What is new over this reporting period are some of the strategies and initiatives intended to mainstream public participation and the development of models, informed by research, on international best practices to make public participation more effective and robust. The section also identifies the petition system which has been established in the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal legislatures as an additional avenue of addressing issues that tend to cause public discontent. The Community Development Workers Programme provides ambulatory workers that move from location to another helping the needy access essential government services, as part of government efforts to come closer to citizens. Community Development Workers (CDWs) ensure that communities receive some form of basic education or information on policy matters and that feedback to communities is provided in much more understandable forms. The 2nd Report indicated the need to strengthen the capacity of CDWs in order to improve their efficacy. During the reporting period, the departments of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and the organized labour have played a vital role in ensuring the proper capacitation of the CDWs through special training and customized capacity building. Numerous other avenues for citizen participation in and access to government services remain open. Key among these include parliamentary and committee hearings, where citizens are engaged in conversations about policy, legislative and oversight measures, offering them an opportunity to voice their concerns and make inputs towards the improvement of their lives. The formal processes for petitioning government and its agencies have become prominent ways in which citizens alert government to their needs and gaps in government service provision. Government’s outreach programmes are designed to inform and listen to citizens, and they provide a useful platform for letting government know about how citizens experience the impact of its plans and programmes. Often a lot of weaknesses are identified and processes to design corrective actions begin after these engagements. Through these measures, government combines citizen participation, education and feedback on policy issues affecting their lives. The country is also expanding the programme on fostering social cohesion in order to entrench the values of human dignity, peaceful co-existence and human solidarity to root out the evils of xenophobia and racism in South African society. The Department of Arts and Culture leads the Social Cohesion program of government and receives impetus and guidance from the Presidency. A Social Cohesion Summit was held in Kliptown, Johannesburg, in June 2012, where key stakeholders engaged in wide-ranging dialogue about the factors that impinge on progress towards deeper social cohesion and national unity in the country. The Presidency is also in the process of introducing a new Ministerial programme on Social Cohesion in the PoA which will come into effect in 2014 to give this issue further strategic focus and demonstrate government’s commitment towards fostering peace and reconciliation. The details on the issues raised are elaborated in the report. Government, in partnership with civil society and business, has intensified the fight against corruption, making it a lot more prominent in public discourses and actions. There is clear determination and political will at the highest level to live up to the standards of greater transparency and accountability in the governance of the country. Numerous new initiatives by both government and civil society have been launched since 2010. These included Corruption Watch that was initiated by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Business Unity South Africa’s (BUSA) and the National Anti-Corruption Forum 23