VISION

"Building Capacity for Service Delivery"

Impumelelo's award winners clearly demonstrate that there are 'South African solutions to South African challenges'.

Michael Lipsky, former Senior Program Officer, Governance and Civil Society Peace and Social Justice Program at the Ford Foundation, writing on the value of international award programmes, says:

“Recognition of local innovations can both counter cynicism toward government and catalyse better practices. Looking globally, it is clear that effective local government is extremely important to building overall citizen trust in government. At the local level citizens can see directly whether their participation in election is having an effect and can hold politicians accountable. These award programmes communicate to public officials and the general public that involvement in government can pay real dividends and foster healthier government overall. They also dramatically increase the likelihood that successful programmes will be replicated”.

South Africans are beginning to vent their frustration at the slow response of government.  Service delivery protests have become a regular feature in the media. Yet if the the solutions put forward by Impumelelo Innovation Award winners were adopted, upscaled, and replicated in other parts of South Africa, service delivery would cease to be an issue. Hence Impumelelo's Vision of