Mpumalanga Office of the Premier

Research and Strategic Information Management System

The Research Unit is a Directorate within the Office of the Premier. The unit was established in April 2000.

It was created with the sole purpose of rendering support to the Premier, Executive Council, Director-General and provincial government departments by conducting research in all aspects of reconstruction and development in the province, thus enabling the provincial government to make informed decisions.

The unit's responsibilities are:

to provide support to Executive Council (Exco) and Government Departments based on Researched information and authentic statistics,
to conduct research for the Cabinet Outreach Programme (COP),
to organise seminars to stimulate debate on issues of development and good governance,
to conduct research inventory on the province and review it annually,
to conduct baselines and evaluation studies on basic needs' delivery projects,
to conduct annual surveys of socio economic indicators,
to assess through research studies the impact of government policies on the Mpumalanga populace and effectiveness of the provincial administration,
to publish results of research studies undertaken in a quarterly Journal (Research Briefing) for the information of all provincial government stakeholders,
to develop and maintain a research information database in the province and a resource centre,
to co-ordinate research activities in the province,
to facilitate the formulation of the provincial research agenda, informed by the provincial priorities,
to liaise with other research bodies globally and maintain an acceptable standard of research,
to perform any other research functions as may be requested by Exco, Director-General, departments and/or any directorate.

Activities

The Unit's activities fall into five main areas: Cabinet Outreach Programme (COP), publication, research information center, and commissioned research projects.

Cabinet Outreach Programme (COP)

This is one of the most successful programmes of service delivery undertaken by the provincial cabinet. It is an outreach programme which in the past four years has taken the cabinet to more than 900 communities. In this programme, the cabinet meet, talk and listen to people and make follow-ups in response to community problems. The Research unit is the pillar on which the cabinet stands in this programme.

The unit's role in the programme is to go into communities in advance of cabinet visits, research into the status of government service delivery in such areas. Find out about issues of concern in the communities and advise cabinet accordingly.

The unit also conduct periodic evaluation of government delivery in the various communities and advise cabinet accordingly.

Publication

The unit produces a quarterly research journal called Research Briefing. The objectives of the journal are:

to keep public servants informed of issues of good governance and development by publishing relevant research abstracts on research studies conducted worldwide on development and governance,
to develop a culture of serious reading among public servants which will hopefully generate a meaningful intellectual activity that will create an impetus for critical analysis and debate in the public service milieu,
to publish research studies undertaken by the unit and other relevant research studies / articles contributed by interested readers.

The Research Briefing has become a rallying point for research bodies in Mpumalanga. It has been acclaimed by Witwatersrand University P&DM as a valuable information sharing periodical that should be developed further into a classic scholarly publication which will gain acceptance by all other academic publications in South Africa.

Research Information Center

Knowledge center houses research reports, national and provincial government policy documents and collection of books on governance and development. It is a reservoir of information pertaining to all problems of each and every community in Mpumalanga, projects (completed, current and planned) of each and every department in the province. The center has information on a plethora of other subjects and all available statistics in Mpumalanga. The COP has been the driving force behind this phenomenal compilation of such vast information and statistics within a period of two years of the unit's existence. All the reports and books in the Knowledge center are available to the public for consultation.

Commissioned research projects

Commissioned project are those research studies that are commissioned by Exco, the Director-General, or government departments and provincial parastatals.

Staff development

The Research unit is committed to a culture of learning and encourages continuous personal growth and development for its entire staff. The unit continuously identify areas in which training are required and make means to provide the relevant training.

The Research Units Organastional Culture

The unit's Staff is committed to providing services in an efficient and professional manner. It ensures an environment that is conducive to conducting quality research and provides its research team with the necessary administrative and advanced information systems support.

Contact Details

Tel: +27 13 766 2382
Fax: +27 13 766 2496
Email: nkeled@mpg.gov.za