What We Do

The Land Governance programme works to support the realisation of tenure security by most South Africa’s marginalised people in rural and urban areas. These include victims of apartheid dispossession and discrimination, women, farm workers, labour tenants and people who hold off- register land rights in the country. The programme also supports decentralised government to unlock land in ways that support just transition in the country. The programme deploys diverse strategies which include supporting legal and institutional arrangements, efforts by civil society and community-based organisations, policy engagement, lobbying policy makers, generating empirical evidence to inform policy making and advocacy work, capacity development and contributing to thought leadership through scientific debates, research and publications.

PARI’s State Reform programme aims to reduce the influence of corruption on the public administration – towards a stronger democracy and enhanced state capacity. The progamme supports civil service reform, especially in the area of public procurement, appointment reform and related personnel practices, and it brings an institutional lens to anti-corruption analysis. The programme advocates for reforms through research and its dissemination, submissions on legislation, participation in government task teams and working with civil society partners to build momentum for change. We also contribute to scholarly and wider public discussion on topics such as state capture, public procurement and development, anti-corruption and politics, state capacity and more.

The Just Transition programme’s overarching goal is to contribute to a successful climate transition in South Africa; a transition that will contribute to decarbonisation and climate resilience, while prioristing social justice, equity and poverty reduction. We undertake innovative empirical research that contributes directly to national and sub-national policy on rapid decarbonisation of the power sector, equitable access to energy, water and food, and climate resilience of economy and society. The Just Transition Programme is a member of the International Network of Energy Transition Think Tanks (INETTT).

Capable and effective local government is central to the South African government’s developmental agenda. The primary aim of this programme is to investigate the factors that undermine this capability and effectiveness. The programme focuses on the study of the reality of administration and politics in municipalities and in their intergovernmental relations, on the factors that shape this reality and on the systems and mechanisms in place to support this reality.

COMPACT is a co-funded European Union programme aimed at enhancing local
government planning and accountability through public participation. The term “COM” stands for community, and “PACT” refers to the various stakeholder relationships impacting municipalities. The programme is led by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) in partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and Integrity Action (IA). There are 12 partner municipalities across six provinces in South Africa.