IMPROVING THE ECONOMY OF EKURHULENI THROUGH EMPLOYMENT

1
IMPROVING THE ECONOMY OF EKURHULENI THROUGH
EMPLOYMENT

• Partnership project with Lewisham Council on
  creating a job brokerage service
• Presentation by K. Mohan 17 Sept 2007

2
Finding a project

• Millennium Development Goals
• Halving Unemployment
• Good Practice Scheme
• Sharing and learning both ways
• Visits up-skilling and exposure
• Fast track an existing programme on plan
• Further dimension link with Dept of Labour
• Mandate placement into employment
• Projects can only work if there is some work in
  place that can be improved and harnessed

3
Context of the project

• Ekurhuleni Programme
• Programme to Half Unemployment (part of a
  national target in the City Managers
  Performance contract from 06 onwards)
• Pilot to support the national employment services
  scheme
• Local Economic Development National Framework
• Building public sector leadership and governance
• Mayor gives leadership and engages sectors
• Industrial Competitiveness
• Analysis of the sectors, firms survey and
  interventions
• Sustainable Community Investment
• Cooperatives and Expanded Public Works Programme
• Enterprise Development
• In partnership with business Linkage Centres

4
Context of the Project

• Lewisham
• Established programmes
• Opening Doors and Jobnet training and job
  brokerage org
• Bluewater Labour Scheme
• Lewisham College City Bound scheme
• Jobcentre plus Action Team
• Lewisham Hospital Placement Scheme
• Lewisham Council Youth employment scheme

5
Process

• Stage 1
• Lewisham delegation visits Ekurhuleni (Oct 04)
• January 05 project scope finalised
• Stage 2
• Ekurhuleni Officers visit Lewisham (Oct 05)
• Stage 3
• Lewisham delegation visits Ekurhuleni Pilot
  Launched (February 06)
• Stage 4
• Ekurhuleni delegation visit to Lewisham (May 06),
  
• DOL official visit Lewisham (July 06)
• Stage 5
• Lewisham delegation visits Ekurhuleni Pilot Goes
  Live (Oct 06)
• Review conducted of Pilot (Jan to June 07)

6
Project Objectives

• Maximising Ekurhulenis enormous economic
  potential
• Manufacturing - location, infrastructure and
  labour supply
• Developing an infrastructure for halving
  unemployment
• Joint work between Ekurhuleni and Dept of Labour
• Harnessing of the existing programmes EPWP
• Utilisation of the ward committee system
• Work with existing programmes and engagements
  with business
• Harness the FET colleges and Education sector
• Pilot an effective and sustainable training and
  employment programme
• Redesign of work at the Local Labour Centre

7
Outputs

• Area identified to target participants for the
  pilot programme and bringing in Dept of Labour as
  a key partner on delivery (Jan-Oct 05)
• Development of the project delivery plan (Oct 05)
• An established network harnessed
• in Ekurhuleni of people/organisations
• in London to be involved in supporting the
  programme
• Organisations engaged and signed up to the
  programme
• Existing ward committee
• Business chambers
• Civil Society and Labour
• Delivery plan and timetable for running pilot
  project (Feb 06)
• Skills sharing plans developed (Oct 05, May 06
  and July 06 visits)
• Pilot Project delivered (January 05 to Oct 06)
• Pilot Project reviewed (Oct 06 to April 07)
• Opportunities for sustainability identified and
  established (May 07)

8
Mitigating the risks identified

• The UK experience can be replicated in a South
  African context
• The differences had to be taken into account
• Businesses are not engaged and not willing to
  take part
• found out on the firms survey and was escalated
• Business Forum with EBA used
• Participants unwilling to engage in the proposed
  programme
• interdepartmental and intergovernmental team set
  up in SA
• Growth and Development Summit used to set the
  target at a broad level
• Cultural or other factors within South Africa
  prevent effective delivery
• ward committees, portfolio committee involvement
  had to be managed
• Pilots not always popular
• All wards were approaching Dept of Labour
• Business Week 2006 organised
• Adequate funding cannot be found to deliver the
  projects
• Ekurhuleni funded a large portion of the
  re-engineering, facilitation and other linkages
  that needed work

9
Impacts

• Target for Ekurhuleni set in September 2006 at
  the Growth Development Summit
• 1000 jobs for a year on the launch of the pilot
• 976 jobs full time sustainable jobs created end
  June 2007, excluding the expanded public works
  job opportunities counts
• Growth increase of 1, employment increase of 1
  and unemployment decease of 1 recorded
• Manufacturing Growth year on year 7.1 and
  employment in manufacturing 7.3 year on year

10
Impacts Continued

• Consolidating the programme to ½ Unemployment
• EPWP consolidated action plan finalised (Feb 07
  to June 07 and piloted)
• Demilitarisation project and Community Builders
  projects brought into the programme
• Counts on job opportunities
• Unemployed in wards targeted and linked to
  Municipal investments (Capital and Maintenance)
• Training and skills development counts tracked
• 400 learnerships pledged in February in support
  of pilot all placed in to jobs
• 80 employment, 20 enterprises
• Convergence of govt plans and programmes
• University to establish a College of
  Engineering (July 07)
• Fet colleges improved relations established
• ICT academy to be established

11
Learnings

• Interdepartmental work
• Multi-tasked and multi skilled teams
• Secondments into a project is needed for better
  co-ordination
• Inter-Governmental work
• Vertical and horizontal linkages must be made
• Through put to the ground where delivery takes
  place is needed

12
Learnings continued

• Setting of targets
• Must be informed by what can be done
• The overall need (other interventions for second
  economy)
• The potential (careful analysis of the formal
  economy)
• Budgets are always inadequate
• Additional funds can always be sought if projects
  are seen as a part of a programme linked to
  delivery
• Reporting and assessing Impact
• Need to have a consolidated mechanism for this
  SDBIP is being used as one performance reporting
  tool

13
Learnings Continued

• Involving business
• Many and varied approaches are needed
• Leadership involvement is necessary
• Communication must be consistent and targeted
• Business must get something (value proposition)
• Involving Communities
• Ward Councillors need to be in the loop
• Broadest base of civil society must be consulted
• Delivery must be linked to promises

14
Future Processes - Implementing the Programme

• Roll out to all labour centres
• Dept of Labour (DoL)
• Involvement of Ward and Ward Committees
• Communicating Mass Economic Opportunities (GCIS,
  Ekurhuleni and DoL)
• Social Workers to link to CCCs in engaging with
  wards (based on DoL roll out)
• Performance and Impact reporting
• Economic Development (report on counts from DoL)
• ME and inter-govt contact (City Managers Office)
• Job counts placed into all performance contracts
  and the SDBIP