Further, the guidelines that have so far been developed as part of the Action Plan were not attached and would have been useful for gaining full and considered public opinion on current progress. ODAC is concerned that there does not seem to have been engagement with other government departments in establishing progress on the Commitments, though this can be rectified moving forward. We would also like to note from the outset that the OGP call is for a [of] “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline” in relation to the Commitments made. Such a stretch we do not believe has been reflected in a consideration of the current Progress Report. Importantly as well, are eight commitments tabled at the OGP. Progress report only reports on seven, failing to address at all the commitment to “Develop and implement an accountability/consequences management framework for public servants”, the outcome of which was to have a framework in place and implemented in the public service. Below, we have tabled some general comments on the specific progress indicators. Full description of Progress Way Forward Comment commitment Formalise Finalised a concept Provinces ODAC would submit that partnerships with document on the consulted on something more civil society institutionalisation the innovative is needed as organisations in all of the SDIFs which establishment a way forward. This nine provinces unpacks the of project has been a core to establish approach; SDIFs indicated project of the Service Delivery institutional and that they have Department of Public Improvement governance Service Delivery Services and Forums (SDIFs) at arrangements; Forums in one Administration since local level to terms of reference, form or the 2010. There is thus no provide timely among others. other. The next development of the citizen report The DPSA engaged steps will be to current 2010-2014 cards on service all nine provinces align and Strategic Plan and for delivery levels at and some national strengthen real OGP progress community level, government them into SDIFs something more especially in departments on the with adequate innovative should be relation to primary SDIF concept and community pursued to realize health care, there is a general representation. success such as the – water, sanitation, commitment to use of ICT’s in environmental establish SDIFs as coordinating provincial management and mechanisms to forums and displaying housing. enhance public report cards centrally so service access and that the information citizen gathered can be used by participation in national civil society groups to facilitate
Further, the guidelines that have so far been developed as part of the Action Plan were not attached and would have been useful for gaining full and considered public opinion on current progress. ODAC is concerned that there does not seem to have been engagement with other government departments in establishing progress on the Commitments, though this can be rectified moving forward. We would also like to note from the outset that the OGP call is for a “stretch [of] government practice beyond its current baseline” in relation to the Commitments made. Such a stretch we do not believe has been reflected in a consideration of the current Progress Report. Importantly as well, are eight commitments tabled at the OGP. Progress report only reports on seven, failing to address at all the commitment to “Develop and implement an accountability/consequences management framework for public servants”, the outcome of which was to have a framework in place and implemented in the public service. Below, we have tabled some general comments on the specific progress indicators. Full description of commitment Progress Way Forward Comment Formalise partnerships with civil society organisations in all nine provinces to establish Service Delivery Improvement Forums (SDIFs) at local level to provide timely citizen report cards on service delivery levels at community level, especially in relation to primary health care, water, sanitation, environmental management and housing. Finalised a concept document on the institutionalisation of the SDIFs which unpacks the approach; institutional and governance arrangements; terms of reference, among others. The DPSA engaged all nine provinces and some national government departments on the SDIF concept and there is a general commitment to establish SDIFs as mechanisms to enhance public service access and citizen participation in Provinces consulted on the establishment of SDIFs indicated that they have Service Delivery Forums in one form or the other. The next steps will be to align and strengthen them into SDIFs with adequate community representation. ODAC would submit that something more innovative is needed as a way forward. This project has been a core project of the Department of Public Services and Administration since 2010. There is thus no development of the current 2010-2014 Strategic Plan and for real OGP progress something more innovative should be pursued to realize success – such as the use of ICT’s in coordinating provincial forums and displaying report cards centrally so that the information gathered can be used by national civil society groups to facilitate
ogp-commitments_progress-report_21-september.docx