Scientists as lobbyists? How science can make its voice heard in the South African policy‐making arena

Funke, Nicola S; Nienaber, Shanna; Henwood, Roland

doi:10.1002/pa.421

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The executive, legislature and judiciary form the 3 branches of Government and are mandated by the Constitution of South Africa to keep each other's powers in check (Anderson, 2006;SA Yearbook, 2008/9;Funke et al, 2011). The administrative agencies operate under the leadership of the executive and are responsible for carrying out the decisions (laws and policies) that are made in Parliament (Venter and Theunissen, 2006).…”

Section: Official Policy-makersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The government in turn requires funding and resources to function effectively, and relies on the business sector, which is a major contributor to the tax base. In addition, the institutionalisation of South Africa's business sector as a role player in the policy process, through the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), emphasises and entrenches the importance of the business sector in this context (NEDLAC, 2010;Funke et al, 2011).…”

Section: Non-official Policy-makers (Civil Society)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This implies that relevant end-users need to be actively sought out, contacted and informed about the products as it cannot be assumed that these products will automatically 'filter' through to all relevant actors (Funke et al, 2011). In addition, social learning (Hoppe, 1999) and transdisciplinary literature (MaxNeef, 2005) strongly advocate that this 'targeting' needs to occur throughout the research process.…”

Section: Recommendations To Improve Science Uptakementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ideally this requires making personal contact with relevant departments. However, given the practical challenges of time and access that this requirement poses, it is important to be innovative in how these departments are accessed (Funke et al, 2011).…”

Section: Recommendations To Improve Science Uptakementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Promoting uptake and use of conservation science in South Africa by government

Funke

Nienaber

2012

WSA

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This paper aims to analyse how to encourage science uptake, here defined as the uptake and use of scientific research products (including journal articles, scientific reports, tools, expert knowledge, etc.), in the South African context. While science uptake into implementation is a very case-and context-specific process, the authors propose that a general framework for analysis of the policy-making context in South Africa needs to be considered when analysing how to promote science uptake in specific cases. In this paper, the National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Areas (NFEPA) project is used as an example to illustrate how to apply this framework and how science projects in South Africa can be better positioned for impact and use. The paper starts by introducing the framework for conceptualising the complex set of dynamic processes and actors that can be involved in science uptake by government in South Africa, i.e., the policy-making context. From this theoretical platform the authors analyse to what extent the NFEPA project will be able to support more effective implementation of existing environmental and water legislation. This is done by exploring the challenges that hinder the uptake of science in government departments and then offering recommendations on how to address these.

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Section: Official Policy-makersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Non-official Policy-makers (Civil Society)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recommendations To Improve Science Uptakementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recommendations To Improve Science Uptakementioning

confidence: 99%

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Promoting uptake and use of conservation science in South Africa by government

Funke

Nienaber

2012

WSA

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“…These actors can include a variety of experts belonging to various disciplines, actors from civil society, actors from government, holders of lay knowledge, interested end-users and so on (Luks and Siebenhuner, 2007;Funke et al, 2011). It is this intercommunicative process between different actors that helps to produce knowledge that is relevant to end-users, appropriate to the problem at hand, and trusted by endusers (Lawrence and Depres, 2004;Russel et al, 2008).…”

Section: • Knowledge Produced By Multiple Actorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waters without borders: Transboundary water governance and the role of the ‘transdisciplinary individual’ in Southern Africa

Jacobs¹,

Nienaber²

2011

WSA

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Water resources in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) play an intrinsic role in regional development. As a result, water is a highly sensitive issue, complex to understand and demanding to govern, in terms of effective and equitable use and distribution. Growing awareness of the complex challenges facing water and the cross-cutting impacts that these challenges have on the region has led to the recognition that these challenges demand more integrated levels of ingenuity and expertise from a diverse set of actors working in a transdisciplinary manner.In response to these realisations a significant body of work has emerged that attempts to determine the criteria of a transdisciplinary approach and how it can be operationalised. This has led to significant progress in gaining an understanding of 'transdisciplinary team' approaches. These transdisciplinary teams have tended to work at the localised or project level of problem response. However, despite this progress, little work has been done on how to upscale transdisciplinary research and practice to the regional level. This is a significant gap given the fact that the source of many complex problems lies at the regional level even if the effects of these problems are localised. Also, little has been done to try to move the transdisciplinary discourse beyond the transdisciplinary team in order to understand how to groom and develop 'transdisciplinary individuals' who have the competence and talent to rise to the complex challenge of fostering regional economic development, of which water is a key component.Given this context, this paper builds on the existing literature in transdisciplinarity and its different conceptualisations in relation to water in Southern Africa. Firstly, it interrogates the cross-cutting role of water in regional socio-economic development in the SADC region. Secondly, it examines the need for transdisciplinary responses to regional socio-economic development. Thirdly, this paper strives to make a valuable contribution to knowledge in that it attempts to take the transdisciplinary discourse beyond 'the team' model to examine the role of the individual and the internalisation of transdisciplinarity as a mindset beyond collective models. In this regard, the paper emphasises the need for 'transdisciplinary individuals' to rise to the complex challenge of regional integration, and particularly, the role of the younger professionals in this process.

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Water Governance and Management and Climate Change

Meissner

2016

Paradigms and Theories Influencing Policies in the South African and International Water Sectors

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Scientists as lobbyists? How science can make its voice heard in the South African policy‐making arena

Abstract: This paper examines the complexity of the South

Cited by 5 publications

References 31 publications

Promoting uptake and use of conservation science in South Africa by government

Promoting uptake and use of conservation science in South Africa by government

Waters without borders: Transboundary water governance and the role of the ‘transdisciplinary individual’ in Southern Africa

Water Governance and Management and Climate Change

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