Intergovernmental relations have been the pillar of efforts to ensure a coordinated response to the challenges facing society. As part of efforts to coordinate efforts to fight the scourge of poverty, President Thabo Mbeki declared a War on Poverty in his 2008 State of the Union address. OSS was identified as a flagship program of the KwaZulu-Natal government and it was to be used to coordinate the delivery of services to the poorest communities in KwaZulu-Natal.
The population of the study consisted of provincial government officials, local politicians (councillors), district task force chairman, local task force chairman and community conveners. The findings of the study reveal that although the stakeholders are enthusiastic about the collaboration, the results have not been positive. The study also recommends that all relevant stakeholders should be involved in creating the purpose of the collaboration in order to achieve commitment and ownership.
If some stakeholders are not involved in the formulation of the purpose, they will hardly be committed to the collaboration. Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Office of the Premier's Special Projects Unit, for making it easy for me to recruit participants.
INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
- PROBLEM STATEMENT
- PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
- PRELIMINARY LITERATURE REVIEW
- OBJECTIVES
- RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- PRINCIPAL THEORIES UPON WHICH THE STUDY WILL BE CONSTRUED
- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ADOPTED IN THE STUDY
- DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
- OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
- CHAPTER SUMMARY
Poor intergovernmental relations are seen as one of the reasons for the slow delivery of services in the country. However, no study had been done to understand how intergovernmental relations are managed in the integrated service delivery program. This study fills that gap by exploring how intergovernmental relations are managed in the program.
The five key priorities of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government are embedded in the OSS service delivery model (OSS, 2012). The top five priorities of the KwaZulu-Natal Government are (1) rural development/agrarian reform and food security; (2) creating decent work and economic growth; (3) fighting crime; (4) education; and (5) health. In this government department, the researcher worked in the intergovernmental relations division within the office of the Head of Department (HOD).
Therefore, the study seeks to find out how intergovernmental relations are managed in the program. It also gives a historical account of the development of intergovernmental relations in the world in general and South Africa in particular.
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
WHY DO A LITERATURE REVIEW?
THE CONCEPT OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS (IGR)
CLASSIFICATION OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
NORMS IN INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
THE EVOLUTION OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA
INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS IN POST-1994 SOUTH AFRICA
DELIVERING SERVICES THROUGHT INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
THE WAR ON POVERTY: OSS
THE HUMAN FACTOR IN INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
CHAPTER SUMMARY
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
INTRODUCTION
THE COLLABORATION THEORY
- The Context of Collaboration
- Understanding Conflict and Collaboration
- Reasons for Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration
- The Importance of Assessing the Capacity to Collaborate
- The Importance of a Shared Purpose
- Building Trust in Collaboration
- Organisational Ownership of the Collaborative Initiative
- Collaborative Administration
SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY
CHAPTER SUMMARY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
THE RATIONALE FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
CASE STUDY RESEARCH
GAINING ACCESS TO THE RESEARCH SITE
SAMPLING
STUDY SITE
DATA COLLECTION METHOD
- Telephonic Interviews
- Transcription Process
DATA ANALYSIS
VALIDITY
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
LIMITATIONS
CHAPTER SUMMARY
MANAGING INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS AND CROSS-SECTOR
- INTRODUCTION
- UNDERSTANDING OSS
- An Integrated Service Delivery Model which brings Services closer to Communities
- A Forum for Resolving Community Problems
- CHALLENGES FACING OSS
- Lack of Attendance by Government Departments
- Lack of Capacity in the Community
- Political Challenges
- Lack of Understanding of the Purpose of OSS
- Lack of Resources: Transport, Personnel, Working Equipment
- THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION IN OSS
- Collaboration as a way to Save Costs for Community Members
- Collaboration as a way to Ensure Efficiency in the Delivery of Services to Communities 121
- Deliberations as a Conflict Management Mechanism
- Traditional Authorities and Conflict Management in OSS
- Political Challenges as a Cause of Conflict in OSS
- Clear Reporting Lines as a Conflict Prevention Mechanism
- Prayer as a Mechanism for Conflict Prevention
- Conflicts caused by the Lack of Attendance of Government Departments
- Summary of Causes of Conflicts
- BUILDING TRUST IN OSS
- Reporting as a Way of Building Trust
- Collaborative Implementation as a Way to build Trust
- The Effect of the Lack of Attendance of War Room Meetings by Government
- The Lack of Consultation and its Effect on Trust
- The Importance of Trust when dealing with Sensitive Information
- Summary of Findings on Trust
- ENSURING ORGANISATIONAL OWNERSHIP IN OSS
- Summary of Findings on Organisational Ownership in OSS
- THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WAR ROOM, LTT AND DTT DECISIONS
- The Impact of the Lack of Resources on the Implementation of OSS Decisions
- Following up with Government Departments as a way of ensuring Implementation
- Setting Clear Targets to ensure Implementation
- The Lack of Attendance by Government Departments and Its Effect on Implementation . 140
- Poor Implementation and the Erosion of Trust
- The Role of Higher Structures in ensuring Implementation
- The Role played by CCGs in the Implementation of OSS Decisions
- Summary of Findings on the Implementation of OSS Decisions
- MONITORING AND EVALUATION IN OSS
- Summary of Findings on Monitoring and Evaluation
- STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT IN OSS
- Predetermined Schedule of Meeting Dates As a Way of Maintaining Stakeholder
- The Use of Social Networks and SMSs to Maintain Stakeholder Communication in
- The Use of Referrals to Maintain Stakeholder Communication in OSS
- The LTT and Stakeholder Communication
- Summary of Findings on Stakeholder Communication
- THE CONTRIBUTION OF OSS TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION
- Summary of Findings on Poverty Alleviation
- THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY IN OSS
- Summary of Findings on Community Involvement
- CHAPTER SUMMARY
In this regard, the study revealed that while some interviewees believe that the program has had an impact on poverty alleviation, others think that it has not had that impact.
DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH RESULTS
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH QUESTION 1: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF OSS?
RESEARCH QUESTION 2: WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FACED BY OSS?
RESEARCH QUESTION 3: DO OSS STAKEHOLDERS RECOGNISE THE NEED TO
RESEARCH QUESTION 4: HOW ARE CONFLICTS MANAGED IN OSS?
RESEARCH QUESTION 5: HOW IS TRUST-BUILDING ACHIEVED IN OSS?
RESEARCH QUESTION 6: How is Organizational Ownership of OSS Achieved?
RESEARCH QUESTION 7: HOW ARE OSS DECISIONS IMPLEMENTED?
RESEARCH QUESTION 8: HOW ARE MONITORING AND EVALUATION DONE IN
RESEARCH QUESTION 9: HOW IS STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION
RESEARCH QUESTION 10: HAS OSS CONTRIBUTED TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION
RESEARCH QUESTION 11: IS THE COMMUNITY INVOLVED IN OSS?
CONCLUSION
CONTRIBUTION TO THEORY
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this study was to determine how intergovernmental relations are managed in KwaZulu-Natal's Operation Sukuma Sakhe, to examine the challenges faced by OSS, to determine the impact of OSS on poverty reduction and, finally, to evaluate role (if any) played by community members in OSS. The sample for the study consisted of provincial government officials, local politicians, a DTT chairman, an LTT chairman and community meetings. Policy documents, parliamentary decisions, speeches, books and journal articles were consulted to guide the research agenda and reviewed as part of triangulating the research findings.
Cooperation theory and social exchange theory were then used together as complementary analytical tools, which helped make sense of the descriptive narrative identified in the data. This chapter provides a summary of some of the main findings and conclusions of the study.
CONCLUSIONS
- Facilitative Structures
- Reliance on Government Assistance
- Collaborative Efforts
- Conflict Management
- Organisational Management
- Implementation of Decisions
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Intergovernmental Relations
- Alleviation of Poverty
The reason for this is that other key players such as the private sector are not involved in the programme. Local government, community members and non-governmental stakeholders were not involved in the formulation of the programme. One of the reasons the program faces major challenges is that it was started in a top-down approach.
If a diverse group of stakeholders had been involved in formulating the program's goal, they would have a sense of ownership of the program and would be more committed to it as a result. Organizational ownership of the program in government departments is weak, which negatively affects intergovernmental relations. The study also found that those charged with managing OSS at uMsinga are unable to get key resource holders to buy into the program.
When this happens, community members begin to lose confidence in the program as a platform for solving problems. Those departments that do not attend war room meetings are not held accountable for non-participation, which has negative consequences for the sustainability of the program. The main challenge facing the program is that many government officials do not attend meetings.
This shows that poor communication is not the cause of government non-participation in the program. As mentioned above, another challenge facing the program is the lack of capacity in the community. The lack of funding is another indication that the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government did not assess capacity before starting the programme.
As to whether the program has played a role in the fight against poverty, there are two conflicting views. Those who argued that it has played a major role in poverty alleviation pointed to things like scholarships given to students to further their education at tertiary institutions, the houses built for the poor and agricultural projects that have been undertaken under the auspices of the program. Social networks can play an important role in coordinating activities and sharing information in OSS.
CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY
Some thought the program played an identifiable role in poverty alleviation while others thought it had no impact. Those who argued that the program did not alleviate poverty pointed to the fact that people still rely on unsustainable means of living, such as food parcels. This is caused by the politicization of the program, non-participation by government departments and the lack of positive results.
RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
