The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) hosted the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) Wave 5 launch at the StatsSA offices in Pretoria on 31 January. The event was well attended by government officials, non-governmental organisations, media and the SALDRU team that implements NIDS on behalf of the DPME.
The day’s proceedings were separated into three sessions. The first session provided an overview of NIDS. The keynote address on the use of empirical evidence for planning in government was delivered by Dr. Kefiloe Masiteng of the DPME. This was followed by presentations on findings from the first five waves of NIDS, first with an overview presentation, followed by a discussion on poverty, inequality, employment volatility and wealth.
The second session was entitled “Telling South Africa’s story on health and education” and included presentations on grade repetition and the Further Education and Training progression policy, transitions and wellbeing of young people who do not complete secondary schooling , as well as an analysis of cheap cigarettes in South Africa.
The theme of the afternoon session was how to use NIDS to make more effective policy, and saw presentations about whether a motherhood penalty exists in South Africa, the change in care burden over the transition to adulthood, and outcomes of post-CSG (child support grant) beneficiaries. A video about evidence-based policy making and NIDS was also screened. The day’s proceedings drew to a close with a vote of thanks and closure by Dr. David Makhado, Chief Director: Research and Knowledge Management of the DPME.
Read the NIDS Wave 5 discussion papers which informed the presentations and the overview document which was disseminated at the event, or listen to an interview on SAfm with Dr. David Makhado the day after the NIDS launch.