The National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 offers a long-term perspective, defines a desired goal and identifies the role that different sectors of society need to play in achieving it. In 2016, the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (ALCRL) at the University of Pretoria (UP) presented a programme for the Tshwane leadership and Management Academy for the first time. The programme was aimed at training public servants of the city of Tshwane, specifically employees at management level.

The programme focused on responsible leadership and the effective implementation of the NDP (2030). Ben van der Merwe, from the ALCRL, says: 'When we first started thinking about this programme, we thought that a good way to have an impact would be by focusing on professional public servants, in other words, those who aren't deployed by political parties. This is particularly important to try and establish some stability and consistency in terms of policy goals and implementation.'

The programme is about bringing together officials from various functions and departments within the City of Tshwane to talk and engage with one another. 'It was a wonderfully diverse group of people and we were able to have some really good discussions, specifically around the kinds of challenges they face and how they could support each other,' says Van der Merwe. In finding ways to effectively implement the goals in the NDP (2030), collaboration and effective engagement with citizens are important enablers.

The NDP (2030) touches on many of the key issues that the ALCRL find important, namely societal and environmental challenges that are facing the nation, and particularly the city of Tshwane. The ALCRL has two more cohorts planned for 2017.