MANAGING LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 5 day training course

Transcription

1 MANAGING LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 5 day training course

2 Accreditation: This 12-credit HEQF (2007) level eight short course covers knowledge of a formal postgraduate programme, approved and quality controlled as required by the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) and the Higher Education Qualification Committee (HEQC). Background: The awakening of interest in local economic development (LED) in South Africa over the past decade is based on an emerging consensus that development is much more than merely the expansion of aggregate income and wealth. Economic growth, though a necessary condition for the improvement of human circumstances, is not a sufficient one. The matter of how growth is generated, who participates in economic processes and where its benefits are ultimately bestowed are crucial if economic growth is to translate into real benefits for the community at large. In particular, the development paradigm shift to admit of participatory, co-operative economic governance at local community level as an important element of the developmental institutional mix has placed increasing emphasis on the developmental roles both of local communities and of the local governmental sphere. How projects and developmental initiatives are undertaken, and by whom, are in the final analysis just as important as what is delivered. Development projects and programmes undertaken in developing areas and communities need to include objectives that go beyond the provision of mere physical facilities, so often in the past the immediate and only preoccupation. The development policy focus upon communities and localities has caused the role of local authorities and other institutional instruments at community level to be brought into sharper focus, not only as vehicles for the delivery of services but also as vehicles for the promotion of local economic development (LED) in a more expansive local economic developmental model. Many, if not most local governments need access to capacity building support in order to make the transition from service provider to local development facilitator in a way that meets the requirements of policy on the one hand and accords with emerging good practice local governance approaches on the other. The objective of this 5-day short course that has been successfully presented in progressively adapted and modified form since 2002 as part of the short course programme first of Consultus and thereafter of the School of Public Management and Planning has been to serve that niche. The LED focus has since also been accommodated together with Integrated Development Planning (IDP) as a module of the B Hons in Public Administration. Module Context The intention with the course is to provide a short-course practical equivalent of the academic Hons BPA Local Governance: Economics component specifically aimed at Local Economic Development Practitioners engaged in strategy formulation and implementation in the national, provincial and local government spheres. 2

3 The course has a clear focus upon providing practical, contextual, conceptual and other tools to build the capacity of participants enhanced through the sharing of experiences and the discussion of lessons learned in the praxis of LED. Course objective and outcomes: Course Objective: The objective of this course is to provide an introduction to relevant concepts and to ground participants in the methods and practices of the local economic development approach (LED) in municipal governance. Learning Outcomes: Specific learning outcomes are the following: Learning Outcome 1: Conversance with relevant basic concepts in economic theory It is not possible to adopt an informed approach to LED without some knowledge of basic economic concepts. The course provides grounding in relevant key concepts of basic economic theory since most participants over the years over which the course has been presented have not had a satisfactory independent economic grounding. This is a major deficiency particularly in the ranks of the overwhelming majority of practitioners of LED particularly in the local- but also in the provincial government spheres. Learning Outcome 2: Basic proficiency in the organisation of LED initiatives within the government sphere Organisation and particularly local institutional development is a key element of good practice in LED. The course provides grounding in the essence of the LED approach internationally and its local interpretation in terms of the South African Constitution and such key domestic legislation as the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000) as well as the relevant guidelines and workbooks as distributed from time to time by the Department of Provincial and local Government (DPLG). Learning Outcome 3: Basic proficiency in setting up and conducting an LED planning process All local governments are engaged in the formulation, review or implementation of LED strategies. The course provides perspectives on generic good praxis LED planning process in the context of inter-governmental developmental planning process in South Africa, including the IDP process as contemplated in the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000) and as impacted inter alia by such legislation as the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005) 3

4 Learning Outcome 4: Basic proficiency in the methods of implementing LED in local communities No strategy can come to fruition without implementation planning and the necessary implementation actions. The course provides conceptual management tools for implementation of LED interventions Learning Outcome 5: Basic proficiency for tracking LED performance To determine success of the output and outcome results of LED interventions, it is necessary to adopt a strategy to monitor and evaluate this success. Module Contents and topics Outcome 1: Conversance with relevant basic concepts in economic theory 1. The essential economic developmental problem 2. The essential local economic development problem 3. Stock and flow concepts in economics including the concept of economic circularity 4. The economic factors of production (Land, labour capital & entrepreneurship) and their roles in the production economy 5. "Growth" and "development" distinguished 6. Defining economic potential and the limits to economic growth 7. The macro-economy (GDP, regional GDP (RGDP), inflation, investment, imports and exports, taxes, the functioning of the macro-economy) 8. The micro-economy (Supply and demand, prices and tariffs, determinants of the local business environment, local taxes and charges, the effects of price and tariff constraints and other economic interventions) 9. Basic concepts in spatial and regional economics (regional and spatial development priority determination, linkages between regions, measuring regional economic impact by shift-share methods, comparative economic advantage, absolute economic advantage) 10. Supply- and Demand-side strategies for stimulating economic growth and development 11. LED and the spatial economy Outcome 2: Basic proficiency in the organisation of LED initiatives within the government sphere 1. Setting the context for LED The policy basis for LED in the context of the IDP 2. Defining the essence of the LED approach 3. Strategies for LED as drivers of organisational and institutional form special purpose and other vehicles for LED 4. The concept of local economic governance and the statutory basis for role definition of key stakeholders in LED, specifically Government (all spheres), and civil society 4

5 5. Alternative forms of development management (Top-down, bottom-up and balanced approaches to development policy determination and development stimulation; motivations for the approach and determining parameters; policy and implementation networking) 6. LED and the IDP (Where does LED fit into the IDP process and other statutory intergovernmental planning processes?) 7. The locus of control of LED at local government level (Organisational and institutional approaches to the accommodation of LED in local government structures, legislative determinants of institutional and organisational forms) 8. Concepts in community economic governance and the evolving relative generic roles of government and other key community stakeholders LED 9. Generic options for organising LED and LED interventions. Outcome 3: Basic proficiency in setting up and conducting an LED planning process 1. The generic planning cycle 2. The National Planning Framework (NPF) in South Africa 3. The generic content of economic planning 4. Steps and milestones in the LED planning process 5. Integrating LED with IDP processes 6. Guidelines for conducting LED processes 7. Generic strategies for LED an intervention checklist 8. Roles and responsibilities in the LED planning process Outcome 4: Basic proficiency in the methods of implementing LED in local communities 1. LED Policies, strategies and plans 2. Operations, programmes and projects as vehicles for LED implementation 3. Implementation planning including setting up LED actions and interventions for implementation 4. Managing LED implementation in the intergovernmental environment 5. Managing LED implementation in the local government environment relevant local government processes and procedures Outcome 5: Tracking LED Performance 1. Determining and developing LED outcomes, outputs, indicators, milestones and targets 2. Monitoring and evaluating LED performance 5

6 Daily Programme of Activities: As has been the practice since its inception as a short course in 2002 it is proposed that the course will be conducted over a period of 5 consecutive days. Indicative programming of the course over the 5-day period in accordance with established practice is proposed as follows: Day 1: Introduction and Learning Outcome 1 Day 2: Learning Outcome 2 Day 3: Learning outcome 3 Day 4: Learning outcome 4 Day 5: Assignment and Performance Assessment Case Study material as appropriate While this programme order is proposed, the facilitators aim to respond rather to the needs and specific requirements of the group and adopt a more flexible approach in presenting the outcomes. Literature Whilst a textbook is prescribed for the Hons BPA course equivalent in keeping with the essentially academic nature of that course, literature for the proposed short course has a sharper implementation focus. In order to maintain relevance and currency literature prescription for the short course is dynamic in order to keep pace with evolving experience in the field, and particularly so with the rapidly evolving body of knowledge and experience in South Africa. Prescribed Basic Literature Swinburn G.,Goga S. and Murphy F. Local Economic Development: A Primer - Developing Local Economic Development Strategies and Action Plans World Bank (1996) Supplementary Literature i. Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) Local Economic Development Framework ii. Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) Toolkit for Local Economic Development iii. irelevant case study material structured where appropriate according to the specific professional interests and contextual focus of the course delegates 6

7 Assessment and credits: The course will count for twelve (12) credits and participants will be required to submit to the following assessment regime: In-course assessment through a test/s of basic proficiency to be determined by the course facilitator(s) (30% of the course mark); and An assignment to be submitted 30 days after the conclusion of the course (70% of the course mark). 7