive, integrated, highly accessible (web-based)

portal for all LG information and knowledge

Provide a platform for documenting and sharing of LG knowledge and

information

Enhance knowledge dissemination and sharing to ensure that LG

knowledge resources reaches LG practitioners.

Municipal

Barometer

SALGA in cooperation with Centre for Municipal Research and Advice

(CMRA), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Municipal

Demarcation Board (MDB) and South African Cities Network (SACN) are

developing a Local Level Data Programme;

This programme is aimed at collecting and packaging municipal data for

dissemination as widely and as cost effectively as possible through an

effective, accessible easy to use online portal now referred to as the

Municipal Barometer.

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OBJECTIVES

The Municipal Barometer is anchored on a Local Data Partnership which is aimed at:

• Improving municipal governance and performance by improved planning, oversight, benchmarking and peer learning

• Identifying and addressing municipal data needs at minimal costs;

• Making local level data available to municipalities and their stakeholders;

• Managing access to data through a single comprehensive yet simple web-based portal; and

• Building the capacity of municipalities to locate, access, interpret and utilize data for planning, budgeting and governance processes.

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MUNICIPAL BAROMETER

ATTRIBUTES

The website should be easily accessible in terms of visibility on the internet as well asthe user friendliness of the website. The specific requirements are:

i. The website should be accessible via the Knowledge Hub on www.salga.org.zaand also should have links on the websites of StatsSA, DBSA, MDB, SACN andpossibly other websites;

ii. The website should also be accessible through a specific url,www.municipalbarometer.org.za (or similar, depending on availability);

iii. Some of the users will only have basic computer literacy. The website shouldtherefore be easy to use by those people with only basic knowledge of theinternet;

iv. The website should be freely accessible for anyone that wishes to view the data;the website should be accessible without login information.

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FRONT PAGE PILOT PORTAL

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PROGRAMMES 2013/14

Focus AreaDocumenting &

Sharing of LG Best

Practices

Coordinate the documentation and sharing of local government best

practices to:

Profile and celebrate LG best practices;

Encourage learning and replication of best practices;

Avoid re-inventing the wheel and mistakes of others;

Issue request for submission of best practices in May 2013 (due date

31 July 2013);

Process, package, develop and disseminate an annual LG Best

Practices publication.

KM Municipal

Capacity

Assist municipalities with Knowledge Management programmes

(advocacy, strategy, processes or tools);

Support implementation of KM programmes in municipalities;

SALGA K M Strategy Review and updating of SALGA KM Strategy

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• Leadership and executive support plays a key role in ensuring the success ofKM; Nothing makes greater impact on an organization than when leadersmodel the behaviour they are trying to promote amongst employees;

• Listen - Listen to users, employees, managers; whoever we are designing a KM initiative for; they will tell us how we can meet their needs and have a successful KM initiative.

IN CONCLUSION……

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Mapule LetshweniDirector: Knowledge & Stakeholder ManagementEmail: Mletshweni@Salga.org.zaTel: 012 369 8000

Puleng Maluleka Specialist: Knowledge ManagementEmail: Pmaluleka@salga.org.zaTel: 012 369 8000

CONTACT DETAILS…

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THANK YOU….