EMERGING SUSTAINABILITY AND CO-CREATION PERSPECTIVES IN PUBLIC SECTOR GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF ZIMBABWE

Abstract

Globally, sustainability and co-creation perspectives are emerging as success factors for effective public sector service delivery. Sustainability perspectives exhort public institutions to embrace governance practices that are fair to both present and future generations, while co-creation perspectives reinforce sustainability by calling for government collaboration with citizens to enable joint design and production of goods and services. Utilising New Public Governance and Public Value theoretical and conceptual frameworks, the study undertook systematic reviews of relevant experiences in selected countries that include Japan, South Africa, Uganda and the United Kingdom in a bid to create a basis for interpreting the dynamics affecting the uptake of sustainability and co-creation perspectives in the public sectors in Zimbabwe, using the mining and energy sectors as principal case studies. Study findings indicate that although sustainability and co-creation concepts and practices are taking root across public sectors in Zimbabwe, more concerted efforts are needed to escalate their uptake at both the macro and micro levels. Particularly critical, is the need for a coherent policy framework that sets the right tone for the uptake of sustainability and co-creation. Open government, collaborative governance, decentralisation, and generative governance need to be cascaded to key sectors of the economy to allow the establishment of a robust framework for co-creation and sustainability.