Officials from the eThekwini metro and Palestinian territories interact and share crucial information pertaining to their respective local government systems.

THE eThekwini Municipality’s Municipal Institute of Learning (MILE) hosted a Palestinian delegation recently for a one day learning exchange session at the Durban City Hall.

The purpose of this session was to showcase good practice projects and programme undertaken by eThekwini Municipality and provide advice on institutional development for improving the capacity of local government officials and Politicians in initiating, managing, and consulting communities in the Palestinian municipalities.

Dr Tawfiq Bedeir, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Engineering and Planning Affairs in Palestine, explained that despite the challenge of occupation and lack of resources, the Palestinian territories had big projects for developing services and the challenge was to spend sustainably and ethically.

A short overview of the eThekwini IDP and Long Term Development Plan (Imagine Durban) were presented to illustrate eThekwini’s medium and long term plans for sustainable development.

In addition, delegates were introduced to eThekwini’s Knowledge Management and Performance Monitoring approach which depicted eThekwini’s response to its service delivery and growth challenges.

Carolyn Kerr a project manager at MILE, during her presentation quoted the World Bank’s observation that underpins the importance of knowledge management – “more than money, intellectual capital is the greatest asset.”

Kerr covered the formation of MILE and its objectives and explained the different areas of activity, highlighting MILE’s existing connection with Gaza through the Medcities network and referred the delegation to the MILE website. The delegation showed a great interest in MILE and expressed their wish of constructive contact in future.

Both eThekwini and Palestine officials interacted and shared crucial information pertaining to their respective local government systems. This has paved the way for a partnership between eThekwini and Palestine for future learning events of this nature.

Source: www.mile.org.za