The DBSA Launches the DBSA African Journal of Infrastructure Development at the 2nd Annual Infrastructure Research Colloquium

Johannesburg, 10 April 2024 – Yesterday on 9 April 2024, the Development Bank of Southern Africa held its 2nd Annual Infrastructure Research Colloquium at the DBSA Campus in Midrand. This Colloquium was groundbreaking as it provided a stepping-stone for the creation and launch of a new continental infrastructure journal, the DBSA African Journal of Infrastructure Development (DAJID).

Over the past five years, the DBSA has strengthened its Office of the Chief Economist and reinvigorated the corporate research, knowledge management and thought leadership activities. The journal is being conceptualised to engender and promote debates in the infrastructure space as well as enhance the value of analytical insights. The journal will be published in an open-source platform and will be accredited by the Department of Higher Education.

Ms Boitumelo Mosako, CEO of the DBSA officiated at the launch. She emphasised how infrastructure knowledge and information on the African continent has been characterised by a lack of credible platforms for authoritative information on trends, developments, and quality data. DAJID aims to remedy this in the interest of generating and documenting high quality infrastructure research.

To promote its thought leadership role in infrastructure development, the Bank has deemed the Annual Research Colloquium as the appropriate platform for this purpose. The Colloquium integrates the streams of research and knowledge management. The dialogue enables the DBSA to coordinate latest thinking in development finance and infrastructure development as well as the envisaged development impact. The Colloquium attracts development finance professionals, policy makers and academia, at various levels from across the continent.

The DBSA had, for a long time, been known as the “Knowledge Bank”. As far back as the 1980s the Bank developed several national sectoral development policies for the government. The DBSA also played a significant role in reshaping policy in the areas of poverty, regional development, land reform, education, urban-rural interface, urban development, and housing.

“The Bank seeks to reclaim this position because in a highly volatile world it is very important to anchor the corporate strategy on research, information, and knowledge. Shaky knowledge activities may mean that there is insufficient understanding of the operating environment. Inadequate knowledge may also weaken the Bank’s ability to provide the necessary thought leadership for infrastructure development. Restoring the DBSA as a Knowledge Bank will ensure that it becomes a reliable source of insight that will also facilitate new thinking and inspire innovation,” said Mosako.

The theme of the Colloquium this year was “Steering Infrastructure Development Towards a Sustainable Future” and sought to inspire and motivate research-based dialogues and establish a dissemination platform. Two years ago, the Bank adopted a systematic approach to developing a credible infrastructure journal. Volume 1 from the first colloquium was launched on 9 April and the 2nd Colloquium will produce Volume 2. The DBSA has initially published 6 articles but is looking to increase the number of articles gradually over time. The journal is still being fine-tuned and tweaked to ensure a multifaceted research output of infrastructure development publications.

The Bank presented two internally produced papers and four externally produced papers at the Colloquium which spoke to some of the following meeting sub-themes:

• Aligning the development of SDGs to NDCs
• Infrastructure project financing and the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)
• Sector investment in the context of weak economic fundamentals.
• Uses and development impact of innovative technologies in infrastructure development.
• Biodiversity and development finance
• Local government and sustainable development

“The two main issues that African researchers must deal with is the lack of credible continental infrastructure journals and the high cost of publishing articles. Most accredited infrastructure journals are generally not based in Africa. These are serious barriers for African scholars. A quick publication price check of big publishers shows that publishing an article can cost anything from $51 to $45 460. The idea of an open-source platform is envisaged not only to support African researchers to publish their work, but also to facilitate access to research work. This is in line with the DBSA’s mandate of promoting economic development and growth, and human and institutional capacity building.” added Zeph Nhleko, Chief Economist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

“As the DBSA, we are excited about the evolution and growth of the Colloquium as it puts in place a solid foundation for African researchers to participate in knowledge creation. It also ensures that the Bank will be well on its way to restoring its role as a thought leader in the infrastructure space through an exclusively infrastructure-based journal, with a diverse and Africa-centred and focused Editorial Board. This way we are democratising knowledge,” concluded Mosako.

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