It's easy to point fingers at the public sector for wanton disregard for the proper use of public funds. There are, however, many inspiring examples of passion for service delivery that are making a true difference in the lives of the country's citizens.
The Centre for Public Sector Innovation (CPSI) is one government vehicle dedicated to making sure service delivery becomes more effective and efficient without having to reinvent the wheel. An instrument of the Department of Public Service and Administration, the CPSI has promoted co-ordination and collaboration between government departments in a bid to introduce out-of-the-box thinking in their approach to service delivery.
While many of the successes it has recorded over the past decade involve some element of technology, not all solutions are necessarily technology-based.
One technology solution that has been very successful is the Department of Home Affairs' SMS-based track-and-trace service that allows citizens to track the status of vital documents like ID books, passports and other registration documentation.
"It was conceptualised here and was piloted and tested together with the department," explains Kgatliso Hamilton, director for Solution Support: Incubation. "It was done under the umbrella of mobile technology to showcase it and see how it can help."
Innovation
The CPSI's role is far more that of enabler and collaboration catalyst than as the owner or driver of the projects and new concepts. Its Innovation Centre, in Centurion, is an important tool in delivering on this mandate and is used to promote a culture of innovation, while also making these facilities available for departments needing a space to thrash out their innovation strategies and projects.
The centre was opened in 2010 and is kitted out with a range of interactive tools that demonstrate the capabilities of various technologies that could help to improve the efficiency of service delivery.
Certain of the tools are designed merely as an introduction to innovation and the mindshift required to develop solutions that can address real-life challenges, while others are powerful tools that facilitate the process of developing new solutions.
The CPSI plays a dual role as both facilitator and initiator of possible solutions.
One of these is a large-screen interactive touch-board that is used to view and plan typical processes that a government department follows in executing its duties. The system is loaded with basic templates for common processes, or with a department's specific processes, that are then displayed on the touch-board and can be moved and adapted to improve the efficiency of these processes.
Collaboration is key
"The feedback we got from government departments was that, for the first time, they're able to see their processes from the beginning to the end. So individuals are able to understand the impact they have on the process because they realise that if they don't do their part, it will impact other processes," says Hamilton.
She adds that the CPSI has also introduced a system to capture and collate suggestions from public servants from any department that could be used by another department.
"This has triggered a different way of thinking. People who work in government departments are too absorbed in those environments and are sometimes unable to think of other possibilities in their department," she says.
The CPSI plays a dual role as both facilitator and initiator of possible solutions, which requires that it act as a sounding board for departments looking to solve a problem while also proposing solutions to challenges it has identified.
One new project that falls into the latter category is the development of a solution to help visually impaired teachers better prepare their teaching material and classes, as well as revise work handed in. Hamilton explains that while the school curriculum is produced in Braille for these teachers, this material is often delayed because of the time needed to produce the books.
The CPSI partnered with the Department of Education and the Council for the Blind to develop a system using a digital talking book device that converts a digital version of the teaching material into spoken word.
Solutions like this illustrate that innovation is not only about the big disruptive ideas, and that simple ideas can have a real and lasting impact.
First published in May issue of Brainstorm magazine.
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