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Building the Public Service Commission’sPublic Service Monitoring and Evaluation System

SMS CONFERENCE

21 September 2004

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Structure of the Presentation

♦ M & E of SA’s restructured public service♦ Introduction and Background to the system♦ Purpose of the PSC’s Public Service M & E System♦ Unpacking the nine principles ♦ Challenges & Lessons learnt♦ What about your Department?♦ Conclusion

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M & E of SA’s restructured public service♦ Apartheid era – system mainly concerned with

control♦ Standardized work processes, rules same across

the board in all situations and in all contexts♦ Bureaucratic approach gave rise to a rule-based

public service culture that discouraged flexibility and made obeying orders more important than meeting citizen’s needs (red tape syndrome)

♦ Since 1994 shift to a more modern approach to public administration while still maintaining a solid administrative base

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M & E of SA’s Restructured Public Service♦ SA Public Service:

– Network of separate organisations, incl national & provincial depts

– Each responsible for their own planning, budgeting, system controls based on a sophisticated, shared policy and legal framework that requires each dept to have certain policies and functions in place

– Eg: PFMA -Appointing chief financial officers accountable for resource use

– Eg: Requiring depts to adopt their own versions of major public service policies such as HRD

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M & E of SA’s Restructured Public Service

♦Upside to this approach:♦ Instead of relentlessly applying centrally

determined rules, Depts can be more flexible, dynamic and citizen oriented

♦Depts can adjust and adapt according to the needs of the people they service and the nature of the service they provide.

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M & E of SA’s Restructured Public Service♦ Down side:♦ Since the public service management framework is

now much less prescriptive and many support services are no longer provided centrally, the demands on individual depts are much greater, especially for managers who must now also take responsibility for issues such as discipline, HRD, procurement

♦ Greater possibility that weak or struggling deptsneglect to implement key elements of the public service policy framework

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M & E of SA’s Restructured Public Service

♦Managing the risk:♦Central co-ordinating depts (Treasury,

DPSA)♦Oversight bodies (AG, PSC)♦Consistently assess whether depts properly

apply important policies and frameworks.♦Do it regularly and rigorously♦ Early warning

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Designing the PSC’s PS M & E System

♦ In 2000, senior PSC staff realised that while all the PSC’s work is M & E oriented Projects are mostly discrete, separate initiatives to investigate or research specific issues in certain public service organisations

♦ Projects are valuable but do not provide broad, strategic information on the performance of public service organisations

♦ Do not involve repeat studies, so they are of limited use in assessing whether the situation in Department is improving, deteriorating or staying the same

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Designing the PSC’s PS M & E System

♦ PSC Staff agreed to investigate the need for a monitoring system

♦ The system should look at the same issues in all departments, so that: – comparisons can be drawn, – areas of good practice can be identified and

promoted, and – areas in which many depts are struggling can be

identified and additional support provided

♦ Hence, the uniqueness of the system was its transversal nature

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What does the system aim to achieve?

♦Gather info that can be used to identify areas needing attention, ultimately contributing to improved public service performance

♦ System is useful to PSC itself + others:– Annual State of the Public Service Report– Agreement with the Dept of Justice and

Constitutional Development (AJA)– HSRC

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PSC’s Public Service M & E System

REPORTING:Problem Areas areIdentified

Priority AreasIn Public Administrationare Communicated

DeptsReflectOn TheirOwnPerformance

Good Practice byOthers isIdentified And promoted

ProblemsAre addressed

Learning From goodPracticeExamples Takes place

DepartmentsFocus onPriority Areas

Achieve-mentsAre AffirmedAnd Promoted

Overall result:Better governance and service delivery in South Africa

FOLLOW UP:

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What does the system look at?

♦ SA Constitution lists 9 basic values and principles that should govern the public service

♦ PS M & E System looks at the extent to which public service departments comply with these principles

♦ Defines a performance indicator for each principle and assesses performance in terms of that indicator

♦ Performance standards♦ Recommendations

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What does the system look at?

Constitutional Principle Performance Indicator

A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained

Cases of misconduct are dealt with effectively and promptly

Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted

Expenditure is according to budgetProgramme objectives are achieved

Public administration must be development oriented

The Dept effectively implements development programmes that aim to alleviate poverty

Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias

The Department is making a concerted effort to move towards compliance with the provisions of the Administrative Justice Act (AJA)

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What does the system look at?

Constitutional Principle Performance Indicator

People’s needs must be responded to and the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making

The Department facilitates public participation in policy-making

Public administration must be accountable

Adequate internal control is exerted over all departmental financial transactions.Fraud prevention plans, based on thorough risk assessments, are in place and are implemented.

Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information.

The departmental annual report meets the required standard and thereby facilitates transparency

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What does the system look at?Constitutional Principle Performance Indicator

Good human resource management and career development practices, to maximise human potential, must be cultivated.

Vacant posts are filled in a timely and effective manner.The Department complies with the provisions of the Skills Development Act.

Public administration must be broadly representative of the South African people, with employment and personnel management practices based on ability, objectivity, fairness and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve broad representation.

Departments are representative of the South African people and diversity management measures are implemented.

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How was the system developed?

♦ Phase 1: – assessment project to consider need for such a

system and to scope what it should look at and how it could be structured

♦ Result: – system would be useful to PSC and stakeholders– Recommended a tentative incremental

approach that would involve building the system up over time

– Manual processes before tech solutions– Use 9 Constitutional values and principles

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How was the system developed?

Phase 2: Putting together the assessment framework for the system– Identifying a no of performance indicators for

each principle– Questionnaire design– Test in the Northern Cape

• Delivered useful info to the Premier• Lesson: framework too complex and the

questionnaire and reports were too long

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How was the system developed?

Phase 3: Refining and implementing the system– Streamlining and simplifying the framework– choosing a single performance indicator – designing a comprehensive set of reports– scoring system – Specially appointed task team, dedicated

system manager and a full time technical advisor

– Consultative workshops held to solicit input and comments

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How was the system developed?Phase 3: Implementation Cont.

– Once the assessment framework and reporting formats were approved they were applied in 7 national and 7 provincial depts from 3 different provinces

– PSC staff undertook the research – Full set of reports prepared for each dept– Consolidated report summarizing the findings

was then prepared– Cabinet Memorandum– Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on

Public Service and Administration

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How was the system developed?Phase 4: Implementation + R & D

– Another round of research is currently in progress – 7 national depts and 10 provincial depts from 5

provinces – Design of a Knowledge Management System

• an integrated system that assists with project management, information storage and retrieval and financial management.

• PSC’s Public Service M & E component of the KMS is the most developed at this stage but additional elements meeting the need of other major programmes in the Commission will be added

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Research findings

♦Need for a government-wide M & E framework

♦ Public service is a network of institutions with a range of pressures and daunting challenges found at all levels

♦ Strong in one area but weak in another♦National depts generally better performing

than prov depts, closer compliance to prescribed standards and procedures

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Research findings

♦ Provincial depts are behind national depts in meeting the standards set in the Constititon

♦ Particular context within which they operate: provincial depts tend to be large, have awkwardly constituted structures and are often in need of support and development both in their management and in their delivery of core services

♦ Programmatic efforts to support provincial government depts must be sustained and increased where possible

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Challenges identified and, what happens next?♦ Research process has taken far too long in every

instance♦ Access to depts still problematic♦ The next phase needs to include ways of

shortening the overall process so that reports can be delivered more quickly and thus be of more use

♦ Another nb step is returning to depts already researched to assess what impact the system and its reports has had

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Challenges identified and, what happens next?♦ Need to conduct another round of research with

same depts so that patterns can be identified and analyzed

♦ Building researchers’ capacity to own and use the system

♦ Increasing the number of departments included in the research especially at the provincial level

♦ Developing closer links with other research units within and outside of government

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Lessons ♦ Valid, accurate and reliable research findings are

of no value without a constructive relationship♦ Researchers need to be dedicated to this research♦ Rigorous, conscientious project management for

implementation is crucial♦ Be careful when choosing performance indicators♦ Recognize and appreciate the limitations of the

research♦ Champion/s

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Themes emerging from PSC’s experience♦ Selecting and agreeing on outcomes to M & E♦ Selecting and agreeing on indicators ♦ The importance of building a participatory and

consultative process♦ Gathering and using the data on indicators♦ Reporting the findings♦ Using the findings♦ Sustaining the M & E System within the

organization

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What about your Department?♦ An effective state is essential to achieving

sustainable socio-economic development♦ Growing pressures on governments around the

world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability, transparency, greater development effectiveness and delivery of tangible results

♦ As the demands for greater accountability and tangible results increase there is also an attendant need for enhanced M & E of policies, programs and projects

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What about your Department?

♦ Depts need to demonstrate results♦ Interest is more about outcomes and impacts:

– Have policies, programs and projects led to the desired results and outcomes?

– How do we know we are on the right track?– How do we know if there are problems along the way?– How can we correct these?– How do we tell success from failure?

♦ Govs everywhere are struggling with ways of answering the above questions

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What about your Department?

♦ A carefully designed M & E system can be a powerful public management tool that can be used to improve the way governments and organizations achieve results

♦ It can also help you to answer the “so what?”question, that is, have the programs or policies produced the actual, intended results (outcomes and impacts)

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What about M & E within your organization?What M & E system/s do you have in place?

What information are you collecting? Why? How?How are you using the research findings?

At the organizational level, how healthy are your M & E units?Are they adequately resourced and trained to be able to do the job?Do you have budgets in place for M & E work?

What strategies do you have in place to share information with the various stakeholders?

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Conclusion

♦ International studies have shown that designing and building M & E systems such as the PSC’s will take many years to refine and perfect

♦ Also important to start with a limited number of indicators (be careful of ‘information dump’)

♦ Notwithstanding the challenges raised, the PSC remains committed to this system

♦ Provides us with a platform that we can only improve over time

♦ Also achieve overall result:

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Conclusion (cont)

Better Governance and Service Delivery In South Africa

Thank you for your attention.Lynette SingEmail: Lynettes@opsc.gov.za