About

South Africa Research Chair Initiative (SARChI) in Applied Poverty Reduction Assessment

The SARChI was established in 2006 by South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The SARChI in applied poverty reduction assessment is administered by the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and is housed within the School of Built Environment and Development Studies.  The South Africa Research Chair in Applied Poverty Reduction Assessment is currently held by Professor Sarah Bracking.

The Aims of the SARChI: 

The aims of the Chair are in three interrelated areas of applied poverty reduction assessment: the ongoing improvement of the indicators that are used to reflect change; the analysis of the impact of poverty reducing interventions; and investigating wider dynamics that offset or contribute towards desired policy goals.

According the National Research Foundation website, the SARChI have a set goal and several objectives in mind:

“The main goal of the initiative is to strengthen and improve research and innovation capacity of public universities for producing high quality postgraduate students, research, and innovation outputs. Some of the objectives of SARChI are to

  • Expand the scientific research and innovation capacity of South Africa
  • Improve South Africa‟s international research and innovation competitiveness while responding to social and economic challenges of the country
  • Attract and retain excellent researchers and scientists
  • Increase the production of masters and doctoral graduates; and
  • Create research career pathways for young and mid-career researchers, with a strong research, innovation and human capital development output trajectory.”

 

The views expressed on this website are those of the SARChI team, and do not necessarily represent those of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the National Research Foundation or the Department of Science and Technology.