Amandla

September 20

Public Service Delivery - New Models In China

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The China Monitor Issue 64 – August 2011

The August issue of The China Monitor focuses on development challenges within China. Parts of the country beyond the glass and steel skyline of Beijing, Shanghai or Shezhen look very familiar to observers with an African background. China is a dynamic place, indeed, but development levels are uneven.

In the Policy Watch, The contribution by Jessica Teets of Middlebury College in the USA illustrates that service delivery is not necessarily about immediate interaction with the state, but also concerns the regulatory capacities.

For the Commentary piece, Daouda Cisse, a post-doctoral researcher here at the Centre for Chinese Studies, argues that the experiences over the last 50 years create a specific and somewhat different starting point for modernisation of the public administration and service delivery in African states.

Also included is a Conference Report from the recent China-Africa Relations and Public Diplomacy Conference in Stellenbosch held in August.

The China Briefing subsequently covers some of the most prominent China-Africa stories from the last month, drawn from our Weekly Briefings

You can read/download Issue 64 of The China Monitor [here].

September 16

Podcast: Sakhela Buhlungu On Cosatu And The Recent Public Sector Strike

Public services South Africa Protests and resistance Trackbacks (0)

As South Africa currently experiences a public sector strike, leading sociologist Professor Sakhela Buhlungu considered the historical role of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the democratic transformation of the country. The meeting, which was chaired by award-winning journalist Terry Bell, was also addressed by Tony Ehrenreich, Western Cape Provincial Secretary of COSATU.

From Books Southern Africa

September 08

Politics Of The Public Service Strike And Its Effect On The Tripartite Alliance

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In this video clip, the Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa's Ebrahim Fakir, speaks on the politics of the public service strike and its effect on the tripartite alliance. Link to video: http://www.polity.org.za/attachment.php?aa_id=29419

September 04

Socio-Economic Rights Institute Of South Africa

Public services South Africa Housing Migrant workers Trackbacks (0)

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) is a new non-profit organisation providing professional, dedicated and expert socio-economic rights assistance to individuals, communities and social movements in South Africa.

SERI conducts research, engages with government, advocates for policy and legal reform, facilitates civil society coordination and mobilisation, and litigates in the public interest.

Our thematic areas are:

housing and evictions;
basic services (water, sanitation, electricity); and
migrant rights & livelihoods.

http://www.seri-sa.org/

January 24

Managing Organizational Memory, Public Service Canada

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Lost & Found: A Smart-Practice Guide to Managing Organizational Memory (PDF: 8 MB)
Source: Canada School of Public Service

Loss of vital knowledge and experience is taking its toll on Canada’s cherished institutions– the Public Service of Canada in particular. Veteran employees are retiring in unprecedented numbers. Continual change and organizational churn are now the norm. New technologies allow us to generate and store vast amounts of information, but also to misplace vast amounts of information. We, as an institution, are forgetting important lessons from the past.

All of this is happening at a time when the Public Service is most dependent on “deep smarts” to best serve Canadians. The world is moving faster and becoming more complex. Citizens’ expectations have risen. Emergencies have tested our preparedness and ability to respond quickly. The Public Service must rely on its wits to seize the initiative and control its destiny. For these reasons, the Clerk of the Privy Council has launched a renewal exercise for the Public Service. Preserving organizational memory is a key part of this effort.

This guide was created to help you meet the challenge head-on. Preserving knowledge is a core responsibility of every manager. A wealth of actions are available, from simple tactics to large-scale initiatives. Here, you can learn to diagnose your own workplace and to develop a tailored strategy to follow through. You can immediately do your part to turn the tide. There are no longer any excuses for doing nothing.

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January 22

Public Service Accountability Monitor. South Africa

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Public Service Accountability Monitor
The Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) is an independent monitoring and research institute dedicated to strengthening democracy in South Africa. PSAM is based at Rhodes University in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, and gathers information on the management of public resources and the handling of misconduct and corruption cases by government departments.

January 22

South Africa: Effective Delivery Of Public Services. AfriMAP

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South Africa: Effective Delivery of Public Services
AfriMAP and OSF-South Africa

Completing AfriMAP's series on South Africa, this report uses the examples of the health and education sectors to consider South Africa's compliance with the various standards and best practices laid down in relation to the functioning of the public service -- including the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, and the Charter for the Public Service in Africa. While South Africa has many examples of best practice on paper, it is struggling to ensure that these policies are fulfilled in practice: this report offers analysis and suggestions on critical problems for attention.

http://www.afrimap.org/english/images/report/AfriMAP_SA_PublicServices.pdf

November 14