Parallel Session C 11.00
Dr Michael Agenbag
Cape Peninsula University of Technology; Faculty of Applied Sciences; Department of Environment and Occupational Studies, South Africa
Disconnections between policy intentions and outcomes can lead to disease outbreaks, disasters, public discontent, and prolonged costly litigations. Public policy implementation and effective preventive service delivery rely on intergovernmental relations and decision communication networking. Decisionmakers often prioritise preventive services only after emergencies, thus highlighting the need for multisectoral policy frameworks to explicitly guide and assess alignment and collaboration among sectoral policies and practices.
This study investigates a revised Analysis of Determinants of Policy Impact (ADEPT) model as a tool to identify incongruencies in delivering preventive environmental health services in multisectoral local government settings. The ADEPT model considers factors influencing policy output and outcomes, such as goals, obligations, resources, and opportunities. Researchers used five district municipalities (DMs) and six purposive selected local municipalities (LMs) in South Africa's Western Cape Province to test the revised ADEPT model.
A mixed-methods approach included structured questionnaires for sectoral participants (N = 11) from the purposive selected LMs. At the same time, structured questionnaires were sent to all environmental health practitioners (EHPs) (N = 135) at the DMs, along with eleven focus group interviews with EHPs at different job levels.
The statistical and anecdotal evidence used to assess the policy impact determinants, namely policy goals, obligations, resources, and opportunities, clearly points to a perceived lack or integration of the different legal mandates governing environmental health, water provision, sanitation, and solid waste management, and the execution thereof. The study confirmed the ADEPT model's suitability in identifying systemic incongruencies in aligning multisectoral policies intent and operational output at the local government level.
Housing and health services rely heavily on close collaboration with sectoral departments and institutions responsible for providing and maintaining essential municipal services. The revised ADEPT model can help policymakers, decision-makers, and researchers bridge the gap between theory, research, and practice, enabling the alignment of interdependent multisectoral legislation and practices. This alignment is critical for achieving preventive service delivery outcomes that enhance pre-disaster preparedness. Furthermore, the revised ADEPT model promotes a holistic approach to support local governments in delivering essential services, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and prevention. This is vital for effectively navigating disaster preparedness and mitigating impacts.
About the presenter
Michael Agenbag joined Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 2013 as a lecturer. From 2018 to 2020, he headed the Environmental Health Programme in the Faculty of Applied Sciences. Before, he was the Manager for Municipal Health Services at the Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province (South Africa) for 22 years, where he inaugurated the services. Since 1997, he has presented his experiences at various national and international conferences regarding the design and execution of rural environmental health services.
He also served on various national and regional environmental health task teams at the National Department of Health and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) that dealt with, among others, the funding, consolidation, and improvement of local government environmental health services in the country. Since the inception of the National Alfred Nzo Achievement Award in 2002, he was twice (2002 and 2010) under the top three recipients to appraise outstanding work in the environmental health fraternity. Besides his work experience, he studied at the erstwhile Cape Technikon and Free State Technikon, where he obtained his National Diploma in Public Health (1987) and his B.Tech. Environmental Health (1999). He completed his PhD (environmental health) in 2023, with the topic ‘Towards effective local government environmental health services: A policy impact analysis approach’. Over the years, he published multiple articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals while also contributing to book chapters.