African Journal of Public Affairs Volume 8, Number 3 (2015)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/59914

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Front matter, African Journal of Public Affairs, Volume 8, Number 3
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015)
Rhetoric or Reality? The role of capacity development in poverty reduction in Ghana
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Asamoah, Kwame
In recent years, the issue of poverty reduction in Ghana has become a central theme in major policy discourse. Despite the formulation and implementation of several policies to address poverty issues, poverty continues to persist and the living conditions of Ghanaians continue to deteriorate. Although capacity development is critical to poverty reduction, policy actors tend to overlook this important factor to address poverty in Ghana. Using a qualitative research approach, this study analysed the factors that militate against capacity development efforts towards poverty reduction, using Ghana as a case study. The article uses secondary data collected from government and conference reports, journal articles, newspapers, and books. The data was analysed using the content analysis method. It was found that poor leadership, lack of ownership of poverty reduction programmes, inadequate data, political corruption and inappropriate training militate against capacity development efforts. The study recommends pragmatic measures to address these capacity development weaknesses.
Closing the gap between theory and practice with action research
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Auriacombe, C.J.
There is a strong belief that both researchers and practitioners have an important role to play in changing and bettering human conditions. However, behind the scenes there are heated debates about how research findings can be turned into practical meaningful information that could be applied in everyday practice. The challenge for researchers is to organise their endeavours in such a way that they produce benefits to practitioners. Even more important is for practitioners and researchers to develop a cumulative body of knowledge for change. Research methods and techniques have become increasingly less useful for solving practical problems. One of the main reasons for this is the huge gap between theory and research. In short research and thus theory, lacks relevance and usefulness when faced with problems in the real world (practice). As is clear from the above the main aims of action research are not only to contribute to the development of theory or to address the practical problems experienced by people, but to develop the self-help competencies of people facing problems. Action research therefore has the potential to help close the gap between theory and practice by bringing both the researcher and the practitioner as equals into the research process. The question is why action research has thus far not had any remarkable success in this regard.
Gender dynamics in Public Policy Management in Uganda and South Africa : a comparative perspective of gender mainstreaming in policy making for the water sector
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Basheka, Benon C.; Vyas-Doorgapersad, Shikha
In recent years, governments in Africa have been under increasing pressure to demonstrate their relevance as citizens demand delivery of better public services. To respond to the numerous calls for efficiency improvements in service delivery governments design and implement a number of public policies that address service delivery problems. The question of how gender dynamics is used to shape public policy management is, though, less understood and has not been subject to enough scholarly attention among policy analysts. The challenges faced by different gender categories differ and ought to be considered in public policy formulation, implementation and review. While a significant amount of scholarly work has been directed at the broad subject of gender in Africa, there remains a dearth of research on gender dynamics specifically relating to public policy management. Also, studies that take a comparative angle on the subject are not a common feature on the continent. In this article, the authors interrogate through a comparative approach the gender dynamics in the public policy management of the water sector policies in South Africa and Uganda. It addresses certain policy and management implications, aiming at bringing to the fore issues of gender as specifically applied to the subject of public policy.
The state of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) as a discipline in Africa : from infancy to adulthood?
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Basheka, Benon C.; Byamugisha, Albert K.
Since the early 1990s, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) has seen a steep climb within Africa–in terms of practice, profession and academic study. As a field of practice, specialised departments housing the practitioners now exist and the demand for evaluation of policies, projects, programmes and interventions remains on the increase. Legal and institutional frameworks for the practices of M&E are still weak. As a profession, over 30 national evaluation associations under the umbrella body – the African Evaluation Association (AFREA) are in existence. As an academic field of study several universities now offer programmes in M&E; notwithstanding the focus and locus dilemma regarding the discipline. Scholarship regarding the state of the field is thus of utmost importance to coherently describe the ‘ups and downs’ of the new field which has become a ‘grown up child’ having jumped the infancy stage. This article examines four interrelated questions: How has the M&E field evolved in Africa and what local and global forces have been behind this evolution? Is M&E a discipline of study? What precisely is the state of the M&E discipline in African universities? What is the future of M&E in Africa? Answers to these questions will provide useful insights into the muddy waters of the new discipline which has persistently been claimed by several other disciplines within public discourses.
Shifts in the Zimbabwean land reform discourse from 1980 to the present
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Chilunjika, Alouis; Uwizeyimana, Dominique E.
The article captures the post-colonial developmental path of the Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe since 1980, when Zimbabwe got its independence from Britain. The shifts in the Zimbabwean Land Reform Programme since 1980, unveil four distinct phases that punctuate the Land Reform trajectory as well as exhibit their unique and distinct characteristics. The four phases of the land reform programme in Zimbabwe include: the willing buyer willing seller paradigm (1980–1990), the compulsory acquisition with fair compensation paradigm (1990–2000), the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) where there was compulsory acquisition with no compensation (2000–2002) and the partnerships and agricultural contracts between white commercial farmers and the indigenous black landholders (2014 to date). The article highlights the key drivers to policy shifts, as well as the incremental pattern that punctuated the first and second paradigms, with the third paradigm assuming a radical policy leap in what was called the FTLRP. The fourth phase shows that the Government is making a U-turn on its stance about acquiring land without compensation. The Government is currently encouraging partnerships and contracts between black landholders and the previously evicted white commercial farmers. In this regard, the absence of a robust supporting legislative policy framework to substantiate these farming partnerships makes these contractual arrangements unpredictable. As theoretical underpinning the article adopts American scientist, Thomas Kuhn’s scientific knowledge development paradigm (Kuhn 1962) where Kuhn narrated the transitions that normally take place in the scientific discipline and coined such fundamental changes or approaches underlying assumptions ‘paradigmatic shifts’.
Measuring progress towards sustainable development in Africa
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Cloete, Fanie
The ‘sustainability’ of developmental programmes is one of the most elusive goals of any government services delivery system. ‘Sustainable development’ is an increasingly important umbrella concept to integrate various desired developmental outcomes of governmental interactions with its society. The concept is still a fuzzy one that frequently generates controversy. This article attempts to give an operational meaning to the term ‘sustainability’. It also distinguishes different dimensions of sustainability and suggests a concrete measuring instrument to determine progress towards achieving these different dimensions of sustainable development outcomes in Africa. According to Bhamra (2015:1), “...social, economic, environmental and governance systems cannot be treated in isolation. For the systems to be concurrently aligned in the development paradigm, the first step is to develop a meta-metric framework that identifies indicators and their respective roles in the development processes. A clear comprehensive metric system that not just focuses on economic indicators but includes social, environmental and governance systems is a pre-requisite”. This article starts off with a brief conceptualisation of development and of sustainability and then proceeds to summarise the main international approaches to sustainable development, and the way in which it is applied in Africa. The article concludes by identifying the main elements of a systematic generic instrument to measure sustainable development outcomes, focusing on the African context.
An evaluation of service effectiveness of selected refugee service providers in urban and surrounding areas of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Maniragena, Joseph Eliabson; Ballard, Harry Herbert
Thousands of refugees fleeing from surrounding war-torn and destitute African countries come to South Africa hoping to live in safety. Refugee service providers play a major role in providing services to help refugees to rebuild their lives and integrate into South African society. The article investigated issues facing refugees in South Africa, particularly in central Cape Town. It aimed in general to determine how effective refugee service providers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), namely the Agency for Refugee Education, Skills Training and Advocacy (ARESTA), the Cape Town Refugee Centre (CTRC) and the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town (SCCT) assist them in overcoming the hardships of being unprepared in a foreign country, and whether their clients are satisfied with their services. The objectives of the article were to identify the kinds of programmes offered and how they are delivered; to explore refugees’ perceptions about services offered by refugee service providers in Cape Town; to identify the service providers’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT); and to develop and provide a framework for refugee service providers in Cape Town to improve their service delivery. The article also examined how sharing, or not sharing information affects the efficacy of services such as education, vocational skills and self-reliance projects.
‘Darker shades of blue’ : a ten year gender comparison of police culture attitudes in the South African Police Service
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Steyn, Jéan
Numerous police establishments around the globe, including the South African Police Service (SAPS), have augmented the quantity of female police officials in their staffing complement with the resolution of counteracting various of traits of the police culture that accentuate the cynicism of and isolation from the public. The current study asks whether the introduction of more women police officials in the SAPS [by the organisation] assisted in counteracting the police culture traits mentioned supra. More specifically the study asked, “Are there signs demonstrating attitudes of police culture themes of solidarity, isolation and cynicism amongst a random and representative sample of specifically categorised SAPS police officials?” If so, “Are these markers gender neutral as well as change in relation to Van Maanen’s (1975) and Manning’s (1989) stages of police culture socialisation: [1] choice- at the start of basic police training (January 2005); [2] admittance- at the end of ‘college’ training (June 2005); [3] encounter- at the end of ‘field’ training (December 2005), and [4] metamorphosis- nine years after concluding basic police training” “(June 2014). The study established that South African Police Service (SAPS) cadets that commenced their basic training at the six basic training institutes in South Africa (Pretoria, Chatsworth, Oudtshoorn, Graaff-Reinett, Phillippi and Bisho) in January 2005, entered the organisation with predispositions in furtherance of police culture themes of solidarity, isolation and cynicism. The period of ‘college/ academy training’ (January 2005 – June 2006) did not significantly counteract these tendencies, neither the subsequent ‘field training’ (July 2005 – December 2005). Nine years on, and these attitudes intensified to an overall average of 69.85%. The study further found that for the duration of the project (10 years), female trainees, and their ensuing conversion to fully-fledged police officials, had mostly stronger values exhibiting police culture solidarity, police culture isolation and police culture cynicism, compared to their male counterparts. These findings provide some credence for a ‘nurtured nature’ understanding to the acquirement, preservation and firming of police culture themes of solidarity, isolation and cynicism postures of police officials. The study furthermore, contradicts contemporary ethnographers (Cockcroft 2013; O’Neill, Marks & Singh 2007; Sklansky 2005) who fashionably argue that conventional characterisations of police culture are antiquated, illogical and useless due to new developments in policing.
Strategies for evaluating training and development initiatives in a public sector setting
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Tshukudu, Theophilus Tebetso; Nel, Danielle
The main aim of this article is to propose possible strategies to improve training and development initiatives in the public sector. To address this aim, two objectives were pursued. Firstly the article outlined critical variables that influence training and development. Secondly, the article provides guidelines for the evaluation of training and development to strengthen identified critical organisational success factors and, to contribute to improved performance management in the public sector. These critical organisational success factors include, the creation of a culture that enhances high performance; developing performance leadership; creating a learning organisation and the alignment of individual, team and organisational goals. In order to reinforce the above critical organisational success factors, a 10 phase strategy was proposed, to assist with the evaluation of training and development. The outlined 10 phase strategy for the evaluation of training and development initiatives may serve as a guideline for organisations that want to pro-actively manage training and development, along with aiding in constructively evaluating training and development initiatives.
David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage and its implication for development in Sub-Saharan Africa : a decolonial view
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Ukwandu, D.C.
The Euro-American predominance of understandings and narratives of development has produced the current global world order, where African-centered solutions and alternatives to the problems of poverty and underdevelopment on the continent are ignored or inferiorised. Drawing awareness from a decolonial view and deploying the concept of the decoloniality of power and knowledge itself, this article seeks to conduct a thorough interrogation of David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage. According to Auriacombe (in Schurink and Auriacombe 2010:435 and Auriacombe 2012:98) “due to the different ontological and epistemological beliefs of researchers belonging to different paradigms, the criteria for trustworthy, credible research can never meet everyone’s approval”, therefore, given this reality, the aim of the article is to show that another worldview exists which could help Africa out of its development quagmire. Using the theory of the coloniality of knowledge in particular, this article illustrates how the notion of increasing returns helped in the economic transformation of Spain. It will also show how countries in sub-Saharan Africa can learn from the Spanish example about the importance of adding value to its natural resources. This article argues that the full liberation and development of the continent will only come to fruition with the implementation of African-centered policies, such as increasing returns and adding value to the natural resources which we export to other parts of the world. It is through this policy that jobs can be created and poverty alleviated on the continent, which will kick-start Africa’s journey towards overall development.
Government interventionism and sustainable development : the case of South Africa
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Van der Waldt, Gerrit
Governments have moral and legal obligations to intervene in society in order to direct, regulate, facilitate and act as catalyst for economic prosperity, social justice and ecological sustainability. The nature and scale of such interventions depend on various factors, which include the ideological reasoning of policy makers, the availability of natural resources, demographical and geographical realities, as well as trajectories for economic growth. On a global scale governments have to address serious challenges such as climate change, ecological dysfunction, and the depletion of natural resources. The global community is living far beyond its ecological means. It is expected that governments muster coherent policy responses to the highly complex environmental problems that society is facing currently. The aim of this article is to outline governments’ interventions in sustainable development by focusing on a particular case, namely the South African Government. This government sets itself the target to become a developmental state according to the strategic goals of its National Development Plan. This context will be explored by focusing on specific social, economic and environmental interventions the South African Government has effected to facilitate sustainable development.
Gender-based public procurement practices in Kenya and South Africa
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Vyas-Doorgapersad, Shikha; Kinoti, A.
This article reports on the gender-based public procurement practices in Kenia and South Africa and provides a framework for the post-2015 Millennium Development Agenda of public works programmes to accommodate Millennium Development Goal 3 that focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Public procurement is a sector that allows governments to realise economic benefits through its financial-driven programmes. The concern is whether this sector accommodates men and women equitably in terms of resource allocation and economic well-being. The literature review indicates that women are not benefited on a large scale due to practical challenges that include lack of access to information regarding public procurement practices; understanding of tenders; ownership; and financial access, to state a few. At the onset of the Millennium Development Goals (now part of the post-2015 Global Development Agenda), the Millennium Development Goal 3 (Gender equality and women’s empowerment) serves as the rationale for this article. This article addresses the following dual research question: What is the status of gender inclusiveness in public procurement practices and how can the public procurement practices be utilised in promoting women empowerment? The article aims to determine the level of gender-based equality and responsiveness in public procurement policies in Kenya and South Africa.

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