The National School of Government (NSG) has organised a learning exchange visit to China on city governance for public officials.
Hosted by the Beijing Jiaotong University and supported by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the programme seeks to promote knowledge exchanges on enhancing local government performance as municipalities face growing complexity and public expectations that they must respond to.
“The programme explores the Chinese advancement in local government innovation in service delivery, modernisation of governance, construction of smart cities, participatory governance, poverty alleviation and development,” the NSG said in a statement.
“Local government is an important sphere of government for implementation of national policy and China’s successes in the performance of this sphere of government has contributed to the abolition of absolute poverty in 2020, ten years before the 2030 deadline which the world set in the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
“This is the same deadline that South Africa has set in the National Development Plan to eliminate poverty and inequality by the year 2030,” the NSG said.
The South African government, in the 7th Administration, has committed itself to drive inclusive growth and job creation, to reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living with a developmental and capable state playing a central role.
“Municipalities therefore have a critical role in the achievement of this commitment. The exchange programme on city governance is part of the NSG’s international exchanges that are aimed at facilitating public servants’ access to specialist knowledge and skills needed to enhance public sector performance and development among others and learning from the development trajectory of other countries in the global South and North,” said NSG Principal, Professor Busani Ngcaweni.
Ngcaweni added that partnerships were a key focus for the NSG “as they enable us to expand the depth of training delivery, diversity and allow access to expertise that we do not have.”
The programme will run from 7 to 27 July.
Originally posted on SAnews.gov.za
