Improving local governments’ performance is vital because it is the governance sphere that is closest to local communities, local businesses, and local economic activities. It is in the best interest of companies operating in municipalities to play an active role in ensuring that their host municipalities can effectively deliver services, maintain infrastructure and plan for the future, thereby catalysing sustainable development. This will not only benefit municipalities and businesses but communities at large.
Pranish Desai is a doctoral student in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His core areas of focus are in comparative politics and political methodology, with a specific interest in the politics of Southern Africa. Between 2021 and 2024, Pranish held several key positions within the Governance Insights and Analytics programme at GGA. In these roles, he was centrally responsible for the elevation and enhancement of the Governance Performance Index as GGA's flagship governance assessment tool. Before departing GGA, Pranish also played a key role in the development of our strategic framework for the 2024-2028 period.
Monique Bennett holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Political Science at Stellenbosch University funded by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo. She enjoys a mixed-methods approach to research across topics such as governance, environmental issues, human security and peacebuilding within the African context. She supports her research team by providing data-driven evidence for their research/op-eds and writes for various South Africa news outlets.
Chrissy Dube is an executive at Good Governance Africa (GGA) and a member of the Business Ethics Network (BEN) — Africa Networking Council. An advanced project manager with deep implementation, monitoring and evaluation expertise, she also specialises in strengthening stakeholder relations to drive business development. She uses her skills and expertise to provide innovative solutions and recommendations for sustainable development across the public and private sectors.
Chrissy combines rigorous data-led analysis with strategic insight to design practical, evidence-based solutions and policy recommendations that enable informed decision-making. Her core strengths include advocacy, business risk management, stakeholder collaboration and strategic alignment as an implementing partner — consistently enabling organisations to translate strategy into measurable results.
She holds an MA (Commerce) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and has completed professional qualifications in Data Analysis, Advanced Project Management and Advanced Risk Management at the University of Cape Town. She is also certified as an Ethics Officer for the private and public sectors through Stellenbosch University.
