Policy Engagement
| ABOUT PLAAS POLICY ENGAGEMENT & POLICY DIALOGUE |
PLAAS
does use-oriented basic research, seeking to ask fundamental questions
in social science to inform practical decisions in society. PLAAS’s
research is value-based; we do our research in an effort to support
social justice and equitable change in our society and beyond.
Practically, this means that we do our research to inform policymaking
and democratic policy debate in a wide range of relevant areas of
social policy, including:
- agricultural policy, smallholder farmers and value chains governance;
- land redistribution and tenure reform;
- small-scale fisheries and value chains governance;
- rural development;
- agro-food systems and regulation;
- ecosystem services, commons and natural resource management;
- economic growth and job creation;
- informal self-employment, labour law and SMME policies;
- citizen participation and social movements of the poor;
- social policy and social protection.
PLAAS researchers have engaged with policy processes since
1995. They have worked closely with various government departments, as
advisors at national or provincial level, as consultants in the design
or facilitation of programmes or projects, as reviewers or evaluators,
and as facilitators of policy workshops. Researchers have also provided critiques of different
policies, publishing articles and academic papers, participating in
public debates, and making presentations at policy-oriented workshops
and conferences. In recent years PLAAS staff has been active within a
number of emerging civil society alliances in the land reform sector,
and have contributed to deepening understanding of key policy issues
among NGOs and CBOs. (See the policy
engagement archive for more information about the earlier
days.)
Since 2007, PLAAS started up a programme of focused policy
dialogue activities and interventions with the intention to add more
coherence and learning in its practice of policy engagement. This work
has since been supported with a grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies
titled: ‘Connecting Research and Policy
Making on Land, Fisheries and Poverty in South Africa’.
Our research is not merely geared at policy practice. It is also meant
to shape the goals and overall directions of policy. Our approach to
policy influence is targeted to work through the following four
domains:
- dissemination of research, through publications, events, and media & social media engagements;
- cultivating trusting and critical partnerships with key
decision makers within governments and non-governmental donor
agencies;
- public participation in policy debate, working with organizations representing particular interest groups, and citizens in general;
- PLAAS seeks to undertake its policy engagement activities
within a broader framework of learning from our practice, and exploring
exisiting theories and ‘models in use’ of policy engagement.
| CURRENT INTERVENTIONS, INITIATIVES & PROCESSES |
Towards a new White Paper on Land Reform & Rural Transformation in South Africa
In
the wake of the recent release of the Green Paper on Land Reform by
Minister Nkwinti, PLAAS has called for a constructive national dialogue
about the future of the rural areas, and the role of land reform in
this crucial process. As a contribution to this process PLAAS has
hosted a public dialogue with key stakeholders from rural civil
society, academia and the private sector to formulate proposals for a
new White Paper on Land Reform.
The Summary Report on the Public Dialogue: ‘Beyond populism or paralysis: a real debate on South Africa’s land reform trajectory’ that was held in Cape Town on 24 October 2011, PLAAS’s Public Statement on the Land Reform Green Paper and our Submission to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform: Comments on the Green Paper on Land Reform 2011 are available at the shown link and on UmhlabaNet, where you can join a discussion on land reform and rural development policymaking in South Africa.
Read more about our policy engagement on land reform and rural development ...
The idea of forming UmhlabaNet with those who were part of the dialogue, and including more interested participants as we go along emerged from an expressed desire to acknowledge what kinds of materials, proposals, comments and critiques are heading towards the Department for Rural Development and Land Reform until 25 November 2011 – as the expectation of this kind of engagement is that all inputs will disappear into a ‘black hole’.
PLAAS set up UmhlabaNet group to facilitate networking, information sharing and collaboration around responses to the Green Paper on Land Reform. We hope that this can be the kernel for more wide‑ranging information sharing, debate and discussion around the broader issues related to promoting social justice, social equity and transformation in our rural areas. Although PLAAS has taken the lead in creating this platform, we hope that this can become a jointly owned and shared collaborative space ‑ and that it helps us as University-based researchers become more effectively connected to debates and discussions in broader civil society.
Join the discussion on UmhlabaNet (you will need to enter your email address to join the discussion).
International symposium, 2012: Policy & research dialogue in the real world: Learning from practice
PLAAS plans to host an international conference on the real world of the research-policymaking nexus. The conference will focus on the complex, messy, often off-stage processes whereby researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders interact in the real world of policymaking and applied research, and on how these interactions shape both policy and research.
The conference is aimed at exploring innovative approaches and learning lessons of experience in the engagements between policy and research. This conference will bring together a wide range of social actors who generate, use and broker policy-relevant information. The symposium will draw on the experience of researchers, information workers and communications experts, policy makers and other practitioners in civil society and the private sector to share experiences with different models of interaction, develop frameworks for understanding what we are doing, and consolidate what has been learnt from practicing research and policy dialogue.
More information about the symposium will follow soon!
The Summary Report on the Public Dialogue: ‘Beyond populism or paralysis: a real debate on South Africa’s land reform trajectory’ that was held in Cape Town on 24 October 2011, PLAAS’s Public Statement on the Land Reform Green Paper and our Submission to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform: Comments on the Green Paper on Land Reform 2011 are available at the shown link and on UmhlabaNet, where you can join a discussion on land reform and rural development policymaking in South Africa.
Read more about our policy engagement on land reform and rural development ...
UmhlabaNet
One of the outcomes of the vibrant discussions that took place at the Public Dialogue on 24 October was acknowledgement of a shared need to engage more in this kind of discussion, and take the engagement beyond the submission date for the Green Paper (currently at 25 November 2011). An online group, called UmhlabaNet was set up directly after the session to draw in different perspectives from actors involved at different levels of rural society who share a common concern wanting land reform in South Africa to work, but seeing little encouraging progress being made in current proposals for policy frameworks that can help enable this.The idea of forming UmhlabaNet with those who were part of the dialogue, and including more interested participants as we go along emerged from an expressed desire to acknowledge what kinds of materials, proposals, comments and critiques are heading towards the Department for Rural Development and Land Reform until 25 November 2011 – as the expectation of this kind of engagement is that all inputs will disappear into a ‘black hole’.
PLAAS set up UmhlabaNet group to facilitate networking, information sharing and collaboration around responses to the Green Paper on Land Reform. We hope that this can be the kernel for more wide‑ranging information sharing, debate and discussion around the broader issues related to promoting social justice, social equity and transformation in our rural areas. Although PLAAS has taken the lead in creating this platform, we hope that this can become a jointly owned and shared collaborative space ‑ and that it helps us as University-based researchers become more effectively connected to debates and discussions in broader civil society.
Join the discussion on UmhlabaNet (you will need to enter your email address to join the discussion).
International symposium, 2012: Policy & research dialogue in the real world: Learning from practice
PLAAS plans to host an international conference on the real world of the research-policymaking nexus. The conference will focus on the complex, messy, often off-stage processes whereby researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders interact in the real world of policymaking and applied research, and on how these interactions shape both policy and research.
The conference is aimed at exploring innovative approaches and learning lessons of experience in the engagements between policy and research. This conference will bring together a wide range of social actors who generate, use and broker policy-relevant information. The symposium will draw on the experience of researchers, information workers and communications experts, policy makers and other practitioners in civil society and the private sector to share experiences with different models of interaction, develop frameworks for understanding what we are doing, and consolidate what has been learnt from practicing research and policy dialogue.
More information about the symposium will follow soon!
WORKSHOP: Can land and agrarian reform in South Africa create opportunities for smallholder farmers and help reduce rural poverty?