EC Local Government Communicators Forum (LGCF) BEST PRACTICE PRESENTATION BY SANDISWA MAHLANGABEZA ON BEHALF OF THE EC CORE TEAM IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

EC Local Government Communicators Forum The EC LGCF structure has been functional since 2011 The forum is coordinated and convened by the LGCS core team which consists of members from Cogta, GCIS and SALGA. The forum facilitates quarterly sessions with full participation of municipal HOCs The forum is hosted by district municipalities and metros on a rotational basis. For oversight purposes, the forum is in the EC COGTA OP. The sessions are often opened by the political leadership of that particular municipality. Various prominent individuals, political analysts in various fields have graced the forum and made presentation in various communication areas.

LGCS CORE TEAM Integration, coordination and leadership team Coordinating Mechanisms : Integration, coordination and leadership team Assist ongoing strategizing work at Local level. Participate in the Provincial Rapid Response Initiatives. Strategic communication interventions in key/priority LMs. Responsible for the good health of communications in all Municipalities – Province – wide. Support at Crisis communication times. Capacity building initiatives. Content clearing house EC COGTA, SALGA, GCIS Meets twice a week.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATORS FORUM (LGCF) Who? What? District/Metro HoCs. Partnerships and capacity building initiatives Learning network platform Sharing of best practices Communicators front ALL Municipalities in the Province. Development and implementation of strategies and actions plans. Oversight and coordination: COGTA, GCIS, SALGA. Assess the pulse of communication at local level. 4

EC LGCF The agenda of the forums is often informed by topical service delivery issues, issues from the media environment and the contribution coming from the HOC’s. The forum gives communicators a platform to interact with issues, share challenges as well as best practices. The forum serves as a learning network platform. An opportunity for them to develop workable and practical solutions is created as they share their best practice models as municipalities (Matatiele Corporate video)

LGCF Reporting Template For very LGCF, Districts HoCs provide reports on the status of Communication in their Districts/Metros and LMs A reporting template is developed by the Provincial LGCF Core team, the information is collated and reported by the district municipalities on behalf of its LMs. The reporting template changes from time to time and is informed by current communications issues . An example: The latest LGCF held on the 12 – 13 September focused on the following areas: The functionality of communication structures (LCF, DCF, MCF) Development of communication action plans Service delivery hotspots, environmental analysis Stakeholder engagement plan. Media engagement plan. Social media plan.

Lobbying and advocacy by LGCF As part of the core team’s lobbying and advocacy drive on behalf of municipal communicators as they sit and participate in IGR forums like DIMAFO, MuniMEC meetings etc. From time to time, the LGCF Core team presents a Province – wide state of communication in Local government. Part of the highlights of the LGCF core team’s efforts was to influence the MuniMEC to instruct municipalities to allocate at least 1% of the overall municipal budget to the communications function.

Political MuniMEC Resolutions 1% of the overall municipal budget to be allocated to the communications function Municipalities must ensure that they employ suitable candidates to perform the communications function and establish communication units Municipalities were encouraged to involve the core team in the recruitment of communications personnel

Communications Induction The core team organises an annual induction programme for new communications entrants in the space where they get introduced to the Local Government Communications System (LGCS) The induction sessions covers a whole range of communications, social media, marketing, media as well as stakeholder engagement issues and also include site visits to media houses

Stakeholder Engagements Stakeholder engagement sessions are also organised by the core team where members of the media especially newspaper editors are invited to interact with municipal communicators. An opportunity is given to both parties to air out their areas of concern concerning their reporting and how communicators also respond or do not respond to their enquiries.

Stakeholder Engagements Speakers from Prisa, institutions of higher learning have also been invited to participate in LGCF forums. Lastly, a local government media symposium is being organised in partnership with the Herald newspaper and other media houses The LG sector is complicated, therefore the media expressed a need for people well vest in the sector to unpack some grey areas that might at times hinder the way they package their news stories

Key success factors Advocacy that led to all Municipalities in EC recruiting Communication personnel. Solid relations with various media institutions across EC (Print and electronic). Solid relations with institutions of higher learning in EC for their buy in on core teal led training and capacity building initiatives. Capacitated local government communicators on social media usage. Support from the highest governance structure for local government in the province (MUNIMEC)

In pictures 13

Induction led by Provincial LGCS core team 22 – 24 August 2018

Herald Newspaper tour

SABC tour

Algoa FM tour

Practical interview training Bay TV

Awarding certificates of attendance

Dr Ongama Mtimka – motivating the inductees Buffalo City Case study Dr Ongama Mtimka – motivating the inductees

I thank you