Academy of Science South Africa 2005/6 Annual Report

ASSAfProgramme 3on 15 March 2006. The meeting was well attended by a total of nine people, five of eight committeemembers and four ASSAf staff members, attending as support staff. The main objective of the meetingwas to introduce the committee to the forum-type study with reference to studies already done in USNA.Background materials were tabled and some handed out at the meeting, including reports from forumtypestudies already undertaken in USNA and other reports on the state of poverty in South Africa.A Committee chair (Prof Sagadevan Mundree (MASSAf)) who will drive the work of the Committee,was appointed by the ASSAf Council. The support staff for the study is Dr Xola Mati, Ms RudzaniRamaite (Study director), Ms Boitumelo Mabina and Prof Wieland Gevers (MASSAf). The study directoras assigned to the project does all the detailed work in terms of arranging meetings and looking atfollow-up activities. The committee agreed to convene a consultative workshop (forum) on governmentpolicy coordination in respect of the alleviation of poverty. The workshop will be well informed byprior or live inputs of various kinds from the best available experts and from the relevant departmentsthemselves. The committee will also hold workshops on other identified topics and publish them in thename of the Academy as the best consensus that can be reached. Such identified topics will either beaddressed as Consensus Studies, if approved under policy by the Council, or as draft Public Statementson specific topics.National consultative symposia: “Double Symposium on Evidence-based Advice”The ASSAf Council decided that the Academy should hold a major “double symposium” on evidencebasedadvice to government. This took place in the CSIR Conference Centre, Meiring Naude Road,Pretoria on Friday, 3 March 2006. The Symposium was divided into two sessions:Symposium 1 (morning, organised by Prof Jonathan Jansen (MASSAf))Symposium 2 (late morning-afternoon, organised by Prof Wieland Gevers (MASSAf) and Dr Xola Mati).The first and second invitation circulars with early registration forms were sent to a large numberof invitees to ensure the participation of many senior government officials and other policy makers in46 Promoting Excellence in Science for Society