Workshops

This seminar will review evidence-based policy-making and the potential role of evaluation as a key, and a systematic, source of evidence. The seminar starts at 12.30 at the Pretoria offices of the Human Sciences Research Council and it is possible to connect via teleconference from Durban and Cape Town.

Event Documents:

1) Seminar on evaluation as a key source of evidence for policy-making. - (A lunchtime seminar on evaluation as a source of evidence in policy-making)

A two-day workshop aimed at stimulating reflective debate amongst policy-makers, researchers and development practitioners, reflecting on learnings from South Africa and internationally around the use of evidence in policy-making, including activities funded by the PSPPD

Event Documents:

1) Is evidence the answer? – Evidence, policy, action: Mail and Guardian workshop supplement - (Supplement on the two-day reflective event held on 21-22 November 2011 to critically examine the role evidence plays in policy-making)

2) Policy brief: Evidence-based policy-making (EBPM): Enhancing the use of evidence and knowledge in policy-making - (The first in a series of PSPPD policy briefs, drawing from workshops and activities aimed at improving skills around evidence-based policy-making in South Africa.)

On 25 October 2011, an M and E Learning Network workshop on impact evaluations in government was hosted by the Presidency: Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) with technical and financial support from the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report on the M&E Learning Network event on impact evaluations in government, 25 October 2011, Pretoria - (The main purpose of the workshop was to share best practices and emerging lessons in the field of impact and results evaluation, as well as perspectives on how to link impact evaluation to policy. To this end lessons from the work of 3ie (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation), CONEVAL in Mexico, and a recent tour to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, were drawn and shared. The workshop also sought to deliberate and discuss the draft National Evaluation Policy Framework, with the aim of receiving feedback from stakeholders before taking it to Cabinet for approval.)

The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) in the Presidency held a workshop on 29 August 2011 with the aim of engaging with civil society and stakeholders on a structured approach for citizens to monitor front-line service delivery.

Event Documents:

1) Citizen-based service delivery monitoring: Research into current practices - (This research was commissioned by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), with support from the PSPPD. It is an initial scoping exercise of citizen involvement in service delivery monitoring to investigate existing practices and explore if there are aspects of existing practices which should be considered for wider application. Aspects of this research were tabled at a government-civil society workshop on 29 August 2011.)

2) Workshop report: Scoping an approach for community-based monitoring and accountability - (This workshop report presented the results of an initial scoping exercise conducted on current practices by civil society organisations, while workshop discussions formed the basis for an exploration of the feasibility of an appropriate approach for independent community-based monitoring and accountability in South Africa. )

An M&E Learning Network workshop on evaluations in government hosted by the Presidency: Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) with the technical and financial support from the UK Department for International Development and the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report on the M&E Learning Network event on evaluations in government - (Workshop report with case studies on evaluations conducted in South African government and good practices learned from a study tour to Mexico, Colombia and the United States of America (US). Reviews evaluations methodologies and provides inputs to the draft evaluations framework for government.)

A high level policy forum held by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in the Presidency, Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to discuss the issue of inequality and poverty in South Africa and what policy options exist to address it. The Forum presented an opportunity to debate the policy conclusions from research into inequality and poverty trends in South Africa and other countries with relevant experiences, particularly Brazil.

Event Documents:

1) Policy forum: Poverty and Inequality in South Africa - (Report from the high level policy forum held on 6 June 2011. Highlights the fact that South Africa still has very high levels of inequality and poverty; and even though some progress has been made in reducing income poverty, inequality has increased. Some of the challenges the country faces in dealing with this issue include the historical legacy of apartheid, the global economic crisis, high levels of unemployment and poor quality education, among others. The forum explored these challenges, the trends in other emerging markets and developed countries, and what lessons can be learned from these experiences.)

2) Trends in South African income distribution and poverty since the fall of apartheid - (An OECD social, employment and migration working paper (No. 101) which presents a detailed analysis of changes in both poverty and inequality since the fall of Apartheid, and the potential drivers of such developments. Use is made of national survey data from 1993, 2000 and 2008.)

The PSPPD funded a workshop on 11 May 2011 which brought together researchers and government officials working on issues related to child poverty to discuss these issues, the evidence we have to date, and what this evidence is saying. The workshop stressed the significant challenge facing the country around child poverty and how this is related to inequality. It raised issues relating to the measurement of child poverty, content issues, institutional issues in addressing it effectively, and the need for further research.

On 28 March 2011 the Social Policy Research Group in the Stellenbosch University Economics Department hosted a workshop for policy-makers and researchers with the intention of disseminating recent research finding, the culmination of an 18 month long research project titled, Low quality education as a poverty trap, headed by Professor Servaas van der Berg and Dr Ronelle Burger and funded by the PSPPD.

Event Documents:

1) Report: Low quality education as a poverty trap - (The research that this document reports on considers how the low quality of tuition offered in schools in poor communities can entrench exclusion and marginalisation.)

2) Background documents: Low quality education as a poverty trap, March 2011 - (Links are provided here to workshop presentations, working papers and policy briefs from the research project. Media coverage of the workshop is also reflected on this page.)

Grantee Workshop

This was a training workshop for academics and policy-makers. The course tutors were Dr Phil Davies of Oxford Evidentia in the UK, Taryn Young of the Cochrane Collaboration in Cape Town, and Alison Bullen of the HSRC. The three day course introduced participants to the different types of research synthesis, and practical training in how to undertake rapid evidence assessments. There were 25 participants including researchers from universities, HSRC and civil society, and policy analysts from the Presidency, Department of Social Development and Parliament seeking to undertake or commission rapid evidence assessments. Annex 1 of the report has a list of participants.

Event Documents:

1) Report on rapid evidence assessment training workshop

The workshop on evidence-based policy making drew together senior policy-makers in South Africa to discuss evidence-based policy-making (EBPM) and its application in South Africa. This report provides an overview of proceedings and summaries of presentations.

Event Documents:

1) Workshop on evidence-based policy-making March 2010