102 of leadership and effectiveness of management in a number of provinces due to improved implementation of the turn-around strategy. It is envisaged that as the functioning of local government improves in terms of service delivery, this will limit and reduce the number of public service delivery protests. In the last two APRM country progress, South Africa suggested that efforts to improve service delivery must be enhanced through better cooperation between government, civil society and organised labour. Therefore, a lot of work to strengthen this cooperation is underway and is discussed in paragraph 3.1.5 on ‘institutionalisation of democracy’. Government has come up with interventions to address the challenge of access for all the peoples of South Africa, especially those living in rural areas. Initiatives such as the roll-out of 171 Thusong one-stop integrated community development centres help to empower the poor and disadvantaged through access to information, services and resources from government, non-governmental organisations, parastatal entities and business to engage government for the improvement of people’s lives. They provide timely and thorough information on facilities, departments and services. They usually host officials from key departments like Home Affairs, Labour, South African Social Security Agency (SASS), Social Development, Government Communication and Information Service (GCIS), Health, Post Office, Police as well as libraries, NGOs and community based organisations. The Integrated Development Planning (IDP) is identified as one of the key tools for arriving at decisions on important policy and programmatic matters at municipal matters. It guides municipal management on what pivotal matters need to be addressed and partnerships that must be built. The IDPS are as effective as the people who use them and the way in which they are applied. This is a major problem. Failure to apply all the principles of integrated and participatory development planning as well as to fully implement the plans has the effect of rupturing the trust between citizens and government authorities who jointly work on the plans. During this period under review, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA), a new government entity under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs was established78. MISA seeks to support municipalities to effectively spend the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), a conditional grant allocated to specific municipalities according to government’s policy priorities. In principle, this focuses on the infrastructure required for basic levels of service; targeted assistance to the poor; maximum economic benefits; decentralisation of spending authority within national standards; efficient use of funds; reinforcing local, provincial and national development objectives; and predictability and transparency. Among key challenges identified that MISA is now focused include poor planning in procurement processes. Further, during this reporting period government set the target of improving the quality of life of 500 000 households by 2014 through the upgrading of informal settlements. This is to provide security of tenure and access to essential services closer to economic and other social amenities through: 78 Municipal Infrastructure Grant. National MIG Management Unit Programme Management processes and procedures. 2013. www.cogta.gov.za/mig/docs/1.pdf 102