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UCT Research Report '11
396
Since 1999 SALDRU has run the annual UCT Summer
Programme in Social Science Research Using Survey
Data. Currently this programme trains over 100 Southern
African researchers per year. It was funded by the Mellon
Foundation for the first decade and, in 2011 was endowed
by large grants from Kresge, Ford and Mellon Foundations
and Statistics South Africa as well as smaller grants from
10 of South Africa’s universities. In addition, SALDRU runs
Winter Workshops in the analysis of panel data and in
programme evaluation.
Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU)
The Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) has
been actively engaged in policy-relevant research since
1990, establishing itself as one of South Africa’s premier
research institutions in the fields of labour markets,
poverty and inequality. The Unit’s research feeds into
policy decisions and pronouncements at the highest
level, including Cabinet memoranda, State of the Nation
Addresses and legislation, while our research findings are
regularly featured in the print and electronic media.
Much of the DPRU’s work derives from government
departments at national and provincial level, while
the DPRU also receives funding from international
and multilateral agencies. In particular, the DPRU has
completed numerous research projects at the national level
for National Treasury, the Presidency, and the Departments
of Labour, Social Development, Education and Trade and
Industry, as well as for various departments in the Western
Cape Provincial Government.
As part of our engagement in the policy arena, the DPRU
hosts highly successful biannual conferences aimed at
fostering greater interaction between researchers and
policymakers. The DPRU publishes a Working Paper and
a Policy Brief series, both of which are freely available on
our website. DPRU staff members also undertake limited
teaching and graduate supervision.
Apart from its research and capacity building activities,
the DPRU is engaged in managing the Employment
Promotion Programme (EPP), an initiative of the UK
Department for International Development (DFID), which
aims at providing an enabling policy environment
in South Africa for the expansion of aggregate
employment. Bringing business, labour and government
representatives together, the Programme has been able
to commission a wide range of research that has had
high level policy impact.
The DPRU has also been selected as the South African
partner institution of the African Growth Initiative (AGI),
in partnership with the Brookings Institute in the United
States. This partnership will, amongst other benefits,
see the DPRU’s research reach a broader international
policymaking audience.
The DPRU’s Director, Professor Haroon Bhorat, holds
the NRF Research Chair in Economic Growth, Poverty
and Inequality. This has facilitated the awarding of post-
graduate bursaries and fellowships broadly within the
DPRU’s main areas of interest to Economics students at
the University.
Current and recently completed projects undertaken by
the DPRU include:
• Africa Growth Initiative (AGI) Programme
• Understanding enforcement of minimum wage laws
• Monitoring the impact of the economic downturn on
the SA labour market
• Enhancing access to information: An analysis of
collective bargaining and sectoral determination
wage data
• Labour market dynamics in the Western Cape
• South African country case study on economic
transformation
Policy Research on International Services and
Manufacturing (PRISM)
PRISM brings together researchers working in the broad
areas of globalisation, industrialisation, industrial policy,
innovation and industry sectoral and services studies.
PRISM has a strong emphasis on policy driven research
activities. The senior researchers at UCT involved in
various PRISM activities are Mike Morris, David Kaplan,
Anthony Black, and Don Ross. In 2011 PhD students
supported by PRISM and working on directly related
research were Lyn Reed, Judith Fessehaie and Hein
Gerwel while research associates were Raphael Kaplinsky
(Open University) and Justin Barnes (BMA). PRISM
members are involved in a number of collaborative
projects with researchers at the Universities of Ghana,
Ibadan, KwaZulu-Natal, Nairobi, Wolverhampton, Open
University, Mzumbe, Addis Ababa, Mauritius, University of
Western Sydney, Institute for Social Studies (The Hague),
as well as research and policy organisations such as
the African Economic Research Consortium, Institute of
Development Studies, UNIDO, World Bank, Trans National
Institute and NEPAD. PRISM is managed by a Steering
Committee consisting of Mike Morris (Head), David Kaplan
and Anthony Black.
Major PRISM Research and Policy
Projects:
Making the Most of Commodities (MMCP)
The MMCP is a University of Cape Town and the Open
University collaborative research/policy programme - Jan
2009 to November 2011 - funded by the IDRC, William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation, Oppenheimer Institute. Project
Leaders are Mike Morris and David Kaplan (UCT), and
Raphael Kaplinsky (Open University) with 16 researchers
working across 8 African countries. The MMCP aims to