NATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE REPORT

The report details a two-day conference in Johannesburg that examined the 'Reimagining Developmental Local Government' theme. It highlights the COMPACT project's efforts to move public participation from 'tick-box exercises' to meaningful collaboration through a specialized 'Toolbox' and Citizen-Based Monitoring (CBM) pilots. Key discussions centered on the exclusion of youth and women, the need for interoperable digital infrastructure, and the role of 'invented' community spaces when formal 'invited' spaces fail. The event advocated for the institutionalization of these tools within municipal systems to ensure long-term sustainability beyond the project's January 2026 conclusion.

• The COMPACT project, co-funded by the European Union and implemented by PARI, SALGA, and Integrity Action, developed a 'Toolbox' of modular resources to bridge the gap between legal participation frameworks and actual municipal practice.
• Public participation in South African municipalities is often criticized as a superficial compliance exercise, particularly through virtual meetings and formal processes that exclude youth and women.
• There is a critical distinction between 'invited' participation (formal state-created platforms like ward committees) and 'invented' participation (self-organized community actions), with the latter often emerging as a corrective when formal channels fail.
• Citizen-Based Monitoring (CBM) pilots in Kouga and Oudtshoorn municipalities demonstrated that training community monitors to oversee infrastructure projects can reduce project failure and improve trust, provided the approach is collaborative rather than confrontational.
• Municipal performance management is frequently treated as a compliance task rather than a strategic tool, with a significant lack of consequence management for poor performance.
• Digital transformation in local government is hindered by fragmented data environments; the report advocates for 'shared digital public infrastructure' and open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to ensure interoperability.
• The City of Cape Town utilizes an 'Ease of Doing Business Index' to identify regulatory bottlenecks and improve the efficiency of municipal processes, such as construction permits and utility connections, to attract investment.
• Gender-inclusive participation is hindered by male-dominated governance spaces and differing communication preferences, requiring municipalities to adopt multimodal, gender-sensitive engagement strategies.

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (2025). NATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE REPORT. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COMPACT-National-Research-Conference-Report-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. NATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE REPORT. 2025. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COMPACT-National-Research-Conference-Report-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=NATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE REPORT |date=2025 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COMPACT-National-Research-Conference-Report-FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{publicaffairsresearchinstitute2025national, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{NATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE REPORT}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2025}, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COMPACT-National-Research-Conference-Report-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }