Government, the private sector and civil society recognize that capacity constraints represent the biggest obstacle to service delivery by municipalities.  The DBSA has responded to this challenge by establishing the Development Fund, a section 21 company.  It was incorporated in December 2001 to address sustainable capacity building at municipal level and to support municipalities in enhancing service delivery and local economic development.

  Vision:

To be a leading catalyst in municipal capacity building to maximize the impact of development finance in South Africa.

  Mission:

To capacitate municipalities and communities for effective service delivery and economic development to improve the quality of life of the people of South Africa.

The Development Fund achieves its mission by delivering the following products and services:

• Funds: capacity building funding through grants
• Expertise: mobilization and deployment of technical and financial experts for infrastructure project implementation
• Development facilitation: technical support and sharing of knowledge

The Development Fund manages the following government initiative:

Siyenza Manje(the project implementation task force)

The Siyenza Manje programme provides hands-on support to municipalities by facilitating and fast-tracking infrastructure development and service delivery.  Importing priority skills is crucial if the skills shortages in municipalities are to be met in the short to medium term.  The Siyenza Manje team, comprising experts in the fields of financial management, project management, technical management, and town and regional planning, will close the execution gaps by strengthening local governments’ institutional and implementation capacity, thus enabling them to meet their responsibilities and operate more efficiently.