Super sizing service delivery with a side order of innovation building a social franchising governance model to accelerate local government service delivery for ECD provisioning in partnerships beyond PPP's

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is a rising groundswell of citizens globally questioning the equity, integrity and sustainability of the philosophies, values and institutions inherited from the 20th century. The continuum of civil disobedience has increased over time; sit ins, community unrest, uprisings and finally revolutions have marked this first decade of this new age. People are voicing their disillusionment with increased frequently, impatience and violence globally calling for the creation of a world which, in Freire's words, is 'menos feio, menos malvado, menos desumano [less ugly, less cruel, less inhumane] (Mayo, 2003:42). President Jacob Zuma at the 14th Nedlac Annual Summit in September 2009 called for a 'stronger social dialogue underpinned by a sense of cooperation, and responsibility will also be important if we are to avoid a situation where the recovery ends up being business as usual. We need to find new way of doing things (Zuma, 2009a:1). Social Franchising is a relatively new concept in the service delivery discourse having recently emerged as a sub-sector of social enterprise. Social franchising is a derivative of the long established commercial franchise model with a dual purpose of generating sustainable economic returns and advancing social good by encouraging profit making not profit taking (Mseme, 2010a:1). Social franchising has been mainly operating in the NGO sector, on the Indian sub continent, accommodated in larger private or public health institution, providing women related health services into poor communities. Recent research undertaken by Mseme (2010a) has shown social franchising should be considered as a strategic option in the delivery of public service to improve citizens development, promoting new venture creation and strengthen the developmental state at local level This study seeks to make a contribution to the limited local government body of knowledge by developing an appropriate social franchising governance model. This model aims to accelerate accessible and sustainable public community development services generally and early childhood development in particular at local level by delivering on the two primary national priorities of poverty alleviation and quality education provisioning. This study merges a number of key issues that are substantive in determining the future well being of South Africa and all of her citizens namely; affordable, universal and comprehensive service delivery, equitable quality education and cognitive development of young children and increased economic participation and wealth generation especially in marginalised and vulnerable communities within the context of the developmental state.This study is guided by a postmodernist philosophy and stems from a transformative and emancipatory approach applying Paulo Freire's pedagogy and politics of hope that is not meant to consolidate 'what is but is driven by a vision of 'what should and can be (Mayo, 2003:42).This research has applied both empirical and non – empirical design with a mixed qualitative and quantitative component. The areas of non –empirical study were determined by the theoretical framework which focuses on developmental state, developmental local government, public service management, partnership service delivery mechanisms, early childhood development and small enterprise development. The research findings arising out of the empirical ECD needs assessment survey and case study were further explored and tested in semi structured interviews with political decision makers, policy makers, policy drafters and policy experts. This study has designed a social franchise governance model for the delivery of ECD at local government level. Its implementation however is premised on a shift of public administration mindset from bureaucracy to innovation, a shift of public policy from government as sole provide to facilitator of services, a shift from survival partnerships to delivery partnerships by desire and a change of citizens attitude from dependency to self development.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University