This document summarizes a study on the use of public sector information (PSI) to drive socioeconomic development in South Africa. It describes 12 projects in areas like service delivery, education, and health that utilized PSI. Government agencies like the Human Sciences Research Council and Development Bank of Southern Africa provided data. However, interviewees noted obstacles in accessing PSI, like institutional barriers and unreliable data quality. Nonetheless, PSI was seen as vital for monitoring and evaluation, prioritization, and making progress on issues like food security. Personal connections were often important for acquiring needed data.

1. Public Sector Information as a
Driver for Socioeconomic
Development: The Case of
South Africa
Raed M. Sharif
Adjunct Faculty/Ph.D Candidate
Syracuse University

2. Motivation
• Developing Countries
• Non-commercial use

3. Methodology
• The Human Sciences Research Council
( HSRC)
• The Development Bank of Southern Africa
(DBSA)

4. 12 Projects
• Service Delivery ( 3 projects)
• Education ( 2 projects)
• Governance ( 2 projects)
• Infrastructure (1 project)
• Health ( 1 project)
• Employment ( 1 project)
• Food Security (1 project)
• Local Innovation Systems (1 project)

5. PSI Access: identification and
acquisition
“It is always people and who do you know and what
do you know”

6. PSI Use
• Getting a broader
overview about
issues under
investigation
• Monitoring and
evaluation
• Prioritization and
planning
“I needed to go myself to
check Stat. SA census
and non-census data in
order to be able to design
my project, write a
proposal and give
instructions to my team”

7. PSI
Characteristics :
– Comprehensiveness
– Relevance
– Reliability
– Timeliness
“You will always notice that,
you know data is always
political, you know, and
of course sector
departments will have
vested interest in either
inflating the numbers or
deflating the numbers
based on their
objectives—either they
want more money from
treasury or they want to
show that they’ve been
doing a lot of activities”

8. PSI Obstacles:
– Institutional
– Technical
– Legal
– Economic
– Socio-cultural
“It really depends. I once went to the same Department
(Agriculture) and in one directory, I just requested some
information and they gave it to me. I went to another
directory in the same Department and met with people
there and they never provided any information to me. So I
don’t know, it could be the people – laughter) “

9. PSI Importance
“This information
is vital. Oh.
Without this
information, I
truly believe that
we wouldn’t be
able to make
any progress in
the food security
area”

10. Thank You!