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HSRC Annual Report 2016/17
Chairperson’s
Foreword
The role that the social sciences and humanities play in understanding the underlying factors contributing to the
stubbornly high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment in South Africa and in offering evidence-based
solutions, has never been as important, or as timely. The country is grappling with economic stagnation and increasing
social division and strife, compounded by increasing levels of corruption, all of which are contributing to our inability to
adequately formulate and implement policies and programmes intended to deliver essential services and to improve
the wellbeing of all citizens.
If the HSRC is to remain relevant, it must promote quality research and development that addresses the core challenges
that confront the country, and in so doing inform public policy in ways that contribute positively to the country’s
developmental agenda.
It is with this in mind that the HSRC has embraced the theme ‘
Poverty and inequality: diagnosis, prognosis, responses’
to guide its work over the next five years. The adoption of a thematic approach has required fundamental rethinking
within the organisation and a shift towards greater collaboration across the different entities of the HSRC, as well as the
conceptualisation of a number of overarching programmes encompassing the overall theme. As the tenure of the current
Board comes to an end in October, it will be the task of the next Board to oversee and support the implementation of
the revised strategic direction of the organisation.
With the current Board’s term coming to an end, an external evaluation was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of
the Board. I am pleased that the results of this evaluation confirm that the Board has functioned well as a collective. For
this, I wish to thank my fellow Board members for their commitment to the vision of the HSRC, and their willingness to
engage in a robust and critical manner with their governance responsibilities. The evaluation has also helped to crystallise
areas that require further attention from the new Board.
The Board is pleased to note good progress in delivering on the performance targets set for the organisation during
the year under review. It is particularly gratifying to note the increase in quality scholarly output produced by the HSRC
researchers. Similarly, we have seen an increase in the number of research trainees, both at the master’s and doctoral
level. The HSRC continues to play an important role, in partnership with universities, in nurturing the next generation
of scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
The leadership of the HSRC continues to work with our sister science councils and the universities to foreground the
importance of the humanities and social sciences in social, economic and technological development.