HSRC appoints Executive Director for Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery (Pretoria)
DATE: 8 May 2014
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has appointed Professor Daniel Plaatjies as Executive Director of the Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery (DGSD) Research Programme with effect from 1st June 2014. Professor Plaatjies, a Visiting Professor at the School of Business Management, University of Free State is a former head and director of the Graduate School of Public & Development Management (now known as the School of Governance).
This responsibility included providing strategic leadership and management, teaching and supervision support to students. Plaatjies is the editor of two recently published books -- Future Inheritance: Building State Capacity in Democratic South Africa (Jacana Media, 2011) and Protecting the Inheritance: Governance and Public Accountability in Democratic South Africa (Jacana Media, 2013).
Plaatjies has extensive knowledge, skills and experience in public policy and legislation development to implementation; political, economic and social governance; systems design, implementation and development in the delivery of public goods and service, administration and management; and in state-society relations. Professor Plaatjies joins the HSRC after serving in the South African public service as a Special Adviser to the Minister of Public Service and Administration and being the Head of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation branch within the Office of the Premier, Free State Provincial Government, Executive Manager for South African Social Security Agency and as Director for Public Finance - Welfare and Social Security in the National Treasury.
The Chief Executive Officer of the HSRC, Prof. Olive Shisana said: “It is a pleasure to welcome Prof. Plaatjies to the senior executive team at the HSRC. His track record of public service and scholarship make him very suited to lead our Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery (DGSD) research programme which is tasked with significantly increasing its research and policy advice collaborations on our continent.”
On his appointment Professor Plaatjies said: “I am excited about this appointment into a leading social science and humanities research organization in our country which has an explicit public benefit mandate. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues in producing new knowledge and research evidence. These new insights will inform evidence-based public policy, strengthen democracy and citizen’s engagement with the state, and further the development of cogent and effective delivery systems and mechanism for public goods and service”.
Professor Plaatjies has a BSocSc (Hon) in Policy and Planning from University of Cape Town, MPhil in Management Administration and Policy, and a PhD in the study of Governance, Public Policy and Public Finance from the University of the Witwatersrand.
For more information, contact Mr Julian Jacobs at 082 454 4902.
Issued by the Communication & Stakeholder Relations Directorate