Ms.Nardos Bekele-Thomas' remarks at the GovChat MoU Virtual Signing Ceremony

Thank you to the Programme Director

Good morning to:

• Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu,
• Deputy Director General: National Disaster Management Centre, COGTA Dr ME Tau,
• CEO and Founder of GovChat, Mr Eldrid Jordaan
• Colleagues from GovChat,
• The UN family,
• Partners from the Private Sector, Civil Society and Academia,
• Members of the Media

Ladies and Gentlemen – ALL PROTOCOL OBSERVED

It is my pleasure to represent the UN family this morning on this momentous occasion to solidify our journey and partnership with the citizen engagement Platform GovChat.

The innovative and pioneering citizen engagement platform was only launched in 2017 – but already have proved to be a strong partner with the Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Social Development and Health. This progressive online application to improve engagement between citizens and local Government has already yielded incredible results, providing the government with invaluable data in their quest to deliver services to the people.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released its 2021 Technology and Innovation Report. In reviewing the report, our UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that “recent developments in frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology, have shown tremendous potential for sustainable development.”

We must ask ourselves, how we can take full profit from the current technological revolution to reduce gaps that hold back truly inclusive and sustainable development?

GovChat is just one way we can narrow the gap in existing digital inequalities and create new ways of communicating instantaneously with our citizenry.

Ladies and Gentleman – to echo our Secretary-General, “technologies are not deterministic. We must harness their potential for the common good, and we have an obligation to do so.

As the United Nations, we applaud GovChat’s innovative use of technology to :

• To extend its tech capabilities to the Department of Health as part of the COVIDConnect consortium
• To play a critical role in SASSA’s successful disbursements of COVID-19 social relief grants, having processed over 11 million applications.
• To receive real-time feedback and report their findings through the ChatBot mobile device and various other digital interfaces, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, USSD and SMS, and
• To link citizens with crucial government services throughout the global pandemic.

With 500 million messages processed to date from citizens, GovChat has established an impressive and relevant digital footprint across the topography of the land and giving a voice to millions of citizens, many of whom are poor and previously disenfranchised. This resonates with the UN’s transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of leaving no-one behind. And it also provides a novel opportunity for deep analysis at municipal level for policy shaping and advocacy.

We have seen the profound impacts of the global pandemic not only on the economy but how it has impacted on the citizens and their livelihoods. Indeed, South Africa has endured its worst recession in a century last year as coronavirus-induced lockdowns weighed heavily on economic activity, forcing many businesses to shut down and leaving millions unemployed. Furthermore, gender-based violence, crime and corruption has reached alarming levels. Against this backdrop we are also building back in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal after a week of destruction and devastation. When we reflect on these events, it is clear that we are a nation at a breaking point looking for innovative solutions to address the many complex developmental challenges we face.

Now more than ever, we need meaningful partnerships between stakeholders that are solution centred and address the issues facing South African citizens in real time. We need to use the power of collaboration and cooperation to alter the social and economic reality ensuring that no one is left behind. 

Today’s occasion gives us an opportunity to contribute to improving the lives of the citizens of this country.

As we enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with GovChat we do so following the immense success in the collaboration with government. Our intention in this partnership is to use the data captured to understand the lived experience of ordinary citizens in order to improve the lot of those who have been left behind. The data gathered through citizen engagement will allow for detailed profiling of households at District level, including an analysis of the quality of services rendered by government to these citizens. The data will be anonymized and only an aggregated view will be provided to the UN in accordance with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

This collaboration will empower the UN to play a meaningful role to enhance our support to the District Development Model (DDM) by:

• carrying out policy advocacy, policy development and community engagement,  
• real-time monitoring of populations furthest left behind, understand exclusion errors of citizens’ access to services, and
• allow for linkages to be created for citizens on the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant to services through information provision for better childcare, youth empowerment, economic empowerment and responding effectively to GBV on a district level.

Ladies and gentlemen as I conclude, let me again echo the message of the UN Secretary General that partnerships are not limited to government and our member states. We must reach out civil society, academia, and most especially partnerships with the business and private sector to co-create the conditions for an inclusive and sustainable development, the best way to prevent crisis and conflict in today’s world.

This collaboration is a step in the right direction as we commit ourselves to building back better with inclusivity, justice, equity, and more equality among all citizens. New technologies hold the promise of the future, from climate action and better health to more democratic and inclusive societies – and in the case of GovChat, it closes a gap between the government and is citizens. The guiding principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind provides a compelling incentive for harnessing frontier technologies for sustainable development. Let us use them wisely, for the benefit of all.

I thank you.