M Mangena: Evidence-based Advice Symposium

3 March 2006

President of the Academy of Science of South Africa, Professor Robin
Crewe;
ASSAf council members;
Professor Ann Dowling of the Royal Society of London;
Foreign Secretary of the US National Academies, Dr Michael Clegg;
Chairperson of NACI, Professor Calie Pistorius;
CEO of the HSRC, Dr Olive Shisana;
International and local scientists;
Distinguished guests and delegates;
Ladies and gentlemen

This symposium takes place at a time when South Africa is reflecting on the
impact of policies promulgated and implemented since 1994.

Science and technology has much to offer towards the development of South
Africa and the continent. All of us are called upon to contribute to the
realisation of this promise through whatever means possible.

The significance and contribution of ‘evidence-based’ information in the
policy-making discourse is not difficult to understand. However, given the
complex relationship between research and policy the culture of academia and
the funding practices of commissioners of research, the current ethos of
“evidence informed” public policy poses many technical, methodological and
epistemological challenges.

This double symposium on the “nature of evidence” and “science based advice
for the nation” has an important contribution to make in exploring the urgency
and growing importance of evidence as the basis for making informed policy and
practical decisions across the world. It also offers the Academy of Science of
South Africa, which is an independent and authoritative provider of
evidence-based advice on a broad range of nationally significant topics and
issues, an opportunity to examine its own role in the national science
system.

We do hope that the symposium will also develop proposals on how government
and perhaps the nation at large can best draw on the knowledge and skills of
the science community in addressing development issues. This will go a long way
in highlighting the importance of optimal approaches to independent and
evidence-based advice to government as well as other role players.

The use of evidence based knowledge is especially vital in developing
countries where resource constraints preclude chances of entertaining any
dubious solutions and experiments from elsewhere which might result in harmful
consequences. Evidence based advice therefore requires closer co-operation
between government, research based organisations and national academies of
science to ensure that policy making and planning draws on the best available
information.

In like vein, we should guard against dismissing out of hand the wisdom
derived from traditional practice and common sense, bearing in mind that not
all reliable knowledge should necessarily be derived from random sampling
experimentation. At all times we should shy away from the temptation of making
a cult out of laboratory based research or modern science based reviews. Such
evidence is intended to inform and guide not direct decision making processes
outside cultural, traditional, religious and community beliefs and perspectives
relating to social issues.

For instance it is common knowledge that long before the discovery of
antibiotics, Africans had already identified plants that could treat bacterial
infections and they used them to cure wounds and disease. African agricultural
practices were based on the environmentally friendly tradition of multi
cropping ecosystems in which different crops were planted side by side and
farmers simply saved their seeds for planting the following growing season. But
this wealth of information was not patented; it was considered a birthright and
a part of the knowledge that was handed down from generation to generation.

Modern science and research would do well to incorporate such tried and
tested applications of knowledge to develop solutions to some of the pressing
nutrition and health challenges facing Africa today. No one can deny that
African agriculture could benefit from some modern biotechnologies such as
molecular marker assisted selection to screen for seeds with characteristics
suited to our different conditions. African farmers also need to utilise
irrigation technology to overcome the droughts that can cripple rain fed
agriculture. Such improvements together with land, seed and the collective
indigenous knowledge about our fragile environment are not only cardinal to the
survival of African agriculture; they can also provide models for reversing
some of the environmentally harmful effects of modern commercial farming
practices.

It is always important to bear in mind that ‘knowledge’ is relative and
mutable. That which may be considered certain and fixed in science at one point
in time, may be overruled by new discoveries at a later stage. It is equally
true that evidence based biological research cannot necessarily be applied with
uniform success. This reality calls for humility not dogmatism, in the way we
approach evidence based policy, planning and practice.

Policy makers inevitably intervene in the lives of other people sometimes
with unintended or unwanted effects. That is why social policies should be
informed by rigorous, transparent and up to date evaluations of relevant
empirical evidence and their implementation and impact subjected to systematic
and reliable empirical research.

Both researchers and policy makers would do well to remember the instructive
words of the 6th century BC Greek philosopher, Xenophanes, who claims that:
“Through seeking we may learn and know things better. But as for certain truth,
no man hath known it, for all is but a woven web of guesses.”

Given the important role played by evidence based advice, scientists and
researchers must fully understand the implications of their work for policy
development and policy evaluation. To this end we have an obligation to engage
in collaborative research that goes beyond methodological rigour to encompass
moral, social and political responsibility.

It is therefore incumbent upon African scientists and researchers to be
vigilant to the intrigues of commercialisation and politics that can cloud
scientific research and results. They must always ensure that the
collaborations they engage in reap mutual socio economic benefits for Africa.
After all this is the only way in which our investments in scientific and
technological developments can assist the continent to leap forward on the path
to genuine sustainable economic development.

In closing, I wish to express my confidence in the ability of this symposium
to provide insights into the role research can play in the development of
policy advice and the quality and depth of research that is required to ensure
that that advice is indeed informed by reliable evidence. This symposium also
provides a platform and opportunities for relationship building networking and
shared learning. We hope this meeting will succeed in generating fruitful and
illuminating outcomes.

It is now my pleasure to declare this Academy of Science of South Africa
Symposium on Evidence-based Advice open.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Issued by: Ministry for Science and Technology
3 March 2006