What's needed to transform South Africa's economy?

On 27 January, the Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme, in partnership with the Business Day Dialogues, will host an online discussion with South Africa’s Finance Minister and experts from the SA-TIED programme. Audience members will learn more about SA-TIED’s diverse work and unpack insights to further bridge the gap between research and policy-making.

This event will also mark the launch of the SA-TIED report, A platform for evidence-based policy formulation: Lessons from SA-TIED. This report showcases the entirety of research produced under the SA-TIED programme during phase one and will be available to audience members after the event.

The SA-TIED programme provides a platform for researchers and policy makers to work together to address today’s major development challenges. South Africa needs bold action to turn its economic fortunes around. Such action must be founded on credible evidence-based research.

The programme’s unique design and core principles focus on tailored support to the policy environment, and is made up of six thematic work streams namely: enterprise development for job creation and growth; public revenue mobilization for inclusive development; macroeconomic modelling for policy formulation; turning the tide on inequality; climate change and energy transition as drivers of change; and, regional growth for Southern Africa’s prosperity.

The programme was launched in 2017, in partnership with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), the National Treasury, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with an ambitious target to produce at least 150 individual research studies during the lifetime of the three-year project. Upon completion, the programme exceeded this goal, with more than 175 studies published.

Under the SA-TIED programme a team of local and international researchers collaborated with key departments within the economic cluster of the South African government. Together they worked to address the region’s major development challenges.

Speakers

Gugu Mfuphi – moderator

Mr Enoch Godongwana – Minister of Finance

Boipuso Modise – Acting Deputy Director-general: Economic policy, National Treasury

Kunal Sen – director, UNU-WIDER