16 March 2017: The South African Sustainable Development Knowledge Hub (SA SD KH), which serves to connect African policy makers and development partners with research related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, was launched at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The SA SD KH is hosted at the University of Pretoria as a collaborative project of the Faculty of Theology and the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership. It is a freely available knowledge resource that contains recent research articles relevant to the implementation of the SDGs and Agenda 2063 in Africa, collected by applying 401 search items. The Knowledge Hub currently contains the full texts of 621 items produced at selected universities from South Africa and the US. The SA SD KH seeks to collect and disseminate research on each of the seventeen SDGs.
The Hub is hosted at the University of Pretoria and contains research items from selected universities in South Africa and the US.
Currently, the Hub contains a large number of articles on SDG 3 (good health and well-being), especially on ways to reduce the burden of communicable diseases and to reduce maternal and infant mortality. It also contains a significant number of articles on SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and sustainable energy systems, SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and sustainable transport systems, SDG 15 (life on land) and conservation efforts, and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and the creation of responsive and transparent institutions. Smaller clusters of articles relate to SDG 2 (zero hunger) and food security, SDG 5 (gender equality) and non-discrimination, SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and increased water efficiency, SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and equal opportunity in the workplace, and SDG 13 (climate action) and climate change mitigation initiatives.
The SA SD KH was launched by Jeff Radebe, Minister in the South African Presidency, at the Fourth International Conference on Responsible Leadership. On the occasion, Radebe emphasized the role that the SA SD KH can play in connecting processes “aimed at the domestication of the SDGs with the implementation of South Africa’s long-term National Development Plan,” and in supporting processes aimed at formulating and implementing evidence-based policies as well as processes aimed at producing research relevant to development partners and national government departments. [South African Sustainable Development Knowledge Hub]