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KNOWLEDGE & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT LEARNING SESSION

Hosted by SALGA & the City of Cape Town

Cape Town, 13 September 2013

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PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

1. About SALGAI. BackgroundII. Mandate & Strategic Objectives

2. What is Knowledge Management?I. Data, Information & KnowledgeII. Knowledge Management

3. Why Knowledge Management for the Local Government SectorI. Challenges faced by the Local Government SectorII. Benefits of Knowledge & Information Management Programmes for

Municipalities4. SALGA Knowledge Management Strategy5. SALGA Knowledge Management Programmes

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BACKGROUND

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is the sole representative voice of Local Government, constitutionally recognised and referred to as Organised Local Government. There isn’t another institution like SALGA in the country and there are not many with such Constitutional backing or mandate on the continent nor the world.

SALGA is recognized and entrenched in the Constitution and legislation (i.e. Organised Local Government Act, Municipal Systems Act, White Paper for Local Government and the IGR Framework).

SALGA is Local Government leadership because SALGA leadership (NEC) is democratically elected into power by the leadership of 278 municipalities, with the mandate to represent, advocate and speak on their behalf in the highest offices of the country. Organised Local Government ensures municipal participation in the system of IGR by articulating municipal interests and coordinating their policies and programmes with those of the other spheres.

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Employer Body

Act as an employer body representing all

municipal members and, by

agreement, associate members.

The Voice of Local GovernmentThe Voice of Local Government

Support and advise our

members on a range of issues

to assist effective

execution of their mandate.

Build the capacity of the municipality as an institution as well as leadership

and technical capacity of both Councillors and

Officials.

Lobby, advocate, protect and

represent the interest of local government at

relevant structures and

platforms.

Transform local government to

enable it to fulfil its

developmental mandate.

SALGA Mandate

Lobby, Advocate & Represent

Support &Advice

Capacity Building

Build the profile and image of

local government within South

Africa as well as outside the

country.

StrategicProfiling

Serve as the custodian of local

government intelligence and

the knowledge hub and centre of local

government intelligence for the

sector.

Knowledge & Information Sharing

The Voice of Local GovernmentThe Voice of Local Government

SALGA MANDATESALGA MANDATE

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1. Local Government delivers equitable and sustainable services

2. Safe and healthy environment and communities

3. Coherent Planning and Socio-economic development

4. at the local level

5. Effective and responsive Local Government that is accountable to communities

6. Human Capital development in local government

7. Financial and organisationally capacitated municipalities

8. An effective and efficient administration

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STRATEGIC GOALS2012-17

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

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WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

Prior to defining Knowledge Management, it is important to distinguish between Data, Information and Knowledge.

Data are raw facts and figures that on their own have no meaning. These can be any alphanumeric characters i.e. text, numbers and symbols.1260 Years5 Years330 Years

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WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

Information is processed data that is given context in order to have meaning. Data needs to be turned into meaningful information and presented in its most useful format.

1260 Years5 Years330 Years

In my Municipality there are 12 officials over the age of 60 years that are due to retire within the next 5 years; 3 of the 12 are experts in floods and storm water management; LED & Spatial Planning with over 30 years of experience.

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WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

Knowledge is reasoning, insight, experience related to products, customers, processes, markets, competition and so on that enables effective action. Two types of knowledge are, explicit and tacit knowledge.

Knowledge Management is a cross disciplinary practice which enables organizations to improve the way they manage (create, adopt, validate, diffuse, store and use) knowledge in order to attain their goals faster and more effectively

In my Municipality there are 12 officials over the age of 60 years that are due to retire within the next 5 years; 3 of the 12 are experts in floods and storm water management; LED & Spatial Planning with over 30 years of experience.

•Introduce a programme to capture the knowledge of retiring staff through:• Document “how to” documents and guidelines• Coaching and mentoring programmed• Job Shadowing etc.

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WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

Challenges faced by the Local Government sector(Source: LGTAS & AG Reports)

1.High turnover of technical & professional staff2.Limited resources – requiring that risk & cost must be managed effectively to provide the best development impact3.In some cases – a strong dependence on consultants which often leaves the municipalities in a position of having to consistently “re-purchase” advice and intellectual property. 4.Inability in some municipalities to deliver on the core set of critical municipal services.5.Poor financial management e.g. negative audit outcomes6.Corruption & fraud

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WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

Effective management of Municipal Knowledge and Information Resources can assist the Municipality to:

1.Improve accountability through effective management of Municipal information resources 2.Make informed decisions3.Increase level of collaboration internally and externally4.Enhance collaboration and strategic partnerships with stakeholders5.Capture knowledge of retiring employees6.Retention of the Municipality’s institutional memory;

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WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

SALGA therefore aims to:

Assist municipalities with Knowledge and Information Management programmes (advocacy, strategy, processes or tools);Support implementation of Knowledge and Information Management programmes in municipalitiesShare best practices and innovations of other municipalities (Paperless administration – Newcastle Local Municipality)Promote common Knowledge Management platforms for municipalities, in particular a KM framework for local government and shared resources (methodologies, toolkits, exemplars, etc.)

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SALGA KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

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KEY OBJECTIVE

• To improve service delivery and performance of local government

• by building the collective and individual skills and capacity of municipal practitioners

• through developing a strong culture and practice of peer learning and knowledge sharing across local government and its stakeholders

KM as critical

strategic resource

“Leading and learning is one of 4 key elements of developmental local government” (Local Govt White Paper, 1998)

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KEY PRINCIPLES

• Many KM definitions, approaches and methodologies - find one that works for your municipality;

• All workers are knowledge workers – everyone has a role to play;

• Connections more than collections - create platforms for engagements;

• Institutionalisation of KM - through strategies / frameworks; processes; technology;

• KM must produce tangible result i.e.

– better decision making;

– improve productivity / governance;

– employee development;

– better customer-service;

– innovation.

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KEY PRINCIPLES

• Effective management of knowledge requires hybrid solutions involving both people and technology - technology makes it possible, people make it happen.

• Knowledge management requires resources - financial, human, technology, training & development.

• Location of KM - there is no set location that is best; the following considerations are important:

• KM function must be driven by the strategic objectives & plans of the Municipality (GDS, IDPs)

• The function must cut across the entire organisation through platform such as steering committee, champions forum; central KM support group etc.

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Peer Learning (Networks / Events)

Knowledge Hub (Portal/Resource Centre)

Research, Benchmarking & Performance Reviews

The effective transformation of SALGA into a learning / knowledge organisation requires each portfolio to contribute to each of the

three pillars

STRATEGIC PILLARS

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PROGRAMMES 2013/14

Focus AreaStructured Knowledge

Sharing & Learning (Networks & Events)

Host and or coordinate knowledge sharing and learning events / engagements;

Facilitate peer learning and sharing; Facilitate the following structured learning networks to share

information, knowledge, best practices and lessons:

Municipal Managers Forum District Learning Network Mining & LG Network SA Cities Network - KMRG LED & ICT Networks LG Migration Network (LOMNET)

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PROGRAMMES 2013/14

FOCUS AREA OPERATIONAL PLANS

Local Government Knowledge Hub /

Portal

Develop a comprehensive, integrated, highly accessible (web-based) portal for all LG information and knowledge

Provide a platform for documenting and sharing of LG knowledge and information

Enhance knowledge dissemination and sharing to ensure that LG knowledge resources reaches LG practitioners.

Documenting & Sharing of LG Best

Practices

Coordinate the documentation and sharing of local government best practices to: Profile and celebrate LG best practices; Encourage learning and replication of best practices; Avoid re-inventing the wheel and mistakes of others;

Issue request for submission of best practices in May 2013 (due date 31 July 2013);

Process, package, develop and disseminate an annual LG Best Practices publication.

KM Municipal Capacity

Assist municipalities with Knowledge Management programmes (advocacy, strategy, processes or tools);

Support implementation of KM programmes in municipalities.

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• Leadership and executive support plays a key role in ensuring the success of KM; Nothing makes greater impact on an organization than when leaders model the behaviour they are trying to promote amongst employees;

• Listen - Listen to users, employees, managers; whoever we are designing a KM initiative for; they will tell us how we can meet their needs and have a successful KM initiative.

IN CONCLUSION……

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THANK YOU….

Tell me, I'll forget, Show me, I may remember. But involve me and I'll understand.

Lao Tzu ~600 BC