Makana Municipality is currently reviewing its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for 2011-2012, not through the usual imbizo's, but by utilising a Community Based Planning approach (CBP).
IDP Manager Mzolisi Pasiya said CBP will allow the municipality to make plans more relevant to the local needs and that it will enhance community involvement in the provision of services.
Makana Municipality is currently reviewing its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for 2011-2012, not through the usual imbizo's, but by utilising a Community Based Planning approach (CBP).
IDP Manager Mzolisi Pasiya said CBP will allow the municipality to make plans more relevant to the local needs and that it will enhance community involvement in the provision of services.
According to the Municipal Systems Act, it is required that the municipality should perform the IDP review by conducting a community needs identification. For the period 2011-2012, the IDP review will be using the CBP approach.
Stakeholders from various wards have then been invited to a number of community planning workshops to gather community information and identify community needs for each ward. The first workshop was held at the Dakawa Centre on Wednesday and was attended by ward committee members, small group business owners, SGB members from various Grahamstown schools and Ward 10 residents.
At a recent IDP representative forum, this public participation approach was presented by Pasiya who explained that CBP facilitators would be used to collect information in order to get a description of each ward and then the community would be consulted upon completion of the ward profiles.
The community profiling involved conducting a situation analysis, collecting information to understand the livelihood of specific social groups and how they can be assisted by looking at their challenges, assets, desired outcomes and opportunities that are available.
“In this process we want to identify exactly what the municipality can do for those social groups,” Pasiya said. Pasiya made an example of the municipality's different sections such as Local Economic Development that is available to assist small businesses.
Another social research tool looked at socio economic factors to understand how people make a living in a community and how they spend their money in order to find out how the municipality can assist.
The stakeholders were then roped into community planning by using different tools such as discussing timelines of major events or trends that occurred and their impacts and implications; looking at the spatial layout of wards such as the residential area, businesses, roads and open spaces and discussing the developmental issues in this location; as well as identifying different organisations such as the Social Development Department and South African Social Security Agency operating in the community, identifying how important they are and how they are perceived to be in order to formulate a clear plan on how the municipality can work with them.
Pasiya said that, “The outcome is to have a mini IDP of this ward where it will focus on the services of Makana and all other services such as Social Development.” Pasiya said that previously, there were two sets of imbizo's.
The first one was a two hour session featuring operational issues that are often raised and can be fixed, but with no focus on developmental issues. The second round, which is usually in March and April, involves the Mayor visiting the different wards to present projects and plans which have been raised. Pasiya siad the second phase will not change.
