The Public participation and special programmes department falls under the Executive Support Services. The main purpose of this department is to provide strategic advice, information and support to the municipality. Its key functions are:

• The development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of special programmes (gender, youth, disabled, aged and HIV/Aids) in an attempt to achieve mainstreaming.
• The provision of administrative and logistical support to the Executive Mayor, Speaker, mayoral committee, chief whips, councillors and ward committees.

The Public participation and special programmes department has two divisions:

• Public participation
• Special programmes

Public participation
Workable principals for participation:

• Bring citizens more effectively on board when it comes to local governance and development.
• Making governance more responsive to people's needs and aspirations through IDPs, Mayoral Imbizos and general meetings.
• Empowering citizens to fulfill their potential as partners with local government.
• Deepening democracy beyond the representative dimension into a more participatory system.

Opportunities of public participation:

• Working hand in hand with ward councillors and ward committees.
• Planning and assisting in developing IDPs.
• Direct advice and support to ward councillors and ward committees and communities through ward committee meetings and general meetings.
• Mobilising public meeting and public hearings in order to raise public awareness of Buffalo City Municipality issues.
• Use of media
• Get publicity and grow support
• Establishing ward committees

Composition of public participation

• 45 ward councillors (for Buffalo City's 45 wards)
• 450 ward committees (10 ward committee members for each ward)
• 45 community development workers who work within a national framework but are employed by provincial government departments, but operate at municipal and ward levels.

Community development workers work closely with community structures including ward committees to identify areas where service delivery intervention is required.

Special programmes
This division has been established in order to develop and implement special programmes in line with issues, objectives and strategies outlined in the IDP. Its key functions are:

• The development and implementation of special programmes, that is, gender, youth, disabled, aged and HIV/Aids

The following strategic documents can be viewed under the key documents.

• HIV/Aids cross cutting strategy
• Youth development strategy
• Gender strategy
• Disability strategy

This division has been established with the purpose of ensuring and maintaining productive relations with internal and external committees and to establish effective communication strategies in the municipality. Its key functions are:

• The execution and maintenance of effective public relations.
• The maintenance of effective media liaison.
• The promotion of Buffalo City to local, national and international communities.
• The assurance of effective and efficient communication of the transformation process to external and internal stakeholders.
• The maintenance of effective customer relations.
• The development and implementation of integrated communication policies and strategies for Buffalo City Municipality.
• The promotion and maintenance of effective communication within Buffalo City Municipality.
• The design and implementation of an effective and efficient internal communication system.
• The monitoring of customer satisfaction.
• The development of a customer care strategy for Buffalo City Municipality.
• The development and implementation of a customer service improvement plan for Buffalo City Municipality.
• The marketing of Buffalo City Municipality to external communities.
• The establishment of customer service centres throughout Buffalo City.
• Customer education.
• The establishment and co-ordination of public participation through the development of the ward committee system.
• The provision of administrative support to ward committees.
• The assurance of productive relations with the community service through ward committees.

This department is responsible for:

• Development Cooperation
• International Relations
• Intergovernmental Relations
• Communications.
• Customer Care

Development Cooperation, International Relations and Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Unit
The unit is responsible for promoting development cooperation initiatives that encourage poverty alleviation and economic development, sound international relations, managing international agreements, including city to city agreements and encouraging sound intergovernmental relations.

South Africa local government participates extensively in international associations; and as a result a wide range of international cooperation arrangements between municipalities from South Africa and other countries have been established. These range from twinning agreements to exchange programmes.

Buffalo City Municipality has made a significant footprint in international relations. Some of the more prominent current initiatives include twinning agreements with the Cities of Gävle (Sweden), and Leiden (Netherlands); partnerships with other international local government associations namely VNG (Netherlands) and SALAIDA (Sweden); and ongoing development assistance through donor agencies such as SIDA, EU, GTZ and Kfw.

• The BCM International Relations Framework can be viewed here