The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considered the initial report of South Africa on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/ZAF/1) at its 42nd, 43rd and 44th meetings (E/C.12/2018/SR.42, 43 and 44) held on 2nd and 3rd October 2018

This policy brief will first, define CBM and outline both its distinct features and the legal and policy basis for it in the South African context, in order to make the case for its inclusion within the broader SER monitoring framework. The second section will consider: what is to be monitored?; How is monitoring done?; and, who should do the monitoring?. In answering these foundational questions, section two will discuss various CBM tools and instruments used in South Africa. Third, this paper will raise a number of key questions and challenges for the SER Monitoring Project in terms of how citizen based monitoring can be supported and incorporated into monitoring at other levels – most
notably the statistical indicators which the project aims to monitor and track over time.