https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Salga, UJ economic research centre join forces for public interest research push

28th March 2017

By: Megan van Wyngaardt

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

     

Font size: - +

The University of Johannesburg’s (UJ’s) Public and Environmental Economics Research Centre (PEERC) and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) on Tuesday launched a new partnership to contribute to improving policymaking at local government level.

PEERC was established this year and is dedicated to basic, applied and strategic research in environmental economics.

Speaking at the partnership launch, at UJ’s Kingsway campus, PEERC director Johane Dikgang noted that the centre would aim to address challenges in the economics of local government, the environment and sustainable development.

“We do not just want to do research for the sake of having journals, but research that will influence policymakers. This should all be done to the benefit of the public.

“We rely heavily on stakeholder involvement to ensure our research is relevant and useful for decision-makers. Once research is produced, we hope that stakeholders are more likely to actively use and disseminate the information that they helped produce.

“There is a gap between the research we are doing in academia and what the policymakers actually require,” said Dikgang.

He further pointed out that the research centre would also focus on agricultural economics, resource economics and public finance. “PEERC is the first centre of its kind on the continent.”

“We are consulting with different stakeholders to ensure that whatever we put out as short programmes, that there is real demand out there,” Dikgang said of the new venture.

Also speaking at the launch, Salga CEO Xolile George said the collaboration would assist the association in reaching three key goals over the next five years, including economic inclusion, spatial justice and fiscal equity and sound financial management.

Salga and PEERC highlighted that municipal debt, its associated challenges and how it can be resolved would be key focus areas of the research to be undertaken.

In its ‘Debt owed to municipalities, poor billing and critical success factors to billing’ report of 2015, Salga pointed out that consumers owned municipalities almost R100-billion.

He added that the partnership was one of the ways which research could be undertaken and disseminated, making all stakeholders aware of some of the fundamental and structural challenges facing local government. “It is through research that we can collectively identify remedies to these challenges.”

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Latest News

Magazine video image
Magazine round up | 29 March 2024
Updated 5 hours ago

Showroom

Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
SAIMC (Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Mechatronics and Control)
SAIMC (Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Mechatronics and Control)

Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.083 0.133s - 174pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now