Towards effective local government environmental health services: a policy impact analysis approach

Abstract

Environmental health service (EHS) is the first line of defence in protecting the population against environmental risks. Hence it is mandated as a basic municipal service and fundamentally a human rights issue in the South African Constitution. However, despite the national government reporting significant progress, the municipal services sector continues to grapple with social, financial, administrative, and political factors that thwart the ethos of Batho Pele or people first. Unfulfilled expectations, flagging service delivery and infrastructure deterioration have resulted in community protests and increased litigation against municipalities. The study aimed to seek a path towards developing and testing a policy impact analysis tool for local authorities to recognise systemic, procedural, and relational incongruences. Also, it explores the impact these have on policy implementation and effective EHS delivery within the context of interlinking statutory mandates and dispersed governance among different categories of municipalities. A grounded theory based on an integrative literature review and culminating in a conceptual framework revealed four fundamental building blocks of effective service delivery. Functionaries, i) cognisant of their obligations and assigned authority as set out in the mandate, ii) to execute it according to the prescribed performance criteria with the iii) symbolic and active support of both political and operational leaders to iv) achieve the crucial benchmark of effectiveness namely a high level of community satisfaction. However, rather than merely clarifying the individual elements (Chapter 2) and plotting the EHS and sectoral mandates (Chapter 3), Luhmann’s systems theory approach underscores the relational aspect of effective service delivery. The systems theory prompted the development of an action-oriented tool to assess policy and practice alignment in a dispersed governance setup and to identify areas requiring intervention. The insights from the grounded theory and the legislation mapping theoretically inform the retrospective policy assessment. The analysis of determinants of policy impact (ADEPT) model was revised for the local context and tested in the field to retrospectively compare policy intent to actual implementation as a measure of achieving objectives. It gave voice to Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) from district municipalities and sector colleagues at six local municipalities in the Western Cape. They discussed their lived experience in interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The results reinforce the interwovenness of structures, functions and obligations and how intergovernmental relationships influence alignment. In particular, the chasm between EHPs’ professional mandate and training and how this is applied when they are excluded from preventative planning, providing, operating, and maintenance processes is revealed. Rather than each level of authority, institution or functionary independently contributing to effective service delivery, this relational aspect of effectiveness underlies effective service delivery and goal achievement. The revised ADEPT model proved helpful as a policy impact analysis tool for local authorities to recognise the systemic, procedural, and relational incongruences among environmental health services (EHS) and basic municipal services (BMSs) policy and practice alignment. The statistical and anecdotal evidence used to assess the policy impact determinants, namely policy goals, obligations, resources, and opportunities, clearly points to a perceived lack or integration of the different legal mandates governing environmental health, water provision, sanitation, and solid waste management, and the execution thereof. The study may prove valuable for scholars, educators, practitioners, and students in the environmental health (EH) and BMS sectors (e.g., engineering, water, sanitation, waste management and town planning). The study also shows that it could be helpful for public administration and management students as potential executive directors and municipal managers. It can contribute to a more holistic approach to support local government's professionalisation for effectively providing essential services with an emphasis on sustainability and prevention.