Thusong Service Centres - 10 years on!

- by Moferefere Moloi

Gauteng, 3 December 2008

DCEO: PLL Ms Nebo Legoabe conveying the keynote address	CD: PC & PS Mr Michael Currin presenting progress to date on the Thusong Service Centre programme

The 9th annual Thusong Service Centre review workshops were held at the St George’s Hotel in the City of Tshwane from 3 to 5 December 2008.The review was aimed at assessing the progress that was made since the programme was started in 1999 but it also identified challenges and shortcomings.To conduct a thorough review of the programme,,the event brought leaders from the three spheres of government and a group of centre managers together. During the assessment, all best practices in establishing the centres by the provinces and municipalities from were under review. At the threshold of 10 years of operation, it was time to take stock of how far the Thusong Service Centre programme has gone in improving the lives of South Africans by providing integrated information and services.

The Deputy CEO: Provincial and Local Liaison of the GCIS, Ms Nebo Legoabe, delivered the opening address with the theme Assessing Impact for Quality Service Delivery: Thusong Service Centres 10 years on! Setting the tone for the workshop, the theme was derived from the fact that the workshop preceded the 10-year anniversary of the programme,,which was followed by a review of the progress by the CD: Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support of the GCIS, Mr Michael Currin.

Monitoring & evaluation (M&E)

One of the major challenges of the programme was the absence of an alignment of M&E systems between the different spheres of government. The current system is not watertight and leads to inaccurate and unreliable information. This lack of a co-ordinated and standardised manner in which the impact of the programme is measured, poses a threat to the management of the programme, as any statistician would tell you if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. It stands to reason therefore that a solid evaluating tool is a key component for the Thusong programme and as such, some recommendations that looked into a strengthened and integrated M&E system for the Thusong programme were tabled as a way forward. Recommendations for a strong, integrated M&E system for the Thusong programme, particularly at provincial level where the programme is being implemented, was shared as a means of ensuring that everybody left the workshop with an agreed set of indicators for the programme.

First-generation clean-up

1. Branding - There are 40 Thusongs that have already been branded. A further R3,4 million was received from National Treasury to brand the remaining Thusongs in 2009.
   
   
2. Alignment - It was noted that there is a lack of proper co-ordination and alignment of visiting points by various service providers. As such, Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support had intensive discussions with the departments of social development, home affairs and of,labour and the Umsobomvu Youth Service (UYS) to discuss an alignment of service schedules. As a way of moving forward and with the support from provincial colleagues, Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support would like to ensure alignment of services so that the extent and impact of out resources can be maximised. At provincial level, reports reflecting alignment of the programme with other relevant programmes were also noted during the National Intersectoral Stearing Committee meetings.
   
   
3. Capacity development - Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support has engaged the services of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) (formerly the South African Management Development Institute) in training Thusong Service Centres’ staff in customer care. Excellent Customer Care, a manual that already exists within Palama, incorporates the principles of Batho Pele and customer care. The findings of the African Response Research of 2007 indicated the need for investment in the capacity at hand to run the programme. Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support planned to roll out this training by March 2009.
   
   
4. ICT Blueprint - The absence of connectivity in the centres was one of the main challenges of the Thusong programme. Access to government information by the people has been hampered because of this challenge. Ms Michelle Williams of the Department of Public Service and Administration undertook to deploy information and communications technology (ICT) connectivity in Thusong Centres. Additionally, Umsobomvu Youth Service (UYS) has provided 150 learners to staff the Thusong Centres and information technology (IT) equipment was deployed by the Department of Provincial and Local Governmentto be installed in General Service Counters (GSC). Previously, the absence of GSCs in centres meant that access to the government portal was limited.
   
   
5. Funding for the First-generation Clean-up - Concluding the clean-up was deemed a very critical step in moving the programme forward. As part of the review, the issue of funding was discussed at length and innovative ways of dealing with it had been recommended, for example, using Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funds to address some of the first-generation clean-up challenges such as renovating.

Thusongs as hubs of content development

As part of the review and as part of promoting government’s access strategy, the Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support can look into how the Thusong centres can be used as a hub for integrated content development.

A matter of concern was the absence of the National Youth Service in many centres, especially since previous research has indicated the need for youth activities.

Economic opportunities were seen to be lacking in the centres.

Thusong Centres were not being used effectively for campaigns. Annual campaigns of national importance could use the centres as platforms to distribute and communicate government information, thus promoting awareness and education on some very crucial messages of government.

Strengthening partnerships

The need to broaden the Thusongs’ partnership base that would address economic challenges, youth programmes, adult education and social development,was deemed critical for the programme if the healthy sustainability of the Thusong Centres were to be ensured.

At the previous workshop, it was indicated that there was a need to attract partners from the private, academic and non-governmental sector with a clear understanding of the value they would be adding to the programme.

As a part of looking forward therefore, Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support must reassess the current partnerships and see if they actually feed into the objectives of the programme at large. In assessing some of the key challenges, Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support also needs to look very carefully at who can be teamed up with for a mutually beneficial relationship to advance the course of development through the Thusong Centres.

By the same token, Provincial Co-ordination and Programme Support enjoyed fruitful partnerships with the likes of the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Provincial and Local Government, the Department of Public Service and Administration, State Information Technology Agency and Palama in the pursuit of enhancing the Thusong programme.

Mr Currin deliberated on progress regarding salient issues such as:

Institutional

• steady progress is being made in engaging the South African Local Government Association (Salga) as recommended in 2007 although provincial intersectoral steering committees are making progress with Provincial Local Government Associations (PLGAs) as well
• Thusong institutional issues were included in the draft Single Public Service Bill as part of implementing 2007’s decision to strengthen the legislative and policy environment of the programme
• Technical Assistant Unit (TAU) has assisted provinces with business plan reviews and finalisation/enhancement
• Some128 centres are operational – we have fallen significantly behind on the 2008 to 2009 target of 20 centres, as only seven centres have been operationalised in 2008.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)

• The blueprint concept, which was proposed at the last workshop was endorsed and enhanced by the National Government Information and Technology Officer Council
• a national consolidation workshop held at Silver Lakes in July 2008, which developed an implementation plan to roll out this process
• considering that audit processes were underway but were encountering challenges
• the implementation plan centred on regional teams being set up comprising the key stakeholders and partners to engage centre management and the affected municipalities
• some 62 centres were cabled for ICTs by 2008, while 41 have Telkom lines installed
• Departments are now urged to ensure that they follow suite and connect to their ICT back-offices to allow front offices to transact speedily.

Other channels

• solid progress has been made, albeit slow, in rolling out complementary access platforms to the Thusongs
• some 21 General Service Counters (GSCs) will be fitted during 2008, while 19 existing GSCs will be refurbished.
• aplan to align the routes of mobile vehicles of various departments with Thusongshas been discussed and in principle agreed upon.

Funding Model

• major progress with Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) alignment – the MIG P: component is being promoted as a funding stream for the centres while “Thusong Service Centre” is now listed as a funding category on the MIG forms
• public-private partnerships are emerging well – in some provinces, private companies are coming on board e.g. some mining houses in Limpopo, while the South African Post Office has dedicated R28 million for the construction of seven centres over the next three years.

The workshop proceeded,with stakeholders comprising representatives from all spheres of government and various civic organisations presenting, imparting and sharing lesson learnt in an endeavour to surmount obstacles hindering the achievement of set-out objectives. 

As intended, the workshop gave an apposite platform for participants to articulate their own views and assess the impact regarding a host of issues pertaining to the Result-Based Management and Logic Models for the Thusong Programme.

Subsequent to robust and comprehensive interrogations of both the Thusong Result-Based Management implications for governance, management, mandates, reporting and the exploration of indicators for the Thusong Programme based on the Logic Models Input, stakeholders used the logic models and frameworks to develop indicators and assess gaps on the Thusong Operational Manual.

The exercises culminated in a development trajectory through which the Thusong Programme will be enhanced for optimum integrated service delivery in Thusong Service Centres.