A partnership between the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the National School of Government (the NSG) will enable public servants to access information from WEF’s Strategic Intelligence Platform.
The collaboration was launched on Friday by the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo, supported by Chido Munyati, the head of WEF’s Regional Agenda Africa and Stephan Mergenthaler, the head of Strategic Intelligence.
The objective of the landmark partnership is to support public sector initiatives through access to a wide array of research, insight, publications, rich media and data for policy development, forecasting, decision-making, briefings and other needs by government departments and public sector institutions in WEF’s Strategic Intelligence Platform.
The information provided by the platform will be available for use by advisors, researchers, planners and content creators for different projects or activities.
The platform will complement other sources of data already available in South Africa and will provide quick access on topics from A – Z. Twelve government departments already have access to the WEF Strategic Intelligence Platform. The rest of the government departments will have access from April 2022.
WEF engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
South Africa has a longstanding partnership with WEF and participates in annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland and also hosts the WEF Africa Forum meeting from time to time.
Addressing the launch, Dlodlo said no government could innovate and solve its problems, take advantage of emerging opportunities and avoid potential challenges and threats if it does not use information.
“The government of South Africa has long held this view, and encourages evidence-based policy making to confront challenges and harness opportunities.
This platform will complement other data sources and will contribute to efforts towards evidence-based policy making, and the building of a capable and professional civil service.
The President of WEF, Børge Brende, said the organisation values its collaboration with South Africa and Africa.
“This is why we are pleased to be able to offer the National School of Governance and the wider South African public sector advanced access to our Strategic Intelligence Platform. We hope that this will play a valuable part in supporting national development efforts,” he said.
Source: South African Government News Agency