Abstract
The paper begins with a discussion of the concepts operations research and development. An overview is next given of the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme), which still embodies the vision of development in South Africa associated with the political transition in 1994. The efforts of ORSSA (the Operations Research Society of South Africa) to help with the implementation of the RDP are described. The international OR (Operations Research) community has been involved in various ways with the promotion of development, especially through IFORS (the International Federation of Operational Research Societies), and these are reviewed. Sustainable development, which deals specifically with a long-term view of development, is mentioned briefly. Lastly some suggestions are made as to how ORSSA and its members could help to promote development in South Africa. In the Appendix a summary is given of a paper by Gerhard Geldenhuys in which he analyzes the needs identified by the RDP as well as relevant OR methods.
Highlights
PduT FourieThe two main themes of this paper, OR and development, have this in common that their practitioners have spent much time debating the nature of their disciplines
Consider an example from a recent newspaper report, the headline of which reads “Development trust for Macassar” [6]. (Macassar is a township in the Helderberg area of the City of Cape Town.) It is stated that “the project was initiated . . . to create a viable, happy and caring community in Macassar . . . Aspects to which the trust hopes to give attention are: councillor-assistance, religion, welfare, public works, housing, security and policing”
On the national and international level, development is used to refer to economic growth, construction of infrastructure such as roads and dams, provision of housing and improvement of the educational and health systems of a country
Summary
The two main themes of this paper, OR and development, have this in common that their practitioners have spent much time debating the nature of their disciplines. Summarizing, most people would probably agree that “community development”, referring to improvements in the physical, economic and social conditions of a community, should be the ultimate aim of any civilized community. Implicit in this is already one answer to the question “Why try to promote development?”, namely that it is a moral imperative.
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