Administrative support for community participation in the IDP : a case study of the Oostenberg Municipality

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study explains community participation in the Integrated Development Planning (lDP)process and indicates that administrative support in the Oostenberg Municipality is notconducive for the facilitation of effective participation in this process. This resulted in poorattendance of the 1997/98 cycle of the IDP meetings. Certain improvements in this regardto the 1998/99 cycle did not show any significant difference. This situation did not allow theOostenberg Municipality to achieve the objective of meaningful input from the communityin the IDP policy process. It resulted in the budget not reflecting the priority needs ofcommunity specifically.Data in the study was obtained by means of a questionnaire. Information derived at supportsthe researcher's hypothesis that administrative support is not conducive to effectiveparticipation. The study yielded various reasons for non-participation, inter-alia that:the community was uninformed about the IDP, preventing people from access toinformation and effective participation;II> community participation was undertaken by various directorates on a fragmentedbasis while no official plan for implementing participation in a coordinated fashionexisted;the Oostenberg Municipality relied only on community meetings as a method ofparticipation. The illiteracy factor in the Oostenberg community however, made thisan ineffective method; andthe community do not value their participation because of the perception that themunicipality and it's officials do not regard the community input in a serious light. Based on these findings, criteria for supporting effective community participation processeswere developed. Practical recommendations which can be used to overcome the problemsof participation in the context of the study were formulated. The principle recommendationsderived at in this study are the following:~ participation should be institutionalised by making one directorate responsible for it;~ incorporating a participation policy into the organisation;~ introducing alternative participation mechanisms, techniques and structures for theIDP;~ the establishment of better communication systems and processes for the IDP; and,~ the use of developmental-orientated officials and councillors (by providing them withongoing training and development). If officials and councillors become developmentorientatedthey will eventually value community participation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University