Evolving to Influence a State in Transition
PARI is moving confidently towards its eighth year as a prominent research institute, while simultaneously adapting to South Africa’s changing sociopolitical environment.
Historically, PARI has been a research institute that plays a soft advocacy role. It has conducted research on state institutions and processes. And it has provided civil society organisations with research, enabling them to be better informed about how to advance public-sector reform and good governance.
It is in this context that PARI has increasingly helped to shape public policy. For example, the establishment of the office of the Chief procurement officer in the National Treasury was strongly informed by a 2014 report produced by PARI, which noted that 42 percent of government spending– more than R300 billion – was outsourced. This generated much-needed public discussion about state procurement. PARI was ultimately engaged in drafting the public procurement Bill in 2016.
