GIS skills and the Infrastructure Skills Development Grant
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in the Eastern Cape embarked on the focused skills development programme linked to professionalisation of youth in the built environment. The programme commenced in 2012 and was initiated with a request for electricity engineering graduates.
GIS is a very scarce skill in the Eastern Cape Province, and limited professional skills are available. A motivation was submitted to the National Treasury to include GIS in the Infrastructure Skills Development Grant (ISDG) group of professionals. This article focuses on the process of the ISDG program, the GIS professional path to registration, lessons learnt and the outcome of the internship programme.
Fig. 1: GIS professionals in the Eastern Cape (PLATO, 2013).
Youth profile of the Eastern Cape
According to Census 2011 data provided by Statistics South Africa, nearly 27% of the Eastern Cape population is between the ages of 14 and 35. Their educational levels indicate that most of the youth in the Eastern Cape have Grade 12 education and only a small percentage of youth have a higher education. The labour force statistics indicate that 51% of the youth of the Eastern Cape are not economically active, 16% are unemployed and 8% are discouraged work seekers.
The picture created by the Census 2011 data and the realities of GIS professional skills available in the Eastern Cape demonstrated a large skills gap. Information obtained from the registrar of PLATO in 2013 indicated that 39 GIS professionals were registered in the Eastern Cape (see Fig. 1).
The Eastern Cape includes six district municipalities, 37 local municipalities and two metropolitan municipalities. The core function of municipalities is to provide services and govern the municipal space, yet skills that integrate the built environment are limited. The national development strategy prescribed by the National Treasury requires metropolitan municipalities to implement spatial transformation with the urban network strategy, to integrate and target investment within poor areas and improve transport links to urban centres. The ability to transform South African cities is strongly linked to professional skills in the built environment. GIS integrates business and spatial data which is a key driver for spatial transformation.
Fig. 2: Grant implementation business plan.
GIS within the municipal context
Municipal strategic planning is governed by integrated development planning as legislated in the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. The amount of information consolidated within the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) is heavily reliant on spatial data and spatial analysis. Further to that, the metropolitan municipalities are required to develop a built environment performance plan in conjunction with the IDP to demonstrate targeted and focused spatial transformation indicators and spatial budget distributions. Cities are also required to prepare annual financial statements based on generally recognised account practise (GRAP) which impacts accounting for assets including plant, property, equipment, and infrastructure. GIS skills and systems are also vital for disaster management, public safety, and environmental management. Cities are also required to be more reliant on their own generated revenue and less on grant funded infrastructure, therefore the focus is on revenue enhancement. Pure financial management of revenue is not efficient enough to understand revenue patterns based on area, gaps in revenue collections, management of assets related to revenue and the integration of core business solutions. The ability to develop a human settlement within a municipality is heavily reliant on GIS. The ability to bring together massive amounts of information for the various role players in human settlements is achieved with GIS.
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality GIS status quo
The implementation took place in 2002 where the Buffalo City Council adopted a GIS strategy and the establishment of a GIS unit within the organisational structure. In 2010 the GIS strategy was reviewed and adopted by council, which further led to the adoption of GIS operational policy. Between 2012 and 2013 a new GIS structure was adopted with additional key positions and staff. Infrastructure, hardware, software and accurate spatial data is available at the city, such as 12 cm resolution imagery and 50 cm contours. Yet the capacity and skills internally available to manage a core GIS business unit was not yet available. With the support of the National Treasury, a strategic decision was made to motivate the Infrastructure Skills Development Grant funding to include GIS. During the 2013 national budget review GIS was included into the skills to be developed under the ISDG.
| Training goals | Learning objectives | Learning methods /activities |
Portfolio of evidence | Evaluation |
| Overall results or capabilities you hope to attain by implementing your training plan. (Provide details.) | What you will be able to do as a result of the learning activities in this plan. (Provide details.) | What you will do in order to achieve the learning objectives. (Provide details.) | Evidence produced during your learning activities: these are results that someone can see, hear, feel, read, smell. (Provide details.) | Assessment and judgment on quality of evidence in order to conclude whether you achieved the learning objectives or not |
|
IT skills: This includes standard operating system skills; working in a networked environment with centralised servers and printers; working with spreadsheet software, GIS software and e-mail software. |
Spreadsheet join with SDE layers. | Ability to clean up spreadsheets/fieldnames to enable linkage in GIS | Vector layer joined with spreadsheet. Ability to identify feature with joined spreadsheet. | Joined spreadsheet with point layer in ArcGIS Mxd. |
| Email PM to set up meetings (calender entrees). | Ability to use email facilities and setting up calender schedules. | Print out of calender of appointments. | Invitations/acceptance/tracking of appointments on email. | |
| Set up connections to ArcSde and ArcGIS Server | Ability to connect to GIS servers and services. | ArcCatologue Connections. | Ability to add server connections by using default settings and passwords. | |
| Minute taking at meetings. | Understand key issues raised at meetings and actions. | Ability to summarise meetings and documenting using ward. | Minute quality. | |
| Training of councillors on ArcReader. Updated ArcReader application (land information). | Update ArcReader application for land information. Set up meetings/schedules with Speakers Office. Use Powerpoint to present training material. User topographical maps for training tools. | Schedule of training sessions confirmed by Speakers Office. Report on councillors receiving training. | Ability to articulate spatial principles to councillors. Successful presentation of training material and ability to assist councillors during training sessions. |
Infrastructure Skills Development Grant overview
The ISDG is under the division of Revenue Act and falls within the mandate of the National Treasury. This conditional grant is focused on the development of a pool of young professionals within municipalities who will provide a sustainable skills resource to enhance infrastructure delivery, implementation, improvement of infrastructure grant expenditure and implementation. The grant’s goal is to provide unemployed youth who have the required academic qualifications with the ability to obtain the required in-service training, the experience, and the practical work to register with the relevant professional bodies. The grant is conditional and each municipality is required to submit a business plan (see Fig. 2).
The business plan needs to motivate how the grant is going to be utilised, the type of professional graduates to be appointed, mentor fees, salaries for mentees, operational costs and assets to be procured. The grant also requires the accounting office of the municipality to sign a memorandum of understanding that will bind the municipality and the National Treasury with set conditions of participation. The business plan needs to include key performance indicators, strategic goals and programme objectives. The graduates need to have a diploma or degree in the built environment from an accredited tertiary institution.
| WIL | Mentee 1 | Mentee 2 | Mentee 3 |
| UNIGIS | 100% | 100% | 90% |
| PLATO in training | 100% | 100% | 85% |
| IT skills | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Data collection and capture | 100% | 100% | 75% |
| Data manipulation | 100% | 100% | 75% |
| Reproduction procedures | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Spatial modelling | 100% | 100% | 75% |
| Map production | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Image processing and photogrammetric compilation additional training | 100% | N/A | 100% |
Normally in a paralleled recruitment process the mentor must be appointed in the specific professional fields. With the commencement of the internship programme the interns need to be registered with their respective professional body within twelve weeks of appointment. A monthly report needs to be given to the National Treasury on the expenditure of the grant and any assets and tools procured during the programme. The operational expenditure is normally linked to the cost of the mentees and mentors salaries, training courses, and travel and office operations. The highest capital expenditure will occur during the inception period of the grant implementation and will fund furniture, computers, equipment, tools and hardware required for the mentees to complete their work in training.
As the grant outcomes are focused on providing municipalities with professional skills, the municipality needs to address the absorbing of the interns with an absorption strategy and funding for vacant positions. The municipality needs to comply with all the conditions of the grant to ensure that the grant funding is allocated.
| Training obtained to date | Mentee 1 | Mentee 2 | Mentee 3 |
| UNIGIS Professional Diploma March and October 2013 | 1 | 1 | 0,85 |
| GISSA AGM October 2013 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Esri user conference May 2013 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| AfriGEO conference June 2014 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Building geodatabases | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| ArcGIS for Server: Sharing GIS content on the web | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Configuring and managing the multi-user GBD | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Project management | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| UNIGIS (Remote sensing and photogrammetry workshops) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ArcGIS 3: Performing analysis | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Introduction to geoprocessing scripts using Python | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ArcGIS II: Essential workflows | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Esri Exploring ENVI | 1 | 1 | 1 |
ISDG process followed for the GIS stream
The GIS unit with BCMM, submitted a joint business plan with an indication of the number of graduates and mentors to be appointed. Based on the GIS organisational structure, five technical GIS staff members were required and due to physical office space constraints only five graduates could be appointed. One mentor was appointed to provide guidance and oversight to the graduates.
The GIS unit together with the National Treasury and the human resources department shortlisted and interviewed the graduates (mentees) and the mentor. After the appointment of the graduates, the professional body, PLATO, was invited to attend a task team session to present the programme and discuss the registration process. The mentors and mentees were required to sign a contract with BCMM which specified clear expectations. The contract requires commitment from the mentees, and has heavily punitive sanctions which relate to the seriousness of the National Treasury with regard to the improvement of municipal performance and the enhancement of infrastructure.
With the appointment of the mentees, the induction took place and the mentees qualifications submitted to PLATO for assessment. Due to the lack of accredited universities in the Eastern Cape, academic gaps were identified. The UNIGIS Professional Diploma was identified as the most suitable academic distance learning option. This UNIGIS academic course completion was a requirement by PLATO together with the work in learning completion to enable the GIS mentees to register.
Fig. 3: Garbage pick-up points in Gonubie. Created by Noludwe Gunguta.
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality has adopted the Esri GIS solution standard, therefore the mentees obtain their work in learning with ArcGIS desktop and extension. The training programme or work in learning (WIL) was developed in conjunction with PLATO to align all the work activities to the registration categories. The grant allowed for capital assets to be procured which included desktops and furniture. The mentees were expected to provide monthly reports and to keep a weekly dairy of work completed. Proof of work completed was kept on the municipal network or the central GIS spatial data engine (SDE). The mentor visited the GIS unit office on a monthly basis and spent one to two days with the mentees.
The human resources department coordinated the ISDG program. A task team was established where monthly meetings were held to provide report back sessions by the supervisor, mentors, mentees and provincial project management team The monthly task team meeting provided a platform where the ISDG role-players could learn and share experiences with each other and build on each other’s strengths. The team spirit created with the BCMM task team is exceptional and can be viewed as an ISDG role model.
The National Treasury had a very “hands on” approach to the municipalities implementing the grant, and regular site visits and monitoring meetings were held where they met the mentees, mentors, supervisors and coordinators of the grant programme.
Work in Learning (WIL)
The work in learning work plan developed at BCMM aligned mini GIS projects with the registration categories required by PLATO. The WIL was also submitted to PLATO to review and comment upon and it provided the mentees with a clear training programme.
The main aim of the WIL template is to provide the mentees with a clear path to register (see Table 1).
The projects had to be related to actual work required in the GIS unit, and also provided the required exposure required in each category. The category that could be concluded first was the map production category which was a good starting point for the mentees. It gave the mentees the ability to create a variety of maps, and to improve their cartography skills. The mentees also had the ability to print maps in various formats and paper sizes, and build up a colourful plethora of maps. A daily and weekly timesheet was developed to assist the mentees with capturing their completed work. The goal of the timesheets was to finalise and submit the WIL with credible proof of evidence. Additional training was identified and the mentees completed a total of nine training courses and attended three conferences. The training provided the mentees with the technical skills to utilise the GIS solution within BCMM. The conferences exposed the mentees to the GIS networks in South Africa and the Eastern Cape.
Fig. 4: Draft BCMM municipal wards. Created by Noludwe Gunguta.
GAP analysis of work in learning
Supervision of the mentees was essential, as was the ability to provide an open and learning-orientated office environment. Although the WIL provided the mentees with clear guidelines and projects to be completed, the GIS unit was also an office where all municipal departments could request information, analysis and data capturing. Therefore the GIS mentees formed part of the GIS Unit team and provided a valuable skills pool for the municipality during the mentees’ work in learning.
The gap analysis conducted with the mentees was based on actual work completed. Regular meetings were held to establish what type of project they were busy with, whether they had the right equipment to finalise the projects, and whether they were comfortable with the type of work completed. They also had to provide an explanation of the work completed.
The template in Table 2 was used as a guide, and to report to the task team and to National Treasury (see Table 3).
The opportunity to attend additional training was also provided by the ISDG. The combination of WIL, short training courses and UNIGIS contributed to the mentees receiving a holistic learning experience.
Main challenges
The main challenge faced during the internship was the non-accredited qualifications of the applicants in the Eastern Cape. This also had an impact on the ultimate outcome of the programme as the graduates didn’t study to be GIS Professionals. Therefore the internship had to adapt to the current situation in the Eastern Cape, and with the assistance of PLATO and the National Treasury additional funding was made available for the interns to complete a UNIGIS academic qualification. The availability of mentors in the Eastern Cape was limited and although a national advertisement was placed only one application was received. The mentees appointed didn’t have diverse academic exposure to GIS, therefore in-house training by the mentor and additional training were identified to fill the gaps. Internal processes relating to supply chain delayed the ability to implement the grant, and with the assistance of the National Treasury ISDG coordinator Eastern Cape, this was overcome with municipal agreements. Planning and lead time is thus essential to secure procurement of equipment, training materials and furniture.
The availability of funding for the vacant positions linked to the ISDG programme was limited, but with the support of management one unfunded GIS technician position was funded. Without securing the positions in the municipalities, the ISDG GIS mentees would not be able to stay in the municipality and give back to the organisation. One of the key issues also faced was that most GIS positions in the municipality require a Grade 12 with five years’ experience, thus excluding the GIS mentees. The job descriptions for the new GIS structure were adapted to be aligned to the PLATO requirements, thereby providing the interns with the ability to apply for vacant GIS positions. This is a concern as each municipality has a different job description for GIS, and it is critical to have municipal alignment of GIS job descriptions.
ISDG progress to date at BCMM
The internship process to date has not been without challenges. Although five mentees were appointed, only three mentees remained in the internship. An internship programme is highly dependent on all the role-players, who can influence the ultimate outcome in a positive or negative way. Three of the GIS mentees at BCMM completed their UNIGIS professional diploma qualifications. Two of the interns wrote their PLATO law exam in May 2015 and have been accepted as GIS Technicians by PLATO. One of the interns applied to PLATO and has been accepted to write the PLATO law exam in November 2015.
Lessons learnt from the programme
As stated previously, the implementation of the ISDG is a collective focused approach, where all the role-players need to work together towards a common goal. The task team approach at BCMM allows all the role-players to be part of a ISDG collective. Building good relationships is key to overcoming challenges, fast tracking processes and enabling the mentees to grow.
Mentors were key to providing an oversight role to the programme and to assist with the requirements from the professional bodies. The internal supervisors had to embrace the mentees, understand the registration requirements, create an environment of learning, and develop themselves towards registration if they were not already registered. The internal acceptance of the municipal staff and department was key to allowing the mentees to develop professionally.
Fig. 5: Wheelie bin requirement for Amalinda. Created by Thozama Dyonase.
Investing in tomorrow’s leaders
The project that was implemented by the ISDG mentees in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality was focused on actual requirements and service delivery imperatives. One of the service delivery challenges faced at BCMM includes the management of refuse and solid waste. An exercise was conducted to understand the routes taken by the refuse department to collect waste and to also estimate the time taken for each collection. A refuse truck was followed and geo-referenced photos were taken at each collection or stopping point. The data was then plotted to show the collection stops and the time at each stop (see Fig. 3). This was then utilised by the managers handling solid waste to understand the challenges within the refuse collection system. Key challenges that were identified were not the inability to collect waste but rather the availability of refuse trucks and the distance to the solid waste regional site.
The municipal local elections in 2016 provided the Municipal Demarcation Board with the imperative to redefine municipal and ward boundaries. BCMM has been impacted by the demarcation of new areas to be included within the existing municipal space, which also impacted the municipal ward boundary alignment. The GIS mentee’s were required to assist the Speakers Office with GIS skills, and this was vital to the draft submission of new municipal wards to the Municipal Demarcation Board (see Fig. 4).
Another project that was linked to solid waste management was the distribution of wheelie bins to identified areas. Census 2011 and StatSA data as well as the National Environmental Waste Act were used to define the distribution of infrastructure to communities. The map depicted in Fig. 5 indicates the final analysis and requirements of sub places.
Network analysts were used to assist the Public Safety department to identify gaps in services. The map in Fig. 6 indicated the ability to respond to incidents within the set time frame. Gaps were identified where services couldn’t be provided within seven minutes. The map was then used to identify municipal land, where a new fire station could be developed.
Fig. 6: Travel time from fire stations. Created by Khanya Ntleki.
Conclusion
Skills development and the professionalisation of GIS in the municipal sphere needs to focus on the enhancement and improvement of service delivery. GIS provides an integrated view of cities and needs to be utilised to effectively plan, manage assets, account for infrastructure and grant allocations, analyse future trends and requirements for revenue enhancement, and to assist decision makers to grow sustainable cities.
The process followed to implement ISDG in BCMM can be used by other municipalities.
Contact Annemarie Fish, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Tel 043 722-0335, annemarief@buffalocity.gov.za
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