BuaNews (Tshwane)
Gabi Khumalo
2 November 2007
Tshwane — Social accountability and the prevention of child pornography in South Africa through monitoring and research are two of several new projects being run by the Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) as part of their contribution to a better country, writes Gabi Khumalo.
The Affiliated Network for Social Accountability Africa (ANSA-Africa) is a new network created jointly by the World Bank and the HSRC with an intention to become African advocate of citizen involvement in demand-side governance initiatives.
By building on existing African expertise, ANSA-Africa supports the engagement of citizens and civil society in building more effective states through social accountability approaches. This is due to concern in child protection circles that children from vulnerable communities maybe forced into commercial sexual exploitation and the manufacture of pornography.
In South Africa child pornography is regulated by acts that fall within the responsibility of Home Affairs Department and the Film and Publication Board.
The HSRC study on the use of children pornography in South Africa seeks to guide the Board concerning the protection of children from being exposed in child pornography.
The main project activities by the HSRC includes an appraisal of the use of South African children in the making of child pornography as an aspect of sexual abuse and extent of manufacturing and distribution of child pornography in the country.
It also includes an assessment of the number of reported child pornography cases in South Africa, recommendations in respect of profiling children most at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation including persons likely to abuse them.
The HSRC has also done research on the Youth Policy Initiative and according to the council about 75 percent of South Africa's unemployed are young people.
"Re-skilling and matching young people to appropriate training programmes will help alleviate the country's youth unemployment situation," Executive Director Employment, Growth and Development Initiatives at the HSRC, Dr Miriam Altman said during a roundtable discussion in Pretoria last month.
Dr Altman said sound training programmes can help counter the lack of skills and experience that unemployed young people are faced with.
She cited lack of financial support and mobility in rural areas as obstacles to youth employment, as at times it is costly to look for a job.
In March this year, the HSRC released a study on new research on the rate at which HIV is spreading through the South African population. The study was published in March edition of the South African Medical Journal.
The research found that young women have a higher risk of contracting the disease than young men. It also indicated that the incidence rate among young women of childbearing age was alarming.
Some of the work undertaken by the HSRC during 2006/7 included a project on slum-free cities, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Housing Department.
The project 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 powerful South African effort in the field of housing delivery, but noted that slums continue to proliferate in line with the trends on the international scene.
Another project on housing delivery found that the government housing policy needed to take into account the practical requirements for families receiving subsidised houses to keep their new asset so they can use housing as platforms for savings.
A grant by the Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) awarded to manage a five-year programme on improving literacy and numeracy skills in South African schools, was among the highlights for the HSRC.
The programme was developed in collaboration with the Department of Education and several research partners. It commenced in January 2007 and will end in December 2011.
Other highlights include the creation of policy deliberation and policy implementation networks, which is a key strategy to support evidence-informed policy processes.
The HSRC's Policy Analysis Unit 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.
It was constituted as the Management of Social Transformation (MOST) National Liaison Committee for South Africa.
The focus of the programme is on building efficient bridges between social science research, policy and practice. It promotes a culture of evidence-informed policy-making and organises cross-sector policy dialogues on priority national, regional and international issues.
The HSRC contributes to human capital development through the consolidation and expansion of research internship and fellowship programmes.
At present the organisation boasts 10 research interns with a primary degree, 29 candidates in a master's degree internship, 20 candidates for a PhD programme, and four post-doctoral fellows.
For the seventh consecutive year, the HSRC attained an unqualified audit from the Auditor-General for the 2006/07 financial year.
The HSRC also achieved the highest financial turnover in its history, which is an amount of R247.8 million, partly due to the increased allocation from government, which for the first time since 2000 is approaching parity with revenue from external sources of funding.
Dr Olive Shisana, HSRC Chief Executive Officer and president, announced at the launch of the HSRC's 2006/07 Annual Report last month that the organisation has continued to manage its cash flow better by accelerating collection from trade and other receivables since the 2005/06 financial year.
In addition, the volume of trade and other receivables has grown from 2005/06 to 2006/07 from R113.8 million to R124.6 million indicating an increase in external income.
Ms Shisana said the organisation has also done itself proud in quest for research excellence, measured in terms of articles published in international peer-reviewed journals.
"The HSRC's total publication output during the past year reached a record of 1.11 per researcher, as against a target of 0.85 articles.
"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," said Ms Shisana.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
