During the period under review, government’s spatial and LED programmes focused on a project to assist with capacity building for the development and implementation of local economic development strategies, with 17 district municipalities receiving technical assistance. Through the IDC, support has also been made available for the development of catalytic LED projects in a number of municipalities. Government has also continued to develop and implement service delivery infrastructure to support SMMEs, including women-led enterprises, as well as cooperatives in municipalities. Government has also prioritised the revitalisation and development of rural areas. In this regard, land is seen as being central to poverty alleviation, job creation, food security and entrepreneurship. This outlook links to the development of a Comprehensive Rural Development Strategy (CRDS) that is indicative of its commitment to prioritizing disadvantaged rural nodes. The strategic objective of the CRDS is to achieve social cohesion and development among rural communities. Its implementation is based on a three-pronged strategy: (i) coordinated and integrated broad- based agrarian transformation; (ii) an improved land reform programme and; (iii) strategic investments in economic and social infrastructure. The Programme was piloted at two Presidential priority project sites; Muyexe Village in Limpopo and Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape. Government has since rolled -out the Programme in 21 rural wards and will gradually expand to 160 wards by 2014. The focus of the programme continues to be the creation of jobs in rural areas thereby redefining the urbanization frontiers. The DBSA, through the Siyenza Manje Programme, introduced the Project Portfolio Office (PPO)’s project management solution tool to assist with achieving its monitoring of objectives at low capacity municipalities. PPO is a web-based, enterprise capable application that is designed, developed and supported in South Africa to assist organisations from a number of industries to manage projects and project portfolios. The application is also used to monitor and evaluate progress of municipalities in terms of its business plans, and the management of performance against targets and analysis of reports. An estimated R340-million was also disbursed by the DBSA’s Development Fund through the Siyenza Manje Programme. During the period under review, the Programme employed 189 engineers and technicians, 80 finance experts, 26 planners, 156 young professionals and 164 artisans. More than 120 of these employees were seconded to 199 municipalities and 18 government departments, which facilitated 3 825 Municipal Infrastructure Grants (MIGs) and capital expenditure projects to the value of R8.9-billion. These projects created 64 869 jobs and provided 107 195 households with access to sanitation services and 406 719 households with access to bulk sanitation. In addition, 203 125 households were connected to water reticulation networks and 410 093 households to bulk water. Government aims to improve the efficiency and impact of public spending, reprioritise spending towards key objectives (education, health, rural development, job creation and fighting crime), identify savings and contain costs, reform procurement practices to reduce fraud and exploitation of state resources. Through the PFMA there is broad transparency demonstrated by inter-governmental fiscal relations, the oversight of public enterprises, public borrowing, and public access to key fiscal information. Further to this, there is a civil society driven approach referred to as the People’s Budget Campaign (PBC). The 35