Ecorys prepares procurement, infrastructure and knowledge management capacity development programme in South Africa

Ecorys prepares procurement, infrastructure and knowledge management capacity development programme in South Africa

Ecorys is commissioned by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Switzerland (SECO) to implement the Procurement, Infrastructure and Knowledge management Capacity Development programme (PINK-CD) in South Africa. The program will take 5 years, starting at the end of May 2018. Ecorys will be delivering a long-term expert team consisting of a program coordinator, a program administrator and an infrastructure management adviser. In addition, a large pool of technical experts from South Africa will be deployed together with in-house expertise from Ecorys.

The overall objective of this program is to increase cost effective, socially inclusive and sustainable service delivery at provincial and local government level. To achieve this objective, the programme is aligned with the priorities of the National Treasury to address weak procurement practices and poor infrastructure management. These are considered main causes of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure on basic service delivery within municipalities. 

The overall objective will be achieved through two complementary key result areas (KRA):

  • KRA 1 – More effective supply chain management (procurement) at local government level.
  • KRA 2 – Enhanced infrastructure management (budgeting, planning and asset management) at local government level.

While the ultimate impact of the programme will be at local government level, both KRAs include support to National Treasury and some Provincial Treasuries to strengthen them in their (constitutional and legal) role to provide support to the municipalities. Both KRAs also rely heavily on knowledge management and peer learning, which, together with Ecorys support are included as cross-cutting activities for both KRAs.