SA SDG Policy Support Initiative Launch

17 June 2022

Minister in the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Mondli Gungubele, MP on Monday, 6 June 2022 delivered the keynote address at the virtual launch of the South African SDG Policy Support Initiative, a tripartite partnership between the Government of South Africa, led by the Presidency, the German Government (assisted by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and the South African SDG Hub hosted by the University of Pretoria.

The South African SDG Policy Support Initiative (PSI) acts as the coordinating mechanism bringing together experts from academia and the Presidency to collaborate on evidence-informed policy decision making. Building on the South African SDG Hub’s objective to connect South African policymakers with the best and most relevant South African research related to the SDGs, the PSI aims to draw such expertise from across the 26 public universities and translate this into a useable format for policy makers.

The seven national priorities aim to holistically address the three main challenges faced by the country of unemployment, poverty and inequality, which were worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. The top priority in enabling accelerated delivery of the rest of the priorities is to build a capable, ethical and developmental State.

We need credible evidence for early warning, for current and for future scenarios. Evidence is core in decision making process of government and to ensure that limited resources are geared towards impactful policy programmes.

Having completed a pilot phase of the project during 2020 and 2021, the agreement to support the PSI for a longer three-year program is a significant step towards greater collaboration between academia and the Presidency’s policy makers. The launch also marked a progressive implementation of the agreements that we have with Federal Republic of Germany which were reaffirmed in the recent official visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

To find out more visit: https://sasdghub.up.ac.za/en/

Click below to watch the  launch: