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HSRC Annual Report 2016/17
Scope and
Boundaries
The Integrated Annual Report covers the activities and results of the HSRC for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017.
The Integrated Annual Report has been prepared in accordance with the Generally Recognised Accounting Principles
(GRAP), the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act (Act No. 1 of 1999, as amended) (PFMA), and the
recommendations of the King lll Report. Management also considered the guidelines published by the Integrated
Reporting Committee of South Africa.
The Integrated Annual Report is published with the aim of assisting stakeholders in assessing the ability of the Human
Science Research Council (HSRC) to create and sustain value.
Profile of the
Human Sciences
Research Council
The HSRC was established in 1968 to undertake, promote and co-ordinate research in the human and social sciences.
It operates in terms of the Human Sciences Research Council Act (Act No. 17 of 2008), which replaced the Human
Sciences Research Council Act (Act No. 23 of 1968) and provides for the continued existence of the Human Sciences
Research Council.
The Act outlines the functions of the HSRC Board and mandates the HSRC to:
•
Initiate, undertake and foster strategic basic and applied research in human sciences;
•
Address developmental challenges in the Republic, elsewhere in Africa and in the rest of the world by gathering,
analysing and publishing data relevant to such challenges, especially by means of projects linked to public sector-
orientated collaborative programmes;
•
Inform the effective formulation and monitoring of policy, as well as evaluate the implementation thereof;
•
Stimulate public debate through the effective dissemination of fact-based research results;
•
Help build research capacity and infrastructure for the human sciences;
•
Foster research collaboration, networks and institutional linkages;
•
Respond to the needs of vulnerable andmarginalised groups in society through research and analysis of developmental
issues, thus contributing to the improvement of the quality of their lives;
•
Develop and make available datasets underpinning research, policy development and public discussion of
developmental issues; and
•
Develop new and improved methodologies for use in the development of such datasets.