The Dialogue Facility programme has three areas of activity:

Result One

Result Two

Result Three

The Dialogue Facility Programme Steering Committee

The PSC membership is made up of the following:

• Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) • European Union Delegation (EUD) • National Treasury (NT) Department: Higher Education and Training (DHET) Department: Arts & Culture (DAC) Department: Communications (DOC)

Department: Science & Technology (DST) Department: Transport (DOT) Department: Trade & Industry (DTI) The PSC is chaired jointly by senior members from DIRCO, the EUD and the NT.

The Dialogue Facility team (Programme Management Unit) is made up of three long-term international experts who work closely together to administer the Dialogue Facility programme in line with the strategic guidance of the Programme Steering Committee. With their varied and expansive experience of policy dialogue in a variety of areas the team and each individual can add value and provide hands-on assistance to those involved in existing and emerging dialogues.

Members

• Jon Burns
• Jennifer Tangney
• Gerry McDonald

Jon Burns is the Chief Technical Adviser and team leader of the Dialogue Facility. He has a Masters in Economic Management and a Doctorate in Behavioural Economics and Management. He is a specialist in private sector and trade policy and has worked on policy development, policy and sectoral dialogue, private and public sector advocacy, trade facilitation, private sector development, national banking, grants management and large and complex institutional reform programmes in over 80 countries, 16 of them in Africa. Between 2000 and 2004 he led a team which supported the development and implementation of 12 business and technology incubation/diffusion centres in South Africa and has provided high-level policy advice on private sector and institutional issues to 15 governments around the world.

Jennifer Tangney has a BA in European Studies and Languages and an MA in Peace and Development Studies. Her PhD focused on the role of civil society in post-conflict peace-building.

She has worked in civil society organisations, donor bodies and the private sector in development consultancy in many developing and middle income countries including South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Fiji. She has been living in Africa for the past 12 years.

Jennifer has a particular interest and experience in human rights and governance, grants management, policy processes and implementation, capacity building of civil society and government, donor programme management, facilitation and training, democratisation, policy development and monitoring.

Jennifer's work experience includes VOICE (the European Network of humanitarian aid NGOs), the EU Delegation in South Africa, the EU Civil Society Fund in Ethiopia, the EU NSA Programme in Malawi amongst others.

Gerry McDonald has a degree in economics. Prior to joining the Dialogue Facility he worked in South Africa from 2004 until 2010 leading the EU-funded Local Economic Development Support Programme in KwaZulu-Natal – Gijima KZN, a programme that supported government, the private sector and civil society in the economic development of the Province.

Gerry is a specialist in regional cohesion policy and has worked on policy development, policy dialogue, grants management and monitoring and evaluation.

His previous experience is in supporting the Czech Republic to develop their Community Support Framework as a requirement for membership of the European Union.

He also oversaw the implementation of the European Union's Cohesion Policy through the management of European Structural Funds in Scotland.

The Dialogue Facility supports capacity development for engaging in effective policy dialogue and leading to increased institutional capacity. Three services are provided:

• High-level experts, both policy makers and implementers in specific areas of interest to the TDCA and the SPAP, undertake meetings and interviews with relevant SA officials and share experiences gained elsewhere that can benefit South Africa.
• Workshops on dialogue transfer knowledge and target specific government departments that have explicitly requested support. Among the topics are determining dialogue requirements and outcomes, dialogue planning and budgeting, management of the dialogue process and monitoring and evaluation. Monthly workshops will start in August 2013.
• Ongoing support is specifically offered by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) who provide advice and share first-hand experience on dialogues in the South Africa context with other departments.

• Dialogue Support Services
• Grants
• Approved Grant Projects

• a baseline survey of the target groups, to be repeated at programme mid-point (2013) and end (2015) ensures that appropriate and targeted information is provided and will evaluate the changing level of awareness and understanding amongst the target groups.
• The Dialogue Facility team undertake missions to Brussels to develop dialogue relationships, strengthen ties and facilitate dialogue between the EU Directorates General and SA government departments.
• The engagement of journalists and quality of reporting on SA/EU relations is being strengthened, while also encouraging government in South Africa to engage with the media in specific strategic areas. [Link to: DST as the lead government department with close cooperation with the EU Delegation will engage South African and international media in site visits to major R&D sites within South Africa to strengthen understanding of the S&T area of SA-EU cooperation. This project will take place in March 2013 + more information?].
• Lessons learned and best practice are being highlighted in a conference at the end of 2014, with South African, EU and global participants [Link to: Experts will analyse and synthesise lessons learned by the Dialogue Facility and similar programmes in other EU Strategic Partner countries. The outcomes of the workshop will be published as a handbook for future reference on best practice in dialogue processes. More info to be updated].
• Breakfast meetings, workshops and other information events are held on a regular basis.

The Dialogue Facility produces publications and reports, background papers and terms of reference which emerge as elements of its dialoguing strategy. Some are listed under Resources; others appear under the specific dialogue areas. New meetings/events are announced in News.

Click any of the links below to view ther websites

South African Research Institutes

South African Government online

South African parliament

Chapter Nine Institutions

• the Public Protector
• the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)
• the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural,
  Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission)
• the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE)
• the Auditor-General
• the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
• the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).