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www.salga.org.za
1.
About SALGA
I.
Background
II.
Mandate & Strategic Objectives
2.
What is Knowledge Management?
I.
Data, Information & Knowledge
II.
Knowledge Management
3.
Why Knowledge Management for the Local Government Sector
I.
Challenges faced by the Local Government Sector
II.
Benefits of Knowledge & Information Management Programmes for
Municipalities
4.
SALGA Knowledge Management Strategy
5.
SALGA Knowledge Management Programmes
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 The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is the sole
representative voice of Local Government, constitutionally recognised and referred to as Organised Local Government. There isn’t another institution like
SALGA in the country and there are not many with such Constitutional backing or mandate on the continent nor the world.
 SALGA is recognized and entrenched in the Constitution and legislation (i.e.
Organised Local Government Act, Municipal Systems Act, White Paper for Local
Government and the IGR Framework).
 SALGA is Local Government leadership because SALGA leadership (NEC) is democratically elected into power by the leadership of 278 municipalities, with the mandate to represent, advocate and speak on their behalf in the highest offices of the country. Organised Local Government ensures municipal
participation in the system of IGR by articulating municipal interests and coordinating their policies and programmes with those of the other spheres .
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SALGA
Mandate
Lobby,
Advocate &
Represent
Employer
Body
Capacity
Building
Support &
Advice
Strategic
Profiling
Knowledge
& Information
Sharing
Transform local government to enable it to fulfil its developmental mandate.
Lobby, advocate, protect and represent the interest of local government at relevant structures and platforms.
Act as an employer body representing all municipal members and, by agreement, associate members.
Build the capacity of the municipality as an institution as well as leadership and technical capacity of both
Councillors and
Officials.
Support and advise our members on a range of issues to assist effective execution of their mandate.
Build the profile and image of local government within South
Africa as well as outside the country.
Serve as the custodian of local government intelligence and the knowledge hub and centre of local government intelligence for the sector.
The Voice of Local Government

www.salga.org.za
1.
Local Government delivers equitable and sustainable services
2.
Safe and healthy environment and communities
3.
Coherent Planning and Socio-economic development
4.
at the local level
5.
Effective and responsive Local Government that is accountable to communities
6.
Human Capital development in local government
7.
Financial and organisationally capacitated municipalities
8.
An effective and efficient administration
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www.salga.org.za
Prior to defining Knowledge Management, it is important to distinguish between Data, Information and Knowledge.
Data are raw facts and figures that on their own have no meaning.
These can be any alphanumeric characters i.e. text, numbers and symbols.
12
60 Years
5 Years
3
30 Years
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Information is processed data that is given context in order to have meaning. Data needs to be turned into meaningful information and presented in its most useful format.
12
60 Years
5 Years
3
30 Years
In my Municipality there are 12 officials over the age of 60 years that are due to retire within the next 5 years; 3 of the 12 are experts in floods and storm water management; LED &
Spatial Planning with over 30 years of experience.
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www.salga.org.za
Knowledge is reasoning, insight, experience related to products, customers, processes, markets, competition and so on that enables effective action.
Two types of knowledge are, explicit and tacit knowledge.
Knowledge Management is a cross disciplinary practice which enables organizations to improve the way they manage (create, adopt, validate, diffuse, store and use) knowledge in order to attain their goals faster and more effectively
In my Municipality there are 12 officials over the age of 60 years that are due to retire within the next 5 years; 3 of the 12 are experts in floods and storm water management; LED & Spatial Planning with over 30 years of experience.
• Introduce a programme to capture the knowledge of retiring staff through:
• Document “how to” documents and guidelines
• Coaching and mentoring programmed
• Job Shadowing etc.
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(Source: LGTAS & AG Reports)
1. High turnover of technical & professional staff
2. Limited resources – requiring that risk & cost must be managed effectively to provide the best development impact
3. In some cases – a strong dependence on consultants which often leaves the municipalities in a position of having to consistently “re-purchase” advice and intellectual property.
4. Inability in some municipalities to deliver on the core set of critical municipal services.
5. Poor financial management e.g. negative audit outcomes
6. Corruption & fraud
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1. Improve accountability through effective management of Municipal information resources
2. Make informed decisions
3. Increase level of collaboration internally and externally
4. Enhance collaboration and strategic partnerships with stakeholders
5. Capture knowledge of retiring employees
6. Retention of the Municipality’s institutional memory;
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 Assist municipalities with Knowledge and Information Management programmes
(advocacy, strategy, processes or tools);
 Support implementation of Knowledge and Information Management programmes in municipalities
 Share best practices and innovations of other municipalities (Paperless administration – Newcastle Local Municipality)
 Promote common Knowledge Management platforms for municipalities, in particular a KM framework for local government and shared resources
(methodologies, toolkits, exemplars, etc.)
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• To improve service delivery and performance of local government
• by building the collective and individual skills and capacity of municipal practitioners
• through developing a strong culture and practice of peer learning and knowledge sharing across local government and its stakeholders

• Many KM definitions, approaches and methodologies - find one that works for your municipality;
• All workers are knowledge workers – everyone has a role to play;
• Connections more than collections - create platforms for engagements;
• Institutionalisation of KM - through strategies / frameworks; processes; technology;
• KM must produce tangible result i.e.
– better decision making;
– improve productivity / governance;
– employee development;
– better customer-service;
– innovation.
www.salga.org.za

• Effective management of knowledge requires hybrid solutions involving both people and technology technology makes it possible, people make it happen.
• Knowledge management requires resources financial, human, technology, training & development.
• Location of KM - there is no set location that is best; the following considerations are important:
• KM function must be driven by the strategic objectives & plans of the Municipality (GDS,
IDPs)
•
The function must cut across the entire organisation through platform such as steering committee, champions forum; central KM support group etc.
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www.salga.org.za
Peer Learning
(Networks / Events)
Knowledge Hub
(Portal/Resource Centre)
Research, Benchmarking
& Performance Reviews
The effective transformation of SALGA into a learning / knowledge organisation requires each portfolio to contribute to each of the three pillars
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Structured Knowledge
Sharing & Learning
(Networks & Events)
 Host and or coordinate knowledge sharing and learning events / engagements;
 Facilitate peer learning and sharing;
 Facilitate the following structured learning networks to share information, knowledge, best practices and lessons:
 Municipal Managers Forum
 District Learning Network
 Mining & LG Network
 SA Cities Network - KMRG
 LED & ICT Networks
 LG Migration Network (LOMNET)

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 Develop a comprehensive, integrated, highly accessible (web-based) portal for all
Local Government
Knowledge Hub /
Portal
Documenting &
Sharing of LG Best
Practices
LG information and knowledge
 Provide a platform for documenting and sharing of LG knowledge and information
 Enhance knowledge dissemination and sharing to ensure that LG knowledge resources reaches LG practitioners.
 Coordinate the documentation and sharing of local government best practices to:
 Profile and celebrate LG best practices;
 Encourage learning and replication of best practices;
 Avoid re-inventing the wheel and mistakes of others;
 Issue request for submission of best practices in May 2013 (due date 31 July
2013);
 Process, package, develop and disseminate an annual LG Best Practices
KM Municipal publication.
 Assist municipalities with Knowledge Management programmes
Capacity (advocacy, strategy, processes or tools);
 Support implementation of KM programmes in municipalities.

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• Leadership and executive support plays a key role in ensuring the success of
KM; Nothing makes greater impact on an organization than when leaders model the behaviour they are trying to promote amongst employees;
• Listen - Listen to users, employees, managers; whoever we are designing a
KM initiative for; they will tell us how we can meet their needs and have a successful KM initiative.

Tell me, I'll forget, Show me, I may remember.
But involve me and I'll understand.
Lao Tzu ~600 BC www.salga.org.za