Solutions that make a difference to citizens and save the government money were what she wants
Johann Barnard
It is unfortunate that often-violent service delivery protests grab the local and international headlines, and the good work done at all levels of government is lost in the noise.
The 10th Annual Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) Awards, which was hosted at Emperor's Palace on November 2, is therefore an important showcase of projects that are making a significant impact on communities around the country.
This prestigious event gathered hundreds of government, non-governmental organisations and related partners to celebrate the finalists and winners in this year's competition.
"The number of entries have grown year on year, with more than 150 entries received this year," said the chief executive of the CPSI, Thuli Radebe.
"The qualification criteria are quite strict and involve a thorough verification process to assess the projects and whether they deserve to be featured.
"Right now, my measure is 'what difference is it making to the citizens, and is it saving government money?'." The purpose of the Innovation Awards is to recognise best practice in public sector innovation and service delivery, after which the processes or projects are generally rolled out across the country.
Radebe said she wanted to instill a mindset of trying something new and breaking the boundaries in trying to find workable solutions to problems that persist when conventional policies and strategies have been unable to solve a problem.
The awards consist of four categories that recognise excellence in key areas of service delivery. An overall award is also given to a project that cuts across these categories and has demonstrated significant success.
Mpumalanga education solution
Considering the sorry state in which the country's education systems finds itself, it was fitting that this year's overall winning entry focuses on improving access to quality education through an e-learning solution aimed at community schools.
Also named the winner of the innovative service delivery institutions category, Ligbron E-Learning is a Mpumalanga-based school community project that delivers mathematics and science lessons across five rural, disadvantaged and underperforming schools by way of video conferencing and desktop sharing.
The partnership between the Mpumalanga department of education and the Ligbron Academy for Technology improves teaching standards and results, and is the first project of its kind in Africa.
The schools that participated in the project are Camden Combined, Umzimvelo Agriculture, Masizakhe Secondary School, Ermelo Combined and Ithafa Secondary School.
A range of technologies are used to provide connectivity to the far-flung schools. The project reaches 5 400 learners and 280 teachers who are now able to communicate and collaborate using a combination of video, sound writing on an interactive SMARTboard.
The five schools are connected wirelessly to Ligbron School and use conferencing software and live video to share their mathematics and science lessons.
Each lesson is recorded and stored centrally so that all the schools and pupils can access the files to download and study at their own pace.
Limpopo HR solution
The winner of the innovative enhancements of internal systems of government category and first runner-up in the overall competition was the performance management information system implemented by the department of co-operative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs in Limpopo.
This project has improved efficiency in the administration of performance management system and was developed to modernise the implementation of the performance management and development system. The aim of the system is to improve employees' productivity, and thereby increase morale and speed up service delivery.
This web-based system sorts employees, at the click of the button, by their performance level. This identifies employees who comply with policy requirements and those who do not. A degree of transparency has been achieved because this information is visible to all staff members.
Digital monitoring of employees' performance enabled speedier moderation of appraisals and therefore faster processing of performance incentives, which has led to improved staff morale and enhanced performance levels.
Mpumalanga rural development
The second runner-up and winner of the innovative partnerships in service delivery category is the comprehensive rural development programme that was implemented by the department of rural development and land administration in Mpumalanga.
This project, which encompasses 19 wards in Mkhondo and six other municipalities, was first piloted in 2009 in Mkhondo, an area that suffers very high poverty rates, unemployment and low levels of formal education. The programme has contributed to a vibrant economy starting to take shape.
This has been achieved by gathe-ring all stakeholders to discuss and plan development activities, services and infrastructure, with a key focus on involving local community members so they can take charge of their own development.
A council of stakeholders in all seven municipalities has been established to bring sector departments, local municipalities, village committees, the House of Traditional Affairs, non-profit organisations and community-based organisations around the same table.
Among the successes recorded by the project is the training of learners to participate in the construction of infrastructure in their areas, thereby ensuring that local communities are empowered to be economically active.
Free State health
The third overall runner-up in this year's awards and winner of the innovative use of ICTs for effective service delivery category was the ePharmacy management system implemented by the department of health and Dihlabeng Hospital in the Free State.
The project addresses the crucial management of stock in the hospital's pharmacy and replaces a manual, stock-card bases system that produced poor stock control, particularly of expired medication.
A local non-governmental organisation called Management Sciences for Health's Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus programme (known as MSH/RPM), partnered with the Free State department of health to implement RxSolution, a computerised stock management system that was first rolled out at Dihlabeng Regional Hospital.
The system improves the efficiency of stock ordering by the various wards, can be used to dispense medication to patients and integrates with the department's online ordering system.