Sub-Saharan Africa - South Africa
As a result of its work on the World Bank Municipal Financial Management Technical Assistance (MFMTAP) project, Cowater was selected by the Development Bank of Southern Africa and DFID to provide municipal finance consultants to six small municipalities in South Africa for two years each. The key objective of this two-year project (2004-2006) was to assist and advise each municipality to implement the provisions of the newly-enacted Municipal Finance Management Act through the modernization and automation of their financial management systems. This included, inter alia, financial planning and budgeting, revenue enhancement, strategic planning, financial reporting, accounting procedures, and performance measurement. Cowater consultants provided training and capacity development services in all of these areas. Upon engaging with a municipality, expected results were clearly established using participatory techniques with counterparts within the municipal government and National Treasury. Municipalities were assessed in their ability to develop realistic and achievable multi-year implementation plans, successful implementation of financial management procedures, multi-year budgets and transparency thresholds. Cowater also assessed the municipalities on their ability to use participatory approaches involving civil society, including preparing the annual review process of the Integrated Development Plan by seeking community inputs. They were also provided support on the preparation of a Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan that provides the link between the budget, service delivery, performance agreements and measurement; preparation of the audit process, including performance-based audits; preparation of a budget evaluation checklist to assist both the municipality and National Treasury in monitoring gender-sensitive service delivery compliance; and, the development of an accredited training program for municipal finance managers.
