Repositioning Local Government
Abstract
The Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery (DGSD) Research Programme of the Human
Sciences Research Council (HSRC) together with the research partner hereby aims to develop a solid
research proposal/concept paper/note on emerging critical issues in the Local Government (LG)
sector and submit the same to key funders. In order to do this, a team of local government experts
will first brainstorm to come up with compelling case for research project in LG. The brainstorming
meeting should come up with a feasible methodology to facilitate diagnosis and prognosis of the
challenges facing municipalities in South Africa.
The HSRC, as a statutory council is a market leader with the ability to manage large human and social
science projects, including quantitative and qualitative research methods, sophisticated study design,
questionnaire development and administration, and analysis is best placed to undertake a study in
LG. The DGSD, which will lead the project if it is fully funded, is a knowledge hub for high quality,
independent, strategic and relevant research addressing national, continental and international
issues of developmental local government and more importantly, issues directly linked to local
municipalities which are currently exposed to number of challenges straddling from governance,
ethics and accountability, capacity development as well as service delivery.
