Policy into action

­This page covers:

Civil society infl­uencing policy

Below are examples of public participation in policy processes. Included are examples of submissions, declarations and advice on approaching decision makers.

Mobilising social justice in South Africa: Perspectives from researchers and practitioners, edited by Jeff Handmaker & Remko Berkhout. There are many dimensions to understanding the dynamics of civil society, the potential for civic actors to contribute to structural changes in unequal power relations, and the roles of external actors in supporting them. This book presents the findings of five research projects that address these key areas in partnership with practitioners, which were presented at an international conference organised by the Hivos-ISS Knowledge Programme on Civil Society in November 2009 in Johannesburg.

Meaningful engagement workshop, organised by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (University of the Witwatersrand) and which focused on Olivia Road and Joe Slovo, two key Constitutional Court cases where meaningful engagement has been ordered, to focus discussion. The intention was to obtain perspectives from the community organisations that have represented residents in the cases, as well as the lawyers responsible for litigation, regarding interpretation and implications of the meaningful engagement rulings. In addition the scope was expanded to a series of additional cases - Bertrams, Lingwood and Blue Moonlight and the experiences of AbM particularly in relation to the Slums Act.9.  The overall objective was to gain more clarity on the concept of meaningful engagement in order to feed into civil society strategies and actions.

Strategies for effective policy advocacy: Demanding good governance in Africa is a South African Institute of International Affairs research report aiming to distill lessons learned by a few African civil society coalitions on the dynamics of demanding improved governance of governments that are often averse to reform.

Policy process on the system of provincial and local government: catalogue and analysis of public submissions analyses submissions relating to service delivery at local and provincial government level (Human Sciences Research Council, April 2008).

The PLAAS approach to policy engagement on the Communal Land Rights Bill is illustrated here, and a number of submissions from civil society partners can be downloaded.

The AIDS Law Project has made a number of submissions on public health issues. In July 2008, the ALP and the Treatment Action Campaign made a submission on the Draft Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act which argues against proposed amendments to ensure the independent scientific governance of medicines.

The Children's Institute at the University of Cape Town is one of the few organisations focusing on children's policy. Their Law Reform section includes examples of submissions and an overview of policy strategies adopted. Examples of discussion papers and fact sheets relating to the rights of children can be downloaded. See particularly their fact sheet on how to set up a meeting with a member of parliament and a guide for making submissions to provincial parliaments on the Children's Amendment Bill.

In 1998 South Africa held poverty hearings, allowing communities to express their views on service delivery and other economic issues. The economic and social rights report from Sangoco is an example of a civil society evaluation of socioeconomic progress.

Bringing community-learnt knowledge into the policy debate: the case of legal aid centres
Focuses on lawyers who work as legal aid lawyers in poor communities. Two cases are  compared: the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa and the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers in Uganda.(ODI, October 2006).

Rewarding engagement?: The Treatment Action Campaign and the politics of HIV/AIDS
This is a case study for the project entitled: Globalisation, marginalisation and new social movements in post-apartheid South Africa. Examines TAC, its history, key characteristics and strategies to suggest some implications for ways in which democracy can also yield greater social and economic equity. Download more case studies on social movements from this project (Centre for Civil Society, 2004).

Policy participation guidelines 

These resources are aimed at both public servants and civil society.

Recognising community voice and dissatisfaction is the result of a collective process of reflection on the meaning and implications of community protests for local governance. It is the third publication by the GGLN providing a civil society perspective on the state of local governance (Good Governance Learning Network, May 2011).

Engaging citizens and community in the development of public policy
The primary objective of this workbook is to enhance knowledge, skills, and abilities relating to the development of public policy, with specific emphasis on the meaningful inclusion of stakeholders and citizens (Health Canada, 2003).

­Template for developing guidelines on public participation
A generic good practice template which government departments can in turn use to develop their own specific public participation guidelines (Public Service Commission, March 2010).

The dilemmas of engagement: the role of consultation in government
Maps out some approaches used by governments to consult with communities (Australian National University, June 2009).

Community roles in policy
Reviews place-based interventions and their unique contribution to tackling complex policy issues, such as poverty.
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Policy process on the system of provincial and local government: background: policy questions, processes and participation
Sets out policy processes within provincial and local government. Approaches to public participation are highlighted (Department of Provincial and Local Government, 2007).

Policy engagement: how civil society can be more effective
Aims to improve the effectiveness of civil society's policy engagement work and includes strategic and practical advice on addressing the main challenges to policy engagement (ODI/RAPID, 2006).

Handbook on citizen engagement: beyond consultation
Aimed at those initiating citizen engagement from within government, but of use to all those interested in engaging citizens in setting priorities and making decisions (Canadian Policy Research Networks, March 2008).

Citizen engagement for accountable local government
Proceedings of a conference on encouraging citizen engagement (Norwegian Church Aid Regional Conference, March 2007).

Local government in action: a civil society perspective on local governance in South Africa.
Reviews public participation and service delivery at local government level (Good Governance Learning Network, 2008).

Get involved with us!: a tool kit to support public participation in local governance
Tools for municipal staff and elected officials to include the community in decisions (Australia South Africa Local Governance Partnership).

Community participation guidelines
Aimed at health officials to improve their skills in improving community participation at primary health care level (South African Department of Health, 2003).

Democracy, government and public participation
Chapter from a manual which provides guidelines for participation at local, provincial and national government levels (Black Sash and Education and Training Unit, March 2008).

How civil society influences policy: a comparative analysis of the Civicus civil society index in post-communist Europe
A useful example of how research capacity can be built to strengthen the contribution of community service organisations to positive social development (Civicus/ODI, April 2007).

Our money, our responsibility: a citizens' guide to monitoring government expenditures
Documents methodologies used by civil society organisations around the developing world to hold their governments to account for the use of public resources (International Budget Project, 2008).

Making your voice heard in the EU: a guide for NGOs
Designed for those who are in the process of establishing a European strategy. Provides information on EU institutions and the way European NGOs work (EU Civil Society Contact Group, 2008).

Monitoring government policies: a toolkit for civil society organisations
Aims to offer information, ideas, examples and methods on how to gather evidence about policies and to use that evidence to press for change.

Community service organisations: evidence and policy processes
An annotated bibliography on how civil society organisations use evidence to influence policy processes (ODI/RAPID).

Find your public representative

These are some of the public representative directories available in South Africa:

Municipalities of the Republic of South Africa: Contact Details and Council Information
A municipal directory compiled in February 2007.

Contact Trust parliamentary directory
Provides constituents and civil society organisations with a user-friendly tool for pro-active engagement with Parliament.

South African government directory
Government Information and Communication Services directory that includes contact information for all levels of government.

Policy and legislation alerts

The following organisations offer legislation monitoring and alert services in South Africa:

Parliamentary Monitoring Group
PMG provides a subscription-based parliamentary monitoring service.  

IDASA - Political Information & Monitoring Service programme
PIMS monitors the legislatures and the executive, researches public policy and legislation, and disseminates information generated by these activities to civil society and other audiences.

Centre for Policy Participation
Regular legislation updates and alerts about submission deadlines are available on the website

­Participation Junction
Produces weekly policy updates providing the latest information on specific policies, laws or programmes being implemented by government.

Polity
Daily and weekly alerts on policy and general political developments. Archives official speeches and selected legislation and policy documents.

Policy implementation case studies 

AfriMAP: Effective public service delivery
A discussion document reviewing challenges of achieving effective public service delivery, in the South African health and education sectors (Open Society Foundation for South Africa, 2007).

South Africa: effective service delivery in the education and health sectors: a discussion paper
Considers the challenges of achieving effective delivery of health and education services in South Africa (Open Society Foundation for South Africa, 2007).

Policy implementation: lessons for service delivery
Focuses on key issues regarding the implementation of policy and service delivery in the South African public sector (PA Brynard, School of Public Management and Administration, University of Pretoria, 2005).

Improve health service delivery through building trust
A briefing on the need to develop relationships based on trust to improve accountability between citizens, service providers and policy-makers (Centre for Health Policy, 2006).

Towards effective delivery: synthesis report on the project entitled ‘Closing the gap between policy and implementation in South Africa’
Argues that the slow delivery of services, or the gaps between policy and implementation, is related to the way in which policies are implemented (Centre for Policy Studies, February 2003).


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