The Monitoring and Evaluation Programme of

the PSC

Indran Naidoo Inaugural Conference of the

South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association, 28

March 2007

The challenge?

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Presentation outline

• Mandate of the Public Service Commission (PSC)

• Who is the audience of the PSC

• Types of M&E activities

• The Public Service M&E System

• The PSC system and the GWM&ES

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Mandate of the PSC

• The Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent and impartial body created by the Constitution, 1996, to enhance excellence in governance. It is a Chapter 10 body, Section 196.

• It “investigates, monitors and evaluates” public administration, “without fear, favour or prejudice”.

• The monitoring and evaluation function is conducted on all aspects of government performance.

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Who is the audience of the PSC?

• In addressing its mandate the PSC:

• Reports to Parliament and the Legislatures to support their oversight role

• Reports to the Executive to inform decision-making and promote good practice

• Reports to the public to promote the sharing of experiences on public service performance and promote transparency.

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Types of PSC`s M&E activities

• Evaluation of the performance of Heads of Department: Through M&E the performance management of leadership, the PSC identifies problems, shares good practice and recommends interventions.

• Programme evaluation: Specific government programmes (eg. Poverty relief programme) are evaluated to assess their impact in addressing developmental priorities.

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Continued…

• M&E of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (0800 701 701): Real time information is produced from this toll-free facility, enabling the immediate identification (monitoring) of problems (types and location) – enabling rapid intervention. Based on this data – evaluations are made of how well these programmes work.

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Continued…

• Citizen Forums: Direct engagement with citizens to assess their experiences around service delivery is undertaken. This promotes local empowerment and creates important dialogue between stakeholders.

• Inspections: Announced and unannounced visits are made to service delivery points to assess service delivery experiences.

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Continued…

• Policy Review: Specific policy is reviewed, an earlier review of leave taking in the Public Service by the PSC resulted in this policy being fundamentally reviewed.

• Compliance audits: Financial Disclosures, to assess how well conflicts of interest is managed

• Regulatory audits: Oversee the verification of qualifications process by departments

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The Public Service M&E System

• This system is based on the 9 Constitutional values and principles for Public Administration.

• For each principle performance indicators and measurements have been developed. It is an evidence-based system.

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• The system has been applied across 60 national and provincial departments over the past 4 years. Reports have been presented to Senior Management for engagement. The extent to which recommendations are complied with is monitored.

• The results have been consolidated into reports that compare performance.

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Key oversight reports

• The State of the Public Service Report 2006 (focused on the theme of capacity)

• The 2007 State of the Public Service Report (to be released) – focuses on the role of the Public Service in promoting growth and development

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Links to the government-wide M&E system

• The reports from the PSC complements the GWM&ES, in that it provides quantitative and qualitative information on “governance”.

• Its reports are both specific and cross-cutting, thus allowing for a meaningful commentary to be made on the performance of the state.

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• Thank you

• Questions

• www.psc.gov.za