Many municipalities lack the strategic management capacity to develop PPPs that are integrated with broader municipal functions (see discussion in Chapter 11). The lack of any clear definition of service objectives, definitions and desired service standards tends to hinder the whole process of strategic planning. Management is often unfamiliar with or unable to assess realistically the potential value and commercial viability of a partnership. Partnerships are often conceived and developed without sufficient clarity on a range of strategic issues, such as: the current and future demand for services; and the current and desired supply of services in relation to coverage, distribution, equity, efficiency and quality. At the same time, municipalities must assess and understand a variety of key issues of concern to rate payers in general and the poor in particular, such as affordability and willingness to pay. Senior officers tend to get absorbed in day-to-day management matters, meaning that strategic decisions are dependent on the outcome of ad hoc meetings and informal discussions.
In the strategic planning and partnership development phases, managers must ensure the effective management of information, preparation and planning processes. Municipalities rarely integrate participatory, qualitative processes with 6 quantitative information, and are thus unable to assess demand and provision options. It is important that a practical approach to information collection and synthesis is established at the outset by the management team, and that departmental managers are tasked with the processes that yield the information required.
Another key area of management in the initial stages of partnership formulation and development is stakeholder consultation. This process is often at odds with a more traditional bureaucratic management culture that is used to operating in a remote hierarchical manner. Building consultative capacity requires changing the organisational culture to promote openness and accountability, by institutionalising consultative processes in key planning and decision-making processes. Useful lessons can be gained from Gweru, where transparent and predictable procedures were adopted in the planning stages of privatisation in a range of services (see Box 9.4).
In order to create a viable partnership framework it is necessary for managers to have created a change-friendly, transparent process through which the municipality can be seen to be a credible partner. Managers should ensure that appropriate skills are available or acquired, and that the general level of awareness of partnerships within the municipality is raised. The partnership development phase thus requires management skills for building consensus, planning, analysis and strategising, as well as the ability to synthesise the objectives and constraining factors into a partnership framework. The development of skills has been considered in Chapter 11, but it should be noted that managers will probably need to initiate changes in procedures, structures, finances and attitudes in order for the partnership to be developed in line with objectives.