Monitoring and evaluation and its impact on the performance of the Sizakala Customer Services department employees at eThekwini Municipality

Abstract

The need to meet the organization’s objectives, to meet the set targets, to detect problems at an early stage is the reason Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) should be executed in the organizations. The objectives of this study were to determine the understanding of M&E on the Sizakala Customer Services department employees and its practice in the municipality, to ascertain the impact of M&E on the performance of the employees in the Sizakala department, to determine how M&E contributes to the attainment of the objectives in the department and lastly, to identify challenges and to make recommendations to overcome the challenges facing M&E within the department. The study is demarcated at the Sizakala Customer Care department under the Sizakala Customer Services unit at the eThekwini municipality. The Sizakala department aims to help the community to obtain equal access to the services rendered by the municipality and other spheres of government. The program forms part of the eThekwini Municipality’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP). The program is to show the municipality’s obligation in keeping up with service delivery and an improved quality of life for all eThekwini citizens. There are (35) Sizakala Customer Service centres. The aim of the Sizakala centres is to bring services closer to all residents. Self-administered questionnaires were given to the total number of 41 participants at the Sizakala departments across the North, South, West and Central offices of the eThekwini Municipality, inclusive of Principal clerks and semi-structured interviews were rendered to cumulate data from 2 Monitoring practitioners, 2 Evaluation practitioners and 1 Sizakala manager. Probability sampling was employed in this study and the stratified sampling technique was used to conduct the research. A total of 31 questionnaires were returned from the participants which yielded a response rate of 76%. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 was used to do the quantitative analysis of data and the qualitative data was converted into the Excel spreadsheet to do the analysis. The study unfolded that the greater number of the respondents have an understanding of M&E and the majority are positive that employee M&E findings are fully implemented at Sizakala department. M&E helps employees to improve on their performance at Sizakala department. The study also unfolded that there are obstacles facing M&E at Sizakala department, which includes not having enough funding for M&E at Sizakala department. Subsequently, the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) unit has not conducted any evaluation for the Sizakala unit and is lacking experienced M&E staff and does not conduct walk-ins to monitor the unit. There is no internal M&E department at Sizakala Customer Services unit. The PME unit is an external unit that is responsible for M&E in the eThekwini municipality collectively. The researcher recommended that the Sizakala department needs to get more funding and resources for the M&E initiatives. The Sizakala department needs to establish its internal M&E department. In conclusion, this study can be seen as a contribution to the M&E philosophy.