ECIAfrica News
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ECIAfrica News Archive: 2009
■ 15 Dec 2009: ECIAfrica Donation to Somerset Hospital
Somerset Hospital in Cape Town is in the process of upgrading its Paediatric Trauma Unit. The hospital treats approximately 100 critically ill and traumatized children on a daily basis. In order to upgrade the Trauma ward with diagnostic and monitoring equipment, the hospital needs to raise R1.1 million. Without this upgrade it will be impossible to keep treating this high volume of children and innocent lives will be lost. The hospital is a public hospital and more than 95% of the community it serves are previously disadvantaged.
ECIAfrica has decided to make a donation to the hospital by purchasing a number of required items that it believes will play a big part in saving these children’s lives. ECIAfrica has paid for the following items which will go a long way towards the upgrade:
■1 x crash cart - for children in cardiac or respiratory arrest
■1 x trolley bed - specially designed for the needs of small children
■1 x diagnostic set
■2 x Hb meters – for measuring the number of healthy red blood cells in the blood stream
■1 x table and 4 x chairs for a new nurses station
The construction of the new Trauma unit has already begun and will be completed in February 2010. The unit will have its official opening in March 2010 and ECIAfrica is proud to be a part of this initiative.
■ 03 Dec 2009: Global Entrepreneurship Week: US agency helps create 18 000 SME jobs
During the week of November 16 to 22, millions of people in 85 countries participated in over 25 000 events in support of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a time especially set aside to encourage people worldwide to celebrate the power of individuals with ideas to drive sustainable economic growth. Through the South African International Business Linkages (SAIBL) programme, USAid provides technical assistance to enhance the competitiveness of historically disadvantaged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing, services and agricultural sectors ...
Read the complete article in Engineering News
■ 30 Oct 2009: ECIAfrica Responds to Government's Request for Public Comments
The South African Government recently released two documents for public comment: 1) a Green Paper on National Strategic Planning and 2) a policy document titled 'Improving Government Performance: Our Approach'. ECIAfrica provided comments on both papers and submitted these to The Presidency. Below are the major points on ECIAfrica’s submission (For the complete documents, please contact ECIAfrica's Marketing and Communications Division).
On the National Strategic Planning Green Paper, the areas that raised questions and recommendations for ECIAfrica were the need for clarity on relations between the Planning Commission and other Planning Departments such as the Department of Economic Development, in terms of sourcing inputs into the Strategic Plan; the question of whether the Commission’s outcomes would be classified as legally binding mandates, policies and/or recommendations; the consequences for non-compliance; the need for clarity on the monitoring and review of Commission ‘outcomes’ and performance; as well as the Commission’s planned role in building the capacity of line departments’ ability to plan and implement the Strategic Plan and their own action plans.
On the ‘Improving Government Performance: Our Approach’ discussion policy document, ECIAfrica agrees with the document’s assertion that the “purpose of the outcome performance system is not limited to measuring outcomes and outputs”. Considering this, such a system should have the ability to go beyond being simply a “mechanism to guide the direction of policy implementation.” If used effectively, a performance system would and should have the ability to identify deficiencies, result in solutions to address identified deficiencies, and serve as a management and communication tool to feed back information to the public.
The ECIAfrica comments relating to the Policy Document focused on four key areas: 1) Transparency and effectiveness of the performance management system; 2) Issues around the sector delivery forums and agreements, as well as individual responsibilities on achieving sector mandates from the Minister down to the Front Desk employee; 3) Questions around the delivery unit and its deployment, funding and functioning and; 4) Changing the behaviour, values and attitudes of all relevant officials and the public on performance.
ECIAfrica wishes to commend the Government for its continuous efforts to enhance and align the planning and implementation actions of the various spheres of Government. Monitoring, evaluating and assessing government performance is a step towards government's objective of providing 'A Better Life For All', through a responsive public service, based on the principles of 'Batho Pele'.
■ 29 Oct 2009: ECIAfrica's Prof Job Mokgoro Presents at the Research Showcase, Rustenburg
Attended by the North-West Premier, Hon Maureen Modiselle along with five MECs, ECIAfrica had the opportunity to share best practices and showcase its work at the "Research Showcase" in Rustenburg. The North West Research Co-ordinating Council (NWRCC) hosted this event where researchers, policy makers and policy implementers gathered to engage in a dialogue on critical challenges facing the North West Province. ECIAfrica’s MD, Prof Job Mokgoro, sits as a chairperson for the Council and gave a presentation which addressed some of the current North West Provincial Government key priorities for the next five years as announced by the President of South Africa.
■ 29 Oct 2009: ECIAfrica’s Prof Job Mokgoro Presents at the Intergovernmental Relations Conference, Rustenburg
Prof Job Mokgoro was invited to present and share best practices and his personal experience within the provincial government on ways to bridge the gap between provinces and municipalities - a weakness that exists not only in the North West province but nationwide. This conference was aimed at highlighting key areas in Intergovernmental Relations and ways to improve service delivery in the North West province. Points highlighted at the conference were a reflection of the current state of District and Local Municipalities in South Africa. It also delved into major issues and challenges affecting service delivery in the country.
■ 19 Oct 2009: Lonmin-IFC SME Training Award Ceremony in Rustenburg
To present the awards was ECIAfrica MD Job Mokgoro, IFC Project Manager Joseph Areu, Director of BSSA Stanley Subramoni, CEO of BSSA, David Mashambela and the Lonmin Project Manager Philip du Plessis.
Under this program approximately 70 SMEs are enrolled and are learning critical skills necessary to run their businesses such as budgeting, bookkeeping and procurement thereby capacitating them as service providers to the Lonmin mines.
■ 05 Oct 2009: African Leaders Address U.S.-Africa Business Summit
Regional integration plays a crucial role in promoting economic development in Africa, say five African leaders at the Seventh Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit, held in Washington. Four African presidents and the chairman of the African Union Commission addressed a summit session.
