Research project wins prestigious award

A joint research project on Youth Wage Subsidies in South Africa undertaken by researchers from the Universities of Stellenbosch, Witwatersrand and Yale, and lead by prof Neil Rankin, recently won the Poverty Reduction Equity and Growth Network (PEGNet) Best Practice award for 2014 at a conference in Lusaka, Zambia. A committee consisting of Ms Sonja Kurz from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Mr Shebo Nalishebo, from our local host, the Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR), Ms. Natascha Weissert from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Mr. Manfred Wiebelt from the Poverty Reduction Equity and Growth Network (PEGNet) chose this project, over a number of others, because of its effective interaction between research and practice and its success in translating research into action. They were particularly impressed by how the research undertaken as part of this project helped inform the design and implementation of South Africa’s Youth Employment Tax Incentive which was introduced in January 2014.