AGENDA FOR COVID-19 EMERGENCY MEETING ON CONFERENCE ROOM ON

18 OCTOBER 2022 AT 24H00

Each item of the agenda points are discussed hereunder.

Ser Topic Action By Time

No Allocated
a b c
1. Introduction. Chairperso 5min
n
2. Item 1: The Covid 19 Pandemic: Getting to grips 20min
with it. Chairperso
n
3. Item 2: Impact of Pandemic on Dept of Health 20Min
Monitoring Systems.
Chairperso
4. Item 3:Capacities affected by Covid-19 and how n 20min
to deal with the impact
5. Item 4: Changes in responsibilities for Monitoring Chairperso 20Min
staff n
6. Item 5: Resources required/mitigation on 20Min
resource shortfall Chairperso
n
7. Supplementary items & Conclusion 15Min

Chairperso
n

All

(S. MASUKU)
CHAIRPERSON MONITORING SYSTEMS: DIRECTOR

DISTR

For Action For Info

All Monitoring Systems Staff Chief Director: Development, M&E
 “Providing Health for All”
DISCUSSION ON AGENDA POINTS

Item 1: The Covid 19 Pandemic: Getting to grips with it

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2), also

referred to as COVID-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and is
the seventh known human coronavirus (Hodgkinson & Andresen, 2020; Ciotti et al.,
2020; Navsaria et al., 2021; Western Cape Government Provincial Treasury, 2020;
Nivette et al., 2021). The virus has spread all over the world, and given the scale and
rate at which the virus is spreading and causing fatalities the World Health
Organisation declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 (Cucinotta &
Vanelli, 2020, p. 157). The declaration of COVID-19 virus as a global pandemic
licensed lockdown restrictions by most government around the world brought a new
dimension to all spheres of life (Ciotti et al., 2020; Hodgkinson & Andresen, 2020;
Navsaria et al., 2021; Nivette et al., 2021; Western Cape Government Provincial
Treasury, 2020).

For South Africa, it was on Sunday evening of the 15 th March 2020 President Cyril
Ramaphosa addressed the people of South Africa on measures to combat the
Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of his address more than 160 000 people had tested
positive across the globe, with South Africa accounting a mere 61 positive cases.
More importantly Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster wherein travels to
high risk countries such as Italy, Spain and Germany were banned (Government
Gazette, 2020). Of the 53 land ports South Africa has, 35 were shut down, and 2 of
the 8 sea ports were also closed (Government Gazette, 2020).

The gazetted measures outlined how national, provincial and local government were
to work in unison to save lives of the South Africans (Government Gazette, 2020).
Furthermore these measure entailed a government, and indeed society-wide
response, which is to say all sectors of society were impacted. The Covid-19
outbreak presented a diversified emergency in multiple sectors, all at the same time
(De Liddo, 2021, p. 8). The first and foremost to be impacted was the health sector,
followed by the economic, security, social and psychological sectors (De Liddo,
2021, p. 8).

The declaration of the national state of disaster invoked the enforcement of

prescripts of the Disaster Management Act (Disaster Management Act, 2002) aimed
to prevent or reduce the risk of the disaster. The South African National Defence
Force is tasked to assist the South Africa’s Police Service (SAPS) through Operation
NOTLELA (which means to lock) in enforcing a nation-wide lockdown aimed at
disrupting the chain of transmission whilst affording the health sector the much
needed time to roll out its plan to combat the health emergency
(https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-escalation-measures-
combat-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-23-mar accessed on 06 October 2020).

The Department of Health (DOH) now has a limited time to devise and implement
strategies that would help the country deal with this pandemic, and it is important
that appropriate monitoring systems are developed so as to track the efficiency and
effectiveness of the strategies implemented, so that timely interventions can be done
and thus ensure that South Africa is able to deal with this pandemic of global
proportions without suffering significant losses.

Item 2: Impact of Pandemic on Dept. of Health Monitoring Systems

According to the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (2012, p.2)

monitoring is about “collecting, analysing, and reporting data on inputs, activities
outputs, outcomes and impacts as well as external factors, in a way that supports
effective management”. Monitoring is about helping decision makers identify areas
where improvements are required in terms of policies plans and their implementation
(Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, 2012, p. 2). In the same
vein, Shapiro (2007, p. 3) conceptualised monitoring in shorter terms, calling it the
“systematic collection and analysis of information as a project progresses”.

Figure 1 (Author unknown, date unknown, p. 11) below outlines three main purposes
of monitoring systems and the components of a monitoring system. The three
purposes of monitoring are accountability; organisational performance; and
evaluation practice. While the monitoring systems comprise of performance
management systems, reporting systems; data systems and Monitoring and
Evaluation Framework.

Figure 1: Purposes and components of monitoring systems (Author unknown,

date unknown, p. 11).

Purposes of monitoring

Monitoring for accountability is arguably the most common form of monitoring

(Bornstein, 2006). Accountability monitoring entails having to prove what and how
funds given to the agency were utilised. Public servants have to account to citizens,
donors and parliament for how the perform particularly where funds are involved
(Mapitsa et al, 2019, p. 14). Monitoring to improve organisational performance
entails tracking what is being done and have been achieved by the Agency, and
seeking to identify ways to improve the results (Mapitsa et al, 2019, p. 13).

Monitoring for evaluation and learning, entails analysing if the programmes instituted
are making the desired impact. This type of monitoring is a sequenced steps starting
with the theory of change process, using the theory of change to identify the impacts
the programme must achieve and then aligning the monitoring systems components
around the impacts desired (Mapitsa et al, 2019, p. 15)

Components of Monitoring Systems

Reporting systems entails a range of policies and processes that contribute to

accountability on how the programme is performing to either internal or external
stakeholders ((Mapitsa et al, 2019, p. 12). Reporting systems has feature such as
the quarterly and annual reports which have to be promulgated by the respective
departments.

Whereas data systems provide inputs into the monitoring practice and the outputs of
the monitoring activities also feed into the same data systems (Mapitsa et al, 2019,
p. 12). Data systems could be looking at financial data in terms of the expenditures
incurred. With regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, keeping tabs on the data on
number of infections and mortality rates will be key features of the data systems.
Given the strategies introduced, are we seeing changes in these data sets?

The monitoring and evaluation framework chosen could either be the Management
Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT), Citizen-Based monitoring (CBM) or
Frontline Services Delivery Monitoring (FSDM) (Department of Planning, Monitoring
and Evaluation, 2013, p. iv). Given the known restrictions resulting from the
containment measures for the Covid-19 pandemic, only the MPAT can be utilised.
The CBM is disqualified given the restrictions on gatherings given through the
containment measures of Covid 19, and the FSDM is also inappropriate because of
the movements required to facilitate it, furthermore it focuses on facilities while the
declaration of the national state of emergency requires focus to shift be towards the
reduction of the transmission of the virus.

The MPAT (Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation, 2011, p. 5) is

designed to provide a holistic picture in the quality of management practices which
will be key in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The MPAT has the limitations
of not including assessments of policies and programme results, and neither does it
assess the actual deliverables against the planned deliverables, furthermore it does
not focus on the individual officials (Department of Planning Monitoring and
Evaluation, 2011, p. 4). Therefore other monitoring mechanisms will be required to
augment these deficiencies.

Another framework that could be considered, given the limitations imposed by the
containment measures for the Covid-19 pandemic is the Health & Demographic
Surveillance Sites (HDSS). The HDSS provides spatial monitoring on health,
demographics, socio-economic status and migration of a given locality (Author
Unknown, Date unknown, p. 112). The HDSS is not linked to a particular
programme, it however provides a surveillance and data on the population dynamics
within a given community. Given the restrictions on gatherings and the strain current
resources the HDSS could provide valuable monitoring data for the department,
particularly because they avail their information free of charge.

To surmise, the Monitoring systems in light of the Covid-19 pandemic would have to
restructure, and dedicate its focus towards accountability monitoring and
organisational performance monitoring. The personnel from the evaluative
monitoring will be used to support the above two. Furthermore in light of the
restrictions in movement and capacity, all personnel will focus on MPAT as the M&E
framework. It is envisaged that with the restructuring of the Monitoring systems, the
team will be able to deal with the expected lay-off’s emanating for infections from the
virus. Furthermore the utilisation of the HDSS for example would help provide a
different angle to the data already gathered. The restructured teams will keep the
various office spaces access restricted, which means that teams will keep to their
respective spaces, so that when a team experiences incidences of the transmission,
the other team can continue to work at their dedicated office space whilst the
contaminated space is being fumigated.

Item 3:Capacities affected by Covid-19 and how to deal with the impact

REFERENCES
Mayne, J. & Zapico-Goni, E. (Eds). (1997). Monitoring Performance in the
Public Sector. New York: Routledge

Montuori, A. (2011). Systems Approach. Pp. 414–21 in Encyclopedia of

Creativity (2nd ed.). Academic Pres.

Bornstein, L. (2006). Systems of accountability, webs of deceit? Monitoring and

evaluation in South African NGOs. Development, 49(2), 52-61.

Shapiro, J. S. (2007). Monitoring performance in the public sector: Future directions

from international experience. Transaction Publishers.

Shah, A. and Shen, C. (2008). A Primer on Performance Budgeting. In A.Shah (Ed. ,

Budgeting and Budgetary Institutions (pp.137- 178). Washington, DC: Georgetown
University Press.