Newsletter 56 – 14 months later – 29 January 2010
This website has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this
document are the sole responsibility of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty and the South African
Institute of Race Relations and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the
European Union.
Fourteen months into the Municipal Outreach Project the project has proven itself to be one of the most successful outreach and research projects operated by the Institute.
In 2009 project staff visited all eight major urban municipalities covered by the project. These include the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan, Motheo District, City of Ekurhuleni, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, eThekwini Metropolitan, Capricorn District, and City of Cape Town municipalities.
Through these visits the project staff were able to identify a number priority poverty issues jointly with staff and councillors at these eight municipalities. These findings were eventually published with other research findings in a supplement to the South Africa Survey entitled Local Government and the Poverty Challenge which was recently mailed to more than 1 800 councillors and municipal staff on the project’s mailing list. The report is also available by email and on the project’s website, www.eumunicipaloutreach.org.za.
In addition, through 13 Fast Facts for Local Government reports and the South Africa Survey the project managed to provide local councillors and their staff with a complete set of local, provincial, national, and international development data for South Africa. This will serve to greatly strengthen their policy work at local government level.
In 2010 the project staff will again conduct a series of seminars and workshops for local authorities. These will be aimed at identifying policy proposals and positions that may be used to effectively tackle many of the challenges identified by the project in 2009. These policy proposals will be published at the end of 2010 as a report to be circulated to the project mailing list. It will again greatly strengthen the policy making capacity of local government councillors and civil servants.
We urge all local authorities that fall under this project and all civil society groups working at local government level to become involved in working with us to devise effective anti-poverty strategies in 2010. To start the process off the project will next month release a Fast Facts for Local Government report updating a wide range of local government development indicators for fields ranging from education, to poverty, and employment.
We look forward to working closely with you in 2010 and will be in direct contact with our eight target municipalities shortly. In the mean time you are welcome to contact the project directly on 011 492 0600.
- Frans Cronje
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nkgafela
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last modified
2010-01-28 13:05
