Background and objectives:
The overall objective of the programme is to assist the Government to implement the national Local Government Transformation Programme launched in early 1999 by the Department of Constitutional Development. This programme addresses issues of capacity-building in pilot local authorities from the North West and the Northern Province, supporting the transformation process through the following three components: improvement in service delivery, institutional capacity-building and integrating the rights approach to development.  On the whole, this programme seeks to contribute towards achieving sound developmental local governance by enhancing the capacity for integrated development planning, local economic development, performance management systems, financial viability and management, project management and a culture of collective civic responsibility.

Activities:
Within this framework, the cooperating agency is expected to provide assistance in the implementation of the following specific activities: implementation of the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) process manual to assist local authorities formulate integrated development plans by prioritizing and strategically focusing their efforts and resources, assist local governments and community leaders to formulate a strategic framework on the relation between traditional leaders and elected officials. In this context, the Municipal Service Partnership is preparing a Municipal Service Partnership strategy, which will include case studies on the pilot local authorities strengthen existing partnerships and facilitate the creation of new municipal service partnerships through four seminars targeting councilors, local government associations, CBOs and representatives from the private sector, organize a national workshop on service partnerships to discuss problematic issues and innovative solutions and contribute to the debate at local, provincial and national level. Develop and publish monitoring and evaluation guidelines related to the IDP implementation process.

Results:
Expected results include: IDP process clearly understood and applied in the selected local authorities. Procedures for establishing municipal services partnerships elaborated and demonstrated and contribution to the debate on the relationships between elected representatives and traditional leaders.