GUIDELINES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION OF THE ADJUDICATION PANELS FOR THE GOOD PRACTICE IN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

The Minister of Labour, at his prestigious annual Good Practice in Skills Development Awards Ceremony, recognises organisations / employers who have excelled in terms of implementing good practices in skills development, particularly in respect of: Learning and training delivery, skills development planning and reporting, as well as demonstrated growth in skills amongst employees.

This document serves to provide guideline on the establishment and composition of adjudication panels, which will assess applications by organisations and submit recommendations to the NSA adjudication panel. The NSA panel will finalise the recommendations and submit to the NSA Board for approval, and thereafter the Minister of Labour will award those organisations.

A. Composition and responsibilities of the SETA and Provincial Adjudication panels

i) The Provincial adjudication panel will consist of the following members–

  • The provincial Good Practice awards coordinator
  • A person seconded by the Department of Labour Head Office coordinating team to provide technical support
  • Two senior officials nominated by the Provincial Office
  • A member of the civil society identified by the Provincial Office
  • Twopersons nominated by the Provincial Office from stakeholders (e.g. PSDF, SDF forum)

ii) The SETA adjudication panel will consist of the following members–

  • SETA Good Practice coordinator
  • A person seconded by the Department of Labour Head Office coordinating team to provide technical support
  • Two SETA senior officials
  • Three members of the constituency identified by the SETA (e.g. chambers, professional bodies, SDF forum, etc)

People who are appointed to the adjudication panels should have relevant knowledge and expertise in skills development matters.

The panel should have a chairperson and secretary to write minutes and reports of meetings

The primary responsibilities of the SETA/ Provincial adjudication panelsare to –

  • Manage Provincial/ SETA adjudication process
  • Verify information submitted by organisations (include requesting additional information from organisation as needed)
  • Identify and document outstanding good practices from organisations
  • Short list organisations that have achieved the criteria in each category
  • Recommend those organisations to NSA panel
  • Develop a comprehensive assessment report containing recommended organisations
  • Present the recommendations with evidence to the NSA Adjudication panel

Code of conduct for SETA/ Provincial adjudication panels

1.Confidentiality

Members shall undertake not to divulge any information relating to the discussions held, views raised, conclusions reached and recommendations made during assessment meetings.

2.Impartiality

Members shall be expected that at all times during the assessment process to maintain their impartiality. In this case discussions and recommendation must at all times be based on verifiable information at the disposal of the panels.

3.Fairness

The panels must ensure that the rules of assessment are applied consistently to all organisations

4.Professionalism

Members of the provincial assessment team are expected to present themselves in a dignified manner and that at all times uphold the highest professional conduct.

5.Respect

Members of the panels are expected to display respect to all individuals with whom they interact with during the assessment process so as not to compromise the reputation of the Good Practice awards.

6.Gifts

Members of the provincial assessment teams are precluded from accepting gifts, cash, incentives or overtures of any kind from municipalities and/or their staff or any person linked to the aforementioned. For the period of the competition members of the provincial assessment teams may not socialise/fraternise with staff from the municipalities which they are assessing.

B. Guidelines for adjudication panels

The following provisions guide the adjudication panel processes –

  • On the basis of the evidenceprovided by organisations to the adjudication panels, the adjudication panelswill prepare a comprehensive assessment report containing the recommendations on the organisations that have achieved the criteria for each category of the award
  • The chairpersons of the panels shall sign off the minutes and reports that will be submitted to the NSA Adjudication panel
  • Should the decision of the SETA/ Provincial adjudication panel be contested by the NSA Adjudication panel, theSETA/ Provincial adjudication panel may reconvene and the NSA panel will explain why the decision of the panel may be inappropriate. Any motivation for a change of decision shall be documented in writing.

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