Institutional Development Support (IDS)
The Institutional Development Support (IDS) unit of GTAC offers public sector advice and technical support to government departments and organs of state to build the capacity of government institutions for better financial management and to deliver inclusive growth.
The advice and support is customised for the public sector, and aims to build the capacity of government institutions to deliver services. A capable state requires institutions and infrastructure that enable the economy and society to operate, and well run and effectively coordinated state institutions will enable society to have confidence in the state.
Our approach is made up of process consulting and technical content expertise, with underlying capacity building support.
IDS
support
The IDS unit responds to requests from client departments and offers a consultative service model that incorporates innovative approaches to resolving challenges in public sector institutions.
The IDS supports a wide range of areas including:
- Macro institutional support such as policy analysis and advice, and function shifts, aimed at assisting macro organisation and the achievement of whole-of-government objectives.
- Organisational strengthening services including strategic and organisational reviews and business cases for improved organisational performance.
- Service delivery effectiveness and efficiency support includes offering innovative ways to deliver services and improving the management of operations.
What to do to access IDS services
Step 1: Departments identify the type of support required, and send a letter of request (signed by the Accounting Officer) to the Head of GTAC. As IDS projects operate on a cost recovery basis, clients must budget for the required support.
Step 2: Letters of request are assessed by GTAC management, to determine the fit with GTAC capabilities and government priorities.
Step 3: For accepted requests, the IDS unit deploys one or more long-term advisors to develop, with the client, the detailed approach to and content of the work to be performed.
Step 4: A Memorandum of Agreement and associated Project Charter is entered into between GTAC and the client, which governs the administrative and financial arrangements of the project.
Services
Institutional development support includes programme and project management, business case development, organisational reviews, policy research and analysis, and diagnostics and evaluations.
Services include:
- Actuarial services (as part of policy and technical advisory services)
- Business case development
- Business systems analysis / architecture
- Diagnostics, reviews and evaluations
- Feasibility studies
- Function analysis and shifts
- Intergovernmental infrastructure delivery support
- Leadership development and change management
- Legislative mandate analysis
- Operations management
- Organisational reviews and development
- Policy research, analysis and advice
- Programme and project management
- Stakeholder management
- Performance planning and budgeting
- Phakisa labs and mini-labs
Project in the spotlight
The Department of Basic Education:
To deliver holistic and integrated basic education as a basic service the Basic Education Sector requires adequate infrastructure in terms of quantity, quality and fit for purpose. The IDS unit provided support to DBE to develop a framework for infrastructure delivery and an institutional capacity building plan with the objectives of improving infrastructure delivery outcomes; and capacity building in the DBE Sector. The framework aims to improve delivery of infrastructure, improve sector capacity and collaboration with all the critical stakeholders to leverage and enhance delivery capacity. The approach uses a collaborative framework which can be used in conjunction with the implementation / IDMS Protocols.
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Past projects
During the 2020/2021 financial year the IDS unit completed 22 projects. Below is a snapshot of some of the interesting projects recently completed .
Department of Higher Education and Training:
IDS has been providing project management support to the DHET with the implementation of the Centres of Specialisation (COS) Programme since 2017. IDS assisted with the identification of TVET colleges through the development of criteria for their selection, recruiting selected colleges to participate. Support to colleges also extended to assisting with establishing key structures, recruitment of employers who in turn recruited apprentices to participate in the project. Colleges were further supported with advice on infrastructure upgrades that they were required to implement. This project was part of the Swiss-South African Cooperation Initiative (SSACI).
South African National Space Agency:
IDS provided SANSA with assistance for the development of a new business model and revised organisational structure that will ensure optimal delivery of the envisaged strategic plan. This included a situational / status quo analysis, value chain analysis and options development, the macro-organisational design, financial model for sustainable growth, and an implementation and sustainability plan. The report set out several actions that SANSA would need to address to launch the transformation process, and key areas of focus for SANSA.
Department of Public Enterprises:
IDS assisted with the development of a Risk and Integrity Management Framework for State Owned Companies for the Department of Public Enterprises. DPE sought to establish mechanisms for improved governance of its SOCs. The assistance entailed undertaking a rapid diagnostic assessment (to confirm the root causes and available levers for improvement), and the development of a guide and three sets of priority norms and standards in the areas of risk reporting, conflicts of interest and vetting, inclusive of support during consultation processes. The project also successfully defined a Risk and Integrity Management Framework that fills existing gaps in the oversight framework for SOCs.
Resources
GTAC’s Knowledge Hub contains a wealth of resources that are available to people working in and with government. These resources are freely available to all key stakeholders to enhance public sector capacity and enable more effective public service delivery.
Methodologies
Manuals
Toolkits
Case studies