Business Plan for the Human Sciences Research Council: 2006/07

1
Business Plan for theHuman Sciences Research
Council 2006/07

• Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on
  Science and Technology, 13 March 2006

2
What we do vision and mission

• The HSRC intends to become
• a human and social sciences research council
  serving as a knowledge hub
• where public policy and discourse on current and
  future challenges for South Africa and the
  African continent are independently researched,
  analysed and informed, and
• where research-based solutions to human and
  social problems are developed
• The HSRC is
• a non-partisan organisation
• that generates scientific knowledge through its
  research and analytical work in the social and
  human sciences,
• to provide critical and independent information
  to different role players, whether in policy
  development, media analysis, advocacy or in
  debates
• so that they can make informed decisions

3
The HSRC has engaged in critical self-evaluation
in tandem with its restructuring initiatives and
strategic planning, and as a backdrop to this
business plan
4
The following factors were identified which place
the HSRC in a strong position to carry out its
mandate

• It has a positive image as a credible, relevant,
  forward-looking and well- performing organisation
  among stakeholders, including funders
• Its research areas are well aligned with national
  and international priorities relevant to
  socio-economic challenges on the African
  continent
• It has a track record of high-quality research by
  well qualified staff in a well functioning
  organisation in terms of governance and delivery
• It is endowed with excellent infrastructure,
  geographic location at multiple sites, a
  successful publishing house, and well-managed
  finances

5
The organisation acknowledges its weaknesses,
which it is committed to address, such as

• Problems with staff retention, particularly of
  black scientists
• Transformation challenges on the demographic
  profile front
• Insufficiently developed staff development and
  support programmes
• Insufficient buy-in in respect of performance
  management systems
• Unstructured relationship with universities and
  other research organisations
• Inefficient IT system, an ageing plant and other
  Capex requirements

6
However, there are huge opportunities for the
organisation to prosper, and include

• Growing support by DST and government generally
• Positive relationship with stakeholders,
  particularly elsewhere in Africa and abroad
• Growing investment in RD activities
• The recent new initiatives in the restructured
  organisation, such as the PAU, with opportunities
  for real impact on ordinary people

7
But then again, as for any other organisation,
there are always threats to beware, usually of a
financial nature, but also those events that may
tend to undermine the public perception of the
institution
8
Our public accountability compliance is exercised
at three levels

• A shareholders compact which serves as a
  contractual performance agreement between
  management and the Council (in compliance with a
  2005 Cabinet decision)
• Periodic institutional review, of which were the
  HSRC institutional review of 1997, the
  system-wide review of 1998 and the most recent
  institutional review of 2003
• Planning, budgeting and reporting in accordance
  with the PMFA requirements

9
The shareholders compact for 2006/07, to be
reviewed annually, encompasses the institutional
objectives for

• Strategic planning, including how the HSRC
  intends to fulfill its mission and vision
• Organizational development plans, including
  employment equity targets, staff development,
  procurement procedures and business partnerships
• Operational planning including resource
  allocation, the budget, and organizational
  performance indicators
• Corporate governance encompassing compliance with
  statutory requirements, risk management and
  strategic human resource management

10
However, the 2003 Review Panel also identified
new challenges that the HSRC must address in
order to better serve the needs of the country
and the region
11
These new challenges included

• Strengthening the admin support services and
  systems
• Deepening organizational transformation with
  specific regard to gender and the demographic
  profile of the organization at senior levels
• Developing research collaboration networks within
  the country and across the continent
• Addressing the questions of intellectual property
  and the management of research data
• Formulating the HSRCs public purposes
  constituting justification or warrant for
  receiving public funds, for inclusion in a new
  HSRC Act

12
The HSRC has acted on these recommendations by

• Appointing task teams to follow up on each of the
  issues
• Collaborating with the DST in the compilation of
  a draft Bill for a new HSRC Act submitted to
  Cabinet in 2005
• The draft Bill emerged from a consultative
  process with input from Council, and from
  internal and external stakeholders
• Later on in this address, I will comment briefly
  on what has been achieved in respect of the
  issues raised in the review

13
I now turn to our organizational and management
structure, which consists of

• The HSRC Council, appointed by the Minister to
  govern the organization
• The CEO, appointed on a 5-year contract to manage
  the organization
• The COO who oversees the Support Services
• The Executive Directors who head research
  programmes and cross-cutting units

14
The current Council
15
The following List of Research Areas provides an
overview of the content of the HSRC Research
Programmes
16
HSRC Research Areas

• Child, youth and family development
• Research Development
• Democracy and human rights
• Gender and development
• Policy Analysis
• Society, Culture and Identity
• Employment and economic growth
• Skills Development
• Quality and Access of Education
• Health Systems Development

• Urban change, city strategies migration
• Land, livelihoods poverty reduction
• Infrastructure service delivery
• Human development, environment tourism
• HIV/AIDS, TB and other public health priorities
  eg, Drinking and Driving, Suicide, Alcohol
  Misuse, Child maltreatment/neglect, and Mental
  Health

17
Bridging the gap between Research and Policy
Policy Analysis Unit

• To produce Policy Briefs
• To produce State of the nation document
• To conduct impact assessment on policies and
  programmes
• To coordinate the social transformation of the
  human and social sciences programme of UNESCO
  (MOST)
• To conduct high-level seminars, with national and
  international participation, on themes relating
  to the foremost challenges facing marginalized
  communities in Africa
• To draw visiting scholars from universities in
  South Africa and elsewhere in Africa to look at
  specific problems and policies, with a view to
  developing what President Mbeki has called
  African solutions to African problems

18

• Turning now to institutional achievements to
  date, the HSRC has registered successes in some
  areas, and significant progress in others as
  detailed in the Business Plan

19
With respect to institutional planning

• The HSRC has finalized its new strategic vision
  and strategic organizational restructuring
• It has articulated its public purposes in the
  draft Bill for a new Act now with Cabinet
• It has identified the lot of marginalized
  communities as the overarching consideration in
  all its research endeavours, which includes such
  areas as HIV/AIDS, poverty, education and
  unemployment
• It has placed Africa-wide collaboration at the
  centre of its research outreach and intellectual
  exchange

20
With respect to the recommendations of the 2003
Review

• A Research Management System (RMS) has been
  implemented to streamline admin systems, put in
  place a networked, integrated database, and
  facilitate HR and Finance procedures
• In terms of a recent compact, Statistics SA will
  henceforth serve as the repository some of HSRC
  research data to ensure proper storage and
  enhanced accessibility

21
Research Management System (RMS)
22
With regard to transformation, the HSRC has
adopted a multi-pronged strategy whereby, among
other things

• Gender awareness in research has been prioritized
  as a cross-cutting programme, and gender is a
  weighted criterion in staff appointments
• The appointment, internal advancement, retention
  and career pathing of African and coloured staff
  to redress the HSRC demographic profile has been
  earmarked as a matter of high priority
• A strategy has been put in place to grow our own
  timber to create a pool of highly qualified
  African and coloured scientists as a resource for
  the HSRC and for the country as a whole

23
On the question of the public purpose of the
HSRC, the draft Bill enumerates its components,
among them

• To undertake fundamental and applied research,
  and to help build capacity and infrastructure for
  human science research in South Africa and beyond
  
• To inform the effective making, implementation,
  monitoring and public debate of social policy
• To support and foster research collaborations
  within South Africa and beyond
• To focus on developmental needs of vulnerable and
  marginalized groups within society

24
In response to the Review Panel recommendations,
the HSRC conceived and implemented the COUPE
strategy
25
The COUPE strategy is made up of the following
elements

• C for contracts and grants (to expand the HSRCs
  funding base in a sustainable manner)
• O for outreach (to improve external
  collaboration, thereby benefiting research
  capacity, quality and impact)
• U for user needs (to ensure that our research
  remains relevant)
• P for performance (focusing on improved
  organisational performance in terms of both
  equity and efficiency)
• E for excellence in research

26
The HSRC has performed well in all of the COUPE
categories, as acknowledged in the 2003
Institutional Review Report in which it is
observed that that the HSRC is a different and
better organization than it was in 1997
27
Performance 2000/01 to 2005/06
28
Contracts and grants
29
Performance equity
30
Reports of Original Research

• HSRCs Research Outputs
• 100 peer-Reviewed Journal articles published in
  2004/5
• 118 Books and chapters in books published in
  2004/5
• 100 Reports (government other sources)
• 32 Newsletter articles
• Review
• 105 Conference proceedings and abstracts
• Bibliographic databases

31
Examples of Research that informs Policy

• Kraak, A (2005) The Challenge of the Second
  Economy in South Africa the contribution of
  skills development, Journal of Vocational
  Education and Training, 57 (3).
• Kahn, M.J. and Blankley, W. (2005) The changing
  face of South Africas national system of
  innovation, 19912001' Industry and Higher
  Education April 2005 pp 121-130
• Shisana, et al (2005) South African HIV
  Prevalence, HIV incidence and Behaviour and
  Communication Survey, HSRC press.
• Potgieter CA, Pillay R, Van Niekerk T Rama S
  (2005) Women, Development Transport in Rural
  Eastern Cape, South Africa, Human Sciences
  Research Council Press (in press) Pretoria South
  Africa
• State of the Nation
• Richter, L., Panday, S., Emmett, T., Makiwane,
  M., du Toit, R., Brookes, H., Potgieter, C.,
  Altman, M, and Makhura, M. 2005. The status of
  the youth report 2003. Commissioned by the
  Umsobomvu Youth Fund.
• Poverty Pockets in Gauteng How Migration Impacts
  Poverty, Report tothe Gauteng Intersectoral
  Development Unit, Urban Rural and
  EconomicDevelopment (URED), Human Sciences
  Research Council (HSRC), Pretoria,August 2005.

32
Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation
Indicators

• CeSTII established on DST ring-fenced grant
• Mandate - conduct ST surveys, build and maintain
  capacity support a network of excellence in ST
  policy
• Activities RD Surveys (Official Statistics)
  1st official Innovation Survey ST policy
  analysis
• Impacts
• Generate indicators and evidence-based policy
  briefs that inform ST planning for DST and other
  Departments
• Seminal work on mobility of RD personnel
• Development of ST policy with AU/NEPAD
• Recognition of SA ST Indicators by OECD
• Promote international standing of SA

33
HIV/AIDS Research

• Nelson Mandela/HSRC Study of HIV/AIDSSouth
  African National HIV Prevalence,Behavioural
  Risks and Mass MediaHousehold Survey 2002
• HIV PREVALENCE, INCIDENCE, BEHAVIOUR AND
  COMMUNICATION SURVEY 2005

34
HIV prevalence by sex and age 2005
35
GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON THE NELSON MANDELA/HSRC
STUDY ON HIV AND AIDS30 November 2005

• Government notes the results of the survey by
  the HSRC and Nelson Mandela Foundation released
  earlier today. The results give both a cause for
  hope as well as a reason to intensify action to
  combat HIV and AIDS through implementation of our
  Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and
  Treatment of HIV and AIDS.
• As part of our activities to mark 2006 as the
  year of accelerated HIV and AIDS prevention,
  government will intensify its interventions
  targeted at particular risk groups highlighted by
  the report including people between ages of 25-29
  years and those older than 50.

36
Infrastructure and Service Delivery

• Service delivery is crucial to alleviating
  poverty and lessening inequality, but is poorly
  measured
• This project measures service delivery against
  the objectives and targets set out in the State
  of the Nation address
• Objective and verifiable measurements of delivery
  in water, sanitation, electricity, etc, are made
  from national surveys, backlogs computed, and
  projections made on the basis of the existing
  trends in delivery and household projections
• The method involved projections which uncovered
  important anomalies in the weighting of
  households in national surveys which have to be
  resolved to derive accurate statistics
• The study has had a high level impact StatsSA is
  working on weighting national surveys to reflect
  consistent trends in household growth
• The work has highlighted the need for additional
  resources to meet national targets and the MDG in
  South Africa.

Putting numbers to the scorecard presidential
targets and the state of delivery. Chapter 1 in
State of the Nation, South Africa 2005-2006.
2006. (ed) Sakhela Buhlungu, John Daniel, Roger
Southall, and Jessica Lutchman, pp11-45, (with
Michael ODonovan).
37
STUDY OF LAND DEMAND AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS LAND
REFORM

• Survey in three provinces, covering rural and
  urban dwellers.
• Covering household heads and non household
  heads, women and
• men, youth to elderly.
• Selected findings

• total land demanded in three provinces exceeds
  commercial
• farmland by factor of three
• however, approximately 10 of respondents
  account for 80
• of land demanded
• major reason for wanting land is to grow food.

• Policy Impact

• DLA moving to adopt study, because no other
  rigorous statistics
• on land demand
• provide evidence in support of emerging policy
  on production corridors.

38
Employment and Economic Growth

• Macro-economic scenarios, in respect of fiscal
  balance, external balance, exchange rates, wages,
  inflation, etc
• The Industrial path currently and potentially,
  with consideration to the balance between
  agriculture, mining, manufacturing and services,
  and the respective role of international trade
  versus domestic circulation.
• The informal economy and low wage economy
• The labour market, in respect of demographics,
  HIV/AIDS, skills supply, wages, mobility, etc
• Commercial infrastructure in respect of
  critical minimum price and quality of transport,
  telecommunications and energy in particular.
• Social infrastructure delivery relying on a
  range of sources including recently commissioned
  studies by DPLG assessing backlogs, indigent
  policy, and the impact of free basic services.
• Poverty and income profiling, pushing forward the
  HSRCs work on the social wage.

39
Collaborating with Tertiary Education Institution

• sabbaticals,
• joint lecturing,
• joint appointments,
• post-doctoral fellowships,
• post-graduate research training,
• joint research collaborations, and
• building research and human resource capacity in
  the common pursuit to address economic, cultural,
  and social innovation and development.

40
Recent examples of collaboration between HSRC and
Universities

• Student Retention and Graduate Destinations
  study, undertaken
• with permission obtained via HESA and Department
  of Education,
• in collaboration with CHE, Association for Black
  Empowerment in Higher Education (ABEHE)
• with experts from HEIs on advisory panel
• University-led projects, HSRC subcontracted (e.g.
  HSRC subcontracted by UKZN)
• HSRC-led projects, universities or units
  subcontracted (e.g. SATPOR with various
  collaborating science councils and universities)
• Joint projects forming part of larger research
  programme (e.g. projects on Teacher Education)
• Joint appointments and collaboration to support
  internship training

41
Collaboration with the rest of Africa and the
world is a high priority public purpose. To this
end, the HSRC seeks

• To establish an International Liaison Unit in the
  office of the CEO
• To strengthen its existing international links,
  such as SAHARA and CODESRIA to address the
  Millennium Development Goals
• To undertake joint projects and produce joint
  publications with individual researchers and
  institutions in Africa (SADC in particular)
• To work on projects funded by the UN, UNDP, WHO
  and UNICEF
• To collaborate with Africa on the basis of equal
  partnership and mutual respect

42
In order to execute these broad mandates, the
HSRC will need to ensure its financial
sustainability, through the following initiatives

• Seeking increased levels of Parliamentary
  funding, and dedicated funding from government
  departments
• Securing multi-year research grants
• Putting in place a new and effective marketing
  strategy built on careful management of
  stakeholder relations

43
With regard to its major goals for the next 5
years, the HSRC has set itself quantifiable
targets set out in detail in the Business Plan.
These will be monitored in the context of

• The provisions of the Shareholders Compact
• The Council-approved KPIs and targets, in
  accordance with the Balanced Scorecard
  reporting set by DST and NACI
• Data developed from the RMS
• Various for where the budget is discussed

44

• Turning now to some highlights from the Budget
  for 2006/07 Financial Year

45
The HSRC Parliamentary grants allocation was
informed by

• In-depth discussions of performance-based funding
  targets with EDs and heads of departments and
  cross-cutters
• Strategic organizational priorities and business
  objectives
• A new financing model aimed at reducing overhead
  costs for research activities in 2006/07
• Acknowledgement that this model would result in
  slowing down of the rate of growth of overall
  turnover

46
Parliamentary Grant 2006/07

• The budget presented with this business plan
  assumes that the VAT shortfall of R2,7 million
  will be adjusted
• The HSRC will invest R69,3 million (64 of its
  total Parliamentary grant allocation of R107,5
  million) in new and continuing research
  activities
• The remaining portion of parliamentary allocation
  is invested in Council-specific activities and
  Capex

47

• The external research earnings target for 2006/07
  is R152 million
• As a percentage of total research earnings of
  R259 million (external earnings, ring-fenced
  earnings and baseline Parliamentary grant
  allocation), the R97 million received under the
  rubric of baseline Parliamentary grant
  represents just over 37 of total research
  earnings
• If ring-fenced funding is added to the baseline
  allocation, the target of 40 set in earlier
  strategic planning documents is met
• The total budget for 2006/07 is R273 million, an
  increase of 16 in relation to the R236 million
  for 2005/06
• This increase can be explained if one considers
  that new initiatives in the form of cross-cutting
  units will also have to earn external funds to
  enable them to deliver on their intended
  objectives
• The new fundraising strategy of the HSRC intends
  to support initiatives that will enable
  institutional approaches to potential funders,
  particularly those that would consider
  longer-term funding for specific research or
  cross-cutting initiatives

48
Key programme activities for which DST support is
sought are detailed in annexure B to the Business
Plan, and can be recapped as follows

• Free education in South Africa (Dr Anil Kanjee)
  in response to request by Minister of Education
  R1 779 000
• Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation
  Indicators (CESTII) for Science (Professor
  Michael Khan) commissioned by DST R2 000 000
• Assessing the impact of HIV/AIDS prevention and
  care programmes (Dr Thomas Rehle) R2 054 000
• Assessing the impact of gender policies and
  interventions in South Africa (Professor Cheryl
  Potgieter) R1 500 000
• Impact assessment Millennium Development Goals
  1-7 R 600 000

49
Expense Budget 2006/07

• The cost structure of the HSRC will grow at the
  same rate as the income target
• Research and administration costs make up R128,1
  million or 47 of the total cost budget
• Other operating cost and depreciation add up to
  R24,3 million or 9 of the total cost budge
• The staff costs of the HSRC are for the 2006/07
  financial year and exceed the total baseline
  grant and ring-fenced allocations for the year
• Permanent staff costs (total staff 286) are
  projected at R120 million, representing 44 of
  the total cost budget for the year
• Additional skills required in the course of the
  year will be contracted in on short-term,
  project-based assignments

50
Balance Sheet 2006/07

• Non Current Assets grow after estimated
  investment of R4 million
• Inventory is Publication stock
• Cash and cash equivalents are retained on behalf
  of donors Cash received in advance
• Capital and Reserves represent the Current
  account, Capital investment in the building and
  Deferred Income
• Provisions are salary related and increase
  because of salary increase

51
In summary, the HSRC objectives and thrusts for
the next five years can be summed up in the
acronym PAITECS standing for

• P Public Purpose (includes mandate and
  accountability)
• A Africa Outreach and collaboration
• I Implementation Networks
• T Transformation (includes equity
  representativeness poverty alleviation)
• E Excellence (as evidenced by publications,
  peer review)
• C Capacity Building
• S Sustainability (includes contracts and donor
  funding recruitment)

52

• Thank you very much