What is COMPACT?

A fact sheet describing COMPACT, a co-funded European Union programme implemented by PARI, SALGA, and Integrity Action to improve local government planning, accountability, and public participation in South Africa.

• COMPACT is a European Union (EU) co-funded programme implemented by three partners: the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and Integrity Action (IA). Its primary goals are to deepen democracy, achieve a more accountable and responsive local government, and improve the oversight and planning of municipal service delivery, with a specific focus on water and sanitation services.
• The programme seeks to improve the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process in South Africa by better aligning municipal planning and formal targets with community needs and expectations. It aims to empower communities to engage when municipalities fail to deliver and to improve incentive schemes that match the actions of politicians and officials to community expectations.
• The COMPACT programme design follows a sequence of Partnership Development, Programme Planning and Indicator Development, Action Research, Prototyping (including piloting in 2 municipalities), and Implementation (including toolbox implementation at 12 municipalities). The 12 participating municipalities are located across the Free State (Matjhabeng LM, Tswelopele LM), KwaZulu-Natal (Newcastle LM, Umhlathuze LM), North West (Moses Kotane LM, JB Marks LM), Western Cape (Oudtshoorn LM, Witzenberg LM), Eastern Cape (Blue Crane LM, Kouga LM), and Northern Cape (Sol Plaatje LM, Emthanjeni LM).

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (n.d.). What is COMPACT? https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/COMPACT-Factsheet-v9100.pdf

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. What is COMPACT? n.d. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/COMPACT-Factsheet-v9100.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=What is COMPACT? |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/COMPACT-Factsheet-v9100.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{publicaffairsresearchinstitutendwhat, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{What is COMPACT?}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/COMPACT-Factsheet-v9100.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }