We work to strengthen how policy advice is provided in government, and we create dialogue opportunities to help improve South Africa’s policy advice system.
At the centre of government, the systems that coordinate, monitor and evaluate policy determine the quality of the advice that reaches decision-makers. We work with the Presidency and partners to improve these systems so policymaking rests on better evidence. We also convene dialogues that put policymakers, researchers and others with relevant expertise in the same room.
Project
CONTACTS
Dr Itai Makone
Researcher in Policy Advice
Dr Itai Makone is a Social Science and Policy Innovation Researcher at the Policy Innovation Lab. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Itai’s PhD focused on political risk analysis in hybrid regimes.
Itai has a wealth of experience in academia as a lecturer at Stellenbosch University and Researcher at HUMA, University of Cape Town, in public service as an Economist for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Zimbabwe, and as an individual consultant for the Parliament of Zimbabwe and various NGOs like the African Development Bank and the International Rescue Committee.
From these and other experiences, Itai brings vast expertise in policy-relevant projects across various topics and advanced qualitative analysis skills to the team. Her research interests include using AI for evidence-based policymaking, ethics in AI, political risk analysis and security, public policy, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Monique Bennett
Policy Dialogue Manager
Monique Bennett is a doctoral researcher at Stellenbosch University, sponsored by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) as part of the DISARM project. Her PhD research focuses on uncovering the effects of disarmament on conflict dynamics in southern Africa. Monique has regularly published opinion pieces in the Daily Maverick and Business Day, discussing conflict, elections, international relations, and environmental issues. Previously, Monique worked as a researcher for Good Governance Africa in the analytics programme, where she utilised her skills in data manipulation and visualisation using R to inform research on Africa-focused policy and current affairs. Passionate about improving the use of data in policy and research, she has mentored and tutored postgraduate students at various levels, teaching them to apply R and statistical methods in their work.
Expert Reference Group
Policy Advice Systems
Dr Guy Lamb
Dr Guy Lamb is a National Research Foundation rated researcher and is based within the Political Science Department at Stellenbosch University (in South Africa) where he directs the Conflict, Peacebuilding and Risk Unit. Guy has undertaken research on issues related to violence, security and peace since the mid-1990s, and has led numerous prestigious multi-country research projects in this regard. He is currently a member of the Interpol Future (advisory) Council and is a Fellow of the Geneva-based UN Institute for Disarmament Research. In South Africa he serves as a commissioner on the high-level National Planning Commission where he chairs the Commission’s Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Task Team, and he is part of the government’s Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy Working Committee. He is also an advisor to the Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety. Guy was previously the Director of the Safety and Violence Initiative at the University of Cape Town and led research departments at the Institute for Security Studies and the Centre for Conflict Resolution. He was part of the drafting team of the UN Modular Small-arms-control Implementation Compendium and has served as an armed violence expert for the UN Security Council Sanctions Branch.
Dr Ilse Eigelaar-Meets
Ilse Eigelaar-Meets is a Sociologist at the Univeristy of Stellenbosch. Currently a full time lecturer in Sociology, she has had a career in applied Sociology predating her permanent employment in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University. She has worked as a researcher and project manager in several institutions including National and Provincial government (National Advisory Council for Innovation, Department of Social Development Western Cape Provincial Government, and as Deputy Director for research at the Department of Local Government and Housing Western Cape Provincial Government). She has taught in various tertiary institutions including University of Johannesburg (RAU), Cornerstone Christian College and Hugenote Kollege and worked as a full time researcher in a research company, SOREASO for 15 years .
Her research areas include Community and Rural development, Migration (Demographic and social impacts), Population, and Local Governance.
In her work as researcher, she has acquired wide-ranging research experience serving a broad range of clients such as government, the corporate sector, and universities.
Ongoing interest: Human and Rural Development, Migration, Research Methodology (Survey research, Monitoring & Evaluation)
Prof Tania Ajam
Tania Ajam is a Professor in Public Policy, Finance and Economics at Stellenbosch University’s School of Public Leadership. She holds a Master’s in Business Science from the UCT, an M.A. (Econ) from Cambridge University and a PhD (Public Management) from the University of Pretoria. She has held several non-executive directorships in both private and public sectors, including the Reserve Bank of South Africa. She served as a Commissioner on the Financial and Fiscal Commission for a decade until 2014 and has been a Senior Advisor at the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) in the National Treasury and a member of the Davis Tax Review Committee. She was a member of the President’s Economic Advisory Council between 2019 and 2024.
