User:Impumelelo

The Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre is a non-profit organisation, established in 1999, that identifies, rewards and champions creative South African solutions to South African Problems. Impumelelo seeks to shine a light on practical examples of success in the delivery of basic services in order to educate networks of government and civil society leaders to improve the quality of life of the poor through the adaption of social innovation. This is achieved through an awards programme, master-classes, a variety of sector-based case studies, and an internship programme.

History
Impumelelo is the fourth addition to the worldwide family of Innovations Programmes. Impumelelo is a Xhosa word meaning 'success by working together.'

Like its sister programmes, Impumelelois intended to stimulate public confidence in the work of the government. in doing so, it functions to acknowledge the usually invisible efforts of myriad workers in the field, and to disseminate knowledge of the successes achieved to the broader society and to others involved in the struggle against poverty.

The establishment of Impumelelo arose as a result of efforts of staff at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), one of South Africa's main governance NGOs. Inspired by the original American Innovations Programme at the Kennedy School of Governance at Harvard University, Warren Krafchik of IDASA in 1998 conceived of a South African counterpart as one way of encouraging governmental initiatives and public-private partnerships to reduce poverty. His proposal was accepted by the Ford Foundation, which became the main funder of the new programme.

In March 1999, with the appointment of its first director, Impumelelo began the first annual cycle of awards. Three additional core staff members were appointed to manage the programme's activities.

By the close of the application period in August 1999 Impumelelo had recorded 171 project applications. These applications were received after an intensive mailing and publicity campaign intended to bring Impumelelo to the attention of government and other relevant bodies for the first time. some 3 500 applications were mailed out to all tiers of government, NGOs, universities and any other organisation working to alleviate poverty.

The applications were wide-ranging in nature. This reflected the diversity of poverty relief programmes in the country. Clearly, poverty alleviation demands action on many fronts, and action is being taken. The relatively large number of applications for projects involving community development, criminal justice, education, environment, health, and job creation reflected the priorities that the South African government had set for itself in its reconstruction and development programme.

In December 1999, Impumelelo held its first Innovations Award Ceremony in the Parliament of South Africa in Cape Town. Fifteen finalists received their awards from Dr. Essop Pahad. Ten Projects were awarded R60 000 each and five R20 000.

Since then Impumelelo has:
 * 9 awards cycles completed since 1999, with 293 projects receiving monetary awards
 * 11 award winners have since won the prestigious UN Public Service Excellence Award and the Dubai International Award for Best Practices
 * Database of 1600 projects for use as a resource on innovation and best practice
 * 10 training workshops since 2005 on Housing, Public Works, Environment, HIV/AIDS, Education, Skills Development Training, Rural Development and Service Delivery
 * 800 attendees indicated that they plan to implement new practices/concepts learned at the most recent workshop on Skills Training and Employment
 * 11 Best-Practice Case Studies completed since 2005
 * Over 3000 case studies distributed to government officials, NGOs, civil society and corporate stakeholders
 * Case studies are used as training tools for those in the public sector, universities, NGOs, the private sector, and international research institutions
 * Over 600 GB of video and audio footage promoting award-winning projects on Impumelelo website
 * 10 Annual Magazines have been published featuring the annual award-winners
 * Thousands of rands worth of print and broadcast media coverage

Mission & Aims
Mission: Impumelelo harnesses, through training and promotion, the expertise of social innovators and entrepreneurs. It does this to entrench (upscale / replicate?) their exemplary models of public problem-solving as solutions that improve local governance and public service.

Impumelelo harnesses, through training and promotion, the expertise of its award-winning social innovators and entrepreneurs. It does this to mainstream their exemplary models as a response to improve local governance and public service.

Impumelelo propagates the knowledge of its award-winning social innovators/entrepreneurs. We endeavour to shine a light on their exemplary projects, which solve critical public problems and hold the key to improve local governance and public service.

Aims: TO IDENTIFY and reward social innovation, through on-site evaluations and an awards programme. HIGHLIGHT the Impumelelo award-winners as “blueprints” to encourage adaptation and replication of best practice in service delivery. TO TRAIN practitioners to improve governance through master-classes which focus on peer-to-peer learning. TO CREATE social innovation learning networks at public platforms for managers across municipalities, provinces, departments, communities and organisations. TO CHAMPION solutions to public problems to build public trust, inspire, and educate South Africans. TO PRESENT compelling and credible portraits of government and civil society public problem-solving. TO RECOGNISE public and social entrepreneurs who are the backbone of exemplary programmes. TO PUBLISH and distribute sector-based case studies to advance service delivery implementation.