Delegates from Palenstine and South Africa met on 18 February to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) focusing on joint collaboration in the development of technical capacity for the local government sector.

It was entered into by the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), the Palestinian Engineers Association (PEA), the Engineering council of South Africa (ECSA) and the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA).

The purpose of the MoU is to facilitate joint cooperation in the transfer of skills, the delivery of technical training and mentoring programmes, based on the requirements of ECSA and PEA. This will allow for the professional registration of municipal officials and engineering practitioners tolay the groundwork for training opportunities and collaboration between the MISA, PEA, ECSA and IMESA.

Ongama Mahlawe of MISA said, “This MoU is going to go a long way to building technical capacity, especially in South Africa’s smaller municipalities. Palestine has a surplus of engineers and MISA views the cooperation of ECSA and IMESA extremely positively. We will be able to send young professionals to Palestine to strengthen their skills and experiences and vice versa.”

Werner Bruhns of IMESA signed on behalf of the institute and noted that IMESA was excited to share its challenges. IMESA represents an extensive networking base for knowledge sharing in this venture.

Another important element is sharing knowledge and lessons learned regarding the concept and practice of intergovernmental alignment, coordination and harmonisation. The Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) believesit is important to study and observe where constraints have occurred through the design of the system to share understanding and experiences on the practice of assigning powers to local spheres of government.

The agreement also sees the establishment of a Joint Working Committee (JWC) which will be constituted by representatives nominated by the respective parties which will function on an on-going basis to complement the technical team.

“This MoU is incredibly important to us,” said COGTA Minister Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli. He continued, “As South Africans our freedom is interconnected to that of all peoples on earth. We too are drawing on Palestine’s strengths in training around municipalities. Education of young engineers is vital and this exchange will be essential to building capacity in local government. Today’s event symbolises our cooperation towards mutual benefit. “

An MoU was also signed between the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MLDF). MDLF Spokesperson Minister Noafal noted that the fund was focused on 3 key programmes: capacity building; capital investments; helping local governments in east and north Africa. The MDLF’s southern African counterpart, the DBSA, shares similar goals and was also signatory to the MoU.