At the Coal Face – stories of public participation

Public participation is one of the cornerstones of local democracy in South Africa. Yet, despite a lot of good will and widespread rhetoric, in practice public participation still faces many challenges. The reader ‘At the Coal Face’ looks at the concrete experiences people have made when fighting for better service delivery, when engaging municipal officials and when trying to hold government accountable. By assembling stories, interviews and case studies of public participation the reader seeks to serve as inspiration for practitioners of public participation and their supporters whilst also pointing to the challenges and pitfalls. The reader looks at four main aspects: public participation from below, civil society involvement in municipal matters, developing capacity for public participation and information for public participation.

Download: http://german-development-cooperation.org/files/coalface.pdf

For hard copies contact Julia Plessing, julia.plessing@ded.de