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HSRC consolidates gains and charts new way forward Implementing a new strategic thrust in an organisation is always a risky business. The key to success is first to get buy-in from staff, the governing board and key stakeholders, and secondly to make it work for the organisation on the financial and strategic levels. The HSRC launched its 2006/07 Annual Report in October – a year since the HSRC re-focused its strategy introduced in August 2005. Among the many aspects that stand out from the Annual Report is the fact that the organisation is financially sound. Also,our strategic direction is paying dividends in terms of research excellence, research implementation strategy, our policy work and our public-purpose research activities. In striving for excellence, measured in terms of the number of articles per researcher published in internationally accredited journals, the organisation has done exceptionally well. Our total publication output during this period reached a record of 1.11 per senior researcher, as against a target of 0.85. Of the articles from the top ten researchers, three were women and six were black, shattering the myth that representivity in the staff profile undermines quality and standards, and bucking the documented South African trend whereby the most productive researchers are white and male. We now need to raise the bar higher than 1.11. In terms of our policy work, the creation of policy deliberation and policy implementation networks is a key strategy to support evidence-informed policy processes. Some of the policy work, undertaken by the Policy Analysis unit (PAU), includes the coordination of research, undertaking of analytical work, and convening of policy dialogues between and among policy-makers, policy-users, social-science researchers, national and international subject experts, and other stakeholders. PAU is playing a leading role in the creation of a representative network of actors in the interface between social-science research and role-players in the shaping of policy under the auspices of the South African National Commission for UNESCO, constituted as the Management of Social Transformation (MOST) National Liaison Committee for South Africa. The focus of the MOST programme is on building efficient bridges between social-science research, policy and practice, promoting a culture of evidence-informed policy-making and cross-sector policy dialogues on issues of national, regional and international priorities. In the same vein, researchers are expected to bring multiple agencies and groups together to work collectively in implementation networks to achieve the envisioned research objectives. Examples include the Youth Policy Initiative, which has formed relationships with the Presidency, the Youth Commission, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, and the Departments of Social Development and Health; and the Employment, Growth and Development Network, with a working group of experts as partners, including government officials, trade unions, and business leaders. There is an abundance of examples of our public-purpose research work in the annual report. To mention but a few, a project on slum-free cities assessed the impact of policies, strategies and activities being implemented in South Africa to reach the Millennium Development Goal Target 11, Goal 6, on action against slums. The study confirmed the successful South African effort in the field of housing delivery, but noted that slums continue to proliferate and that the housing policy needs to take into account the practical requirements for families receiving subsidised houses to keep their new asset so they can use housing as a platform for saving. A project aimed at improving the capacity to enhance monitoring and evaluation of HIV and AIDS by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Presidential Emergency Programme for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The overall goal of the project is to develop capacity to generate objective, verifiable and replicable HIV and AIDS-related data to support South Africa’s efforts in the prevention, treatment and care of the epidemic. This project is a massive undertaking and covers strategic information, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, medical transmission and the prevention of the further spread of the virus by people living with HIV (HIV positive prevention). The project is a follow-up of the groundbreaking 2002 and 2005 studies on HIV and AIDS prevalence, attitudes and behaviour, undertaken and coordinated by the HSRC. Results from these studies, contribute to the government’s HIV, AIDS and STI Strategic Plan for South Africa 2007–2011. And work done on employment and economic growth through an employment-scenarios project is providing critical insights on how best to address unemployment, ensure growth and reduce poverty. This is the HSRC’s contribution to finding evidenced-based solutions to South Africa’s job crisis. The HSRC faces the future with determination and resolve to contribute to finding science-based solutions to the grand social challenges facing South Africa.
For the full report, go to www.hsrc.ac.za Dr Olive Shisana
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