Добірка наукової літератури з теми "Pays de la Southern African Development Community"

In the Southern African Development Community, the relationships between exchange rate instability, inflation and economic growth remain at the forefront of economic debate because of the historical antecedent and economic clustering of member countries. Nonetheless, much is not known regarding the complexity, complementarity or substitutability of exchange rate instability and inflation on economic growth for SADC countries. This article examined the influence of exchange rate instability on the inflation–growth nexus of the region for the period of 2000 to 2018. Three major techniques of analyses, Pooled Mean Group (PMG), Generalised Moments (GM) and Dynamic Fixed Effect (DFE), were employed in achieving the goal of the study, but the Pooled Mean Group estimator of the Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag was favoured by the Hausman test as the main instrument. The GARCH (1, 1) was also employed to generate exchange rate instability. The findings of the study showed that exchange rate instability and inflation have a negative relationship with economic growth of the region. Results further show evidence that economic growth of the region is adversely influenced by the consequential effect of exchange rate instability on inflation: the higher the level of instability in exchange rate, the worse the inflationary-growth relationship of the region. This confirms the menu cost theory of price setting: the higher the rate of inflation, the quicker the exchange rate pass-through effect. It is therefore recommended that policies to ensure appreciation of local currencies should be the priority of member nations.

Cette étude fait un examen théorique et empirique approfondi des effets de l'intégration économique régionale dans un espace en développement. En prenant le cas de la SADC (Southern African Developpment Community - Communauté des Etats de l'Afrique australe), l'objet est de vérifier si cette coopération Sud-Sud vérifie un ensemble des effets attendus de la régionalisation, à savoir, la création et la déviation de commerce, l'attractivité des investissements directs étrangers, la croissance endogène régionalisée et la synchronisation de l'évolution des économies intégrées. Après avoir présenté la trajectoire du régionalisme austral et les difficultés ainsi que les asymétries des gains liés à ce regroupement basé sur l'hétérogénéité des pays, nous montrons ensuite que l'intégration économique de la SADC génère des effets de création de commerce qui ne découlent pas forcément des effets de détournement, pour cause de raison structurelle. En effet, la SADC est un bloc commercial dont la structure productive ne permet pas de détourner ses échanges avec l'Extérieur, même si certains de nos résultats estiment un léger effet de détournement de commerce de la zone. Dans un autre contexte, nous justifions économétriquement que la SADC est un argument crédible en matière d'attractivité des investissements directs étrangers. La région a fait des efforts pour rendre ses économies attractives. Nos résultats montrent que l'intégration pourrait expliquer les 1/3 des IDE entrants au sein de la région depuis la refondation de l'organisation australe. Le reste des flux entrants serait dû aux effets spécifiques nationaux. On retient également de cette étude que la constitution d'un capital spatial austral semble valider l'hypothèse d'une croissance endogène régionalisée. Autrement dit, la SADC en tant qu'organisation régionale et spatiale serait un facteur de croissance économique pour les pays membres. Les principaux effets induits par la création du bloc austral (créations commerciales et flux des IDE, etc.) ont un impact favorable sur le PIB/tête des pays. Ceci nous amène alors à vérifier si les différents effets issus de la régionalisation australe permettent de surcroît la synchronisation des économies membres dans l'esprit de la théorie de l'endogénéité des critères de la ZMO. D'après nos estimations et nos résultats, il ressort que la teneur de ces effets est insuffisante pour permettre une même trajectoire convergente des économies de la SADC. Cependant, certains signes empiriques montrent que la SADC est une zone disposée à endogénéiser les critères d'optimalité en termes de convergence économique. Autrement dit, elle semble répondre à l'argument de Frankel et Rose (1998), puisque l'effet commercial a un signe négatif malgré le fait qu'il ne soit pas significatif. Enfin, contrairement à ce que l'on peut croire, la création d'une union monétaire au sein de la SADC n'est pas forcément favorable à la synchronisation de l'évolution des économies membres si l'on tient compte de l'évolution actuelle des choses.

This essay deals with the topic of regional integration in Africa. Using the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as an example, it seeks to answer the question what constitutes a successful region organisation. To do this a number of criteria defining success were developed and subsequently applied to the SADC, the main one beeing the organisations ability to adapt to change. In order to be able to show whether and how the SADC has reacted to and accommodated changes, the analysis was built around a description of the historical evolution of the SADC(C). The changes made by the SADC (political structure, membership, goals) have been summarised and assessed. Special attention was paid to the (potential) problems identified by Winfried Lang (1982).

Guided by the thoughts of Winfried Lang and the criteria used in this essay defining what constitutes a successful regional organisation, we find that the Southern African Development Community is rather successful. The SADCC seems to have created a good basis for integration, and the organisation has proven ist ability to adapt to changes, even if they are as all-embracing as the end of the apartheid regime in the RSA and the subsequent membership of the former opponent. One can thus suppose that the SADC could, if necessary, accomodate changed circumstances again, and is thus unlikely to become one of the many failed regional organisations in Africa.

 

Magister Legum - LLM
In terms of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), the main objective of the community is to achieve a monetary union through the creation of a regional central bank by 2016 and adoption of a single currency by 2018 in a systematic and progressive manner. The envisaged monetary union in the SADC is premised on a number of economic and financial regulations aimed at stimulating efforts by member states to achieve deeper forms of regional integration. The latter imperatives include a harmonised payment system as well as a corporate governance system among others. Nonetheless it is surprising how the pace of the process has been very subpar taking into consideration that it is the year 2015 and there has been no clear carved out legislation in any form which deals with the aspect of corporate governance raises concerns. This study serves as not only a reminder but also gives guidelines to taking progressive steps towards harmonised systems of law to ensure the efficient running of companies in SADC. This study is predicated upon other successful systems and the lessons that SADC could make use of as examples in creating a robust system of laws to ensure good corporate governance and in the long run the fulfilment of the concept of a monetary union.

Maize is the most grown staple crop in Africa, and white maize is of particular importance because it is the dominant staple food particularly throughout southern Africa to the extent that maize shortages lead to food security emergencies. These emergencies are compounded by SADC’s limited ability to respond to production and supply shocks. In response to these shocks, SADC countries supplement local maize production with trade and food aid leading to a robust regional white maize market. In an attempt to bolster trade SADC member states sign substantial regional arrangements, with similar objectives and common participants all in the hope of strengthening trade and with it maize trade. This study seeks to find means to improve intra-SADC maize trade relations, through defining the determinants for intra-regional maize trade, and determine if SADC members’ sub-regional groupings have an effect on maize trade. The study makes use of a gravity model to estimate the value of trade; specifically a Tobit model with random effects by Maximum Likelihood Estimation. The partner country population was found to have a positive effect (0.749) on maize trade at 5% level of significance. This suggests that countries that have greater populations and consequently larger market sizes for the regional staple maize tend to trade more. Maize aid distribution was found to be a statistically significant determinant of intra-regional maize trade to the extent that it encourages regional maize trade. Transport infrastructure was also found to positively influence intra-SADC maize trade, as infrastructure transportation systems are critical for the purposes of moving goods and labour to facilitate production and trade. The premise that bilateral maize trade between any two countries is negatively related to the relative importance of economic relationships between the reporter country and the partner countries that are located far away, as opposed to those located nearby, is supported by the negative impact distance has on maize trade (-1.670 significant at 10% level), while the propensity to trade increases if the two trading countries share a common border. The net grain position of member states influences intra-SADC maize trade as shown by the statistically significant positive relationship between trade and a net grain deficit position, suggesting that SADC member states are likely to engage in intra-SADC trade should they find themselves in a deficit trade position presumably from the nearest most accessible surplus state. Sub-regional groups SACU and COMESA were found to have no influence on maize trade.
Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2013.
Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development
unrestricted

Includes bibliographical references.
The literature is replete with the determinants of economic growth and identifies financial development as one of the important drivers of growth. Financial development is viewed as a process through which financial intermediaries such as banks lubricate the economy by creating a conduit for resources to flow from surplus sectors to deficit sectors. Effective financial development depends on many factors such as financial integration which facilitates international trade and free mobility of capital. However, in order for the positive impact of financial integration to be fully felt on financial development, it must stimulate competition in the domestic banking market without eroding financial stability. Therefore, the central hypothesis of this study is that financial integration can enhance financial development if such integration makes the local banking industry more competitive without increasing its vulnerability to financial instability. The study employs various panel data techniques to test this hypothesis using the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a case study. The findings reveal that the banking industry in SADC is characterised by monopolistic competition. In addition, financial integration enhances banking competitiveness in the region through removal of barriers to free flow of capital between countries. Furthermore, higher competition is found to be good for financial development as it reduces the magnitude of the financial intermediation spread. Moreover, the study finds that the flipside of financial integration lies in its potential to cause financial instability in the region with negative repercussions for financial intermediation. The findings imply that, even though financial integration is good for financial development through its ability to increase the degree of competition in the banking industry and reduce the spread between lending and deposit rates, member states must put policies in place to effectively prevent the likely erosion of financial stability. No single policy is sufficient on its own to achieve this. Therefore, this study recommends that as members of SADC move towards deeper financial integration, they must ensure that they formulate and implement sound and appropriate common policies in order to ensure that financial stability is not compromised as restrictions to capital-flows are abolished or reduced. Such a policy-mix requires four ingredients, namely; sound financial liberalisation policies, competition policies, macroeconomic policies and regulatory and supervisory policies.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) experiences high levels of cross border human traffic due to trade, cultural and language links across the fifteen countries. Technological advances and increased domestic competition have contributed to lower domestic retail tariffs for mobile cellular services. Unfortunately, this has not extended to international mobile roaming (IMR) retail tariffs which remain unacceptably high. These high tariffs have attracted harsh criticism from commentators and prompted calls for regulatory intervention. This study investigates the level of international mobile roaming (IMR) retail tariffs, usage and demand elasticity. It further considers whether competition or regulation play a greater role in reducing these tariffs and whether regulatory intervention is likely to reduce competition. The research took the form of a quantitative study and used an online survey questionnaire as the data collection tool. The results of the study confirmed that international mobile roaming (IMR) retail tariffs are indeed high, resulting in poor uptake by cost conscious travellers who pay for their own cellular usage. The finding that competition plays a greater role than regulation in reducing IMR retail tariffs is not significant. It was concluded that neither competition nor regulation are sufficient on their own to provide increased social welfare. The best result is obtained when competition is allowed to flourish, underpinned by an enabling regulatory framework. Copyright
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

Thesis (DTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008
The research explores an evaluation of cross-border electricity trading among countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Understanding this trading achieve through an analysis of various global electricity markets. The research disclose that in the electricity markets in Europe, North America, South America and Asia analysed in this thesis, none managed to successful eliminate power shortages. Their situation, however, is different from that of the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP). The apparent poor design of the SAPP as a regional power pool impacts negatively on power trading within its region. A strategic public management model was used to analyse the organisational dynamics of the electricity companies of the three countries selected for this research (Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Zimbabwe). A Strength Weakness Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis carried out on these markets indicated that there are problems among different electricity companies, each requiring a solution. Each country's evaluation highlighted a need for an accountable government to implement a goal-directed policy to militate against any dysfunctional operations by the electricity companies. The quantitative and qualitative data analyses of the fieldwork results showed the SAPP had struggled hard to increase the capacity of members' power trading. The study indicated internal problems in terms of increasing trading volumes. The time series analysis showed power trading in the short-term electricity market had decreased annually. Linear regression analysis also indicated a decline in the capacity of the SAPP. A number of factors could explain the reduction of capacity in the SAPP, but the research results suggested a strong probability that electricity capacity would decrease further, as the countries, trading in the power pool have experienced decreased electricity volume annually because of internal demand. In addition to a number of. recommendations, the research proposes a normative model that could be used by nations to manage and assess the electricity market. An understanding of the input as adapted from Easton inpuUoutput normative 11 transformational systems model, in terms of different governments, should assist policy-makers to transform the power trading generating distribution industry. Global experience shows the need to establish a normative transformation of the electricity industry in the SADC region. It is clear from the results of this study that the SADC electricity markets have been poorly transformed in terms of a particular normative guideline. The situation has also disadvantaged the SAPP, which, in recent times, had less electricity capacity with which to trade. Implementation of the normative model in the context of this study sought to analyse all aspects that might influence the transformation of the electricity sector, and to grow a currently dysfunctional state to that of functionality and reliability. While each country faced its own reality in terms of the transformation of its public enterprises, the study recommends the normative model be implemented in the same way in each selected country.

The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the readiness of SADC economies to complete the process of monetary integration in the region and to form a monetary union and adopt a common currency. This is done against the backdrop of optimal currency area (OCA) theory. Given this objective, the study hypothesizes that the majority of SADC economies in the region are potential candidates to bring the proposed monetary union into existence sometime in the future, if not in 2018 as proposed by SADC secretariat. The study uses a mix of different methodologies ranging from developing a conceptual framework to empirical investigation in order to answer the research questions and to test the hypotheses. In addition to theoretical reviews and discussions, four findings emerge as fundamental from the four essays. First, from the Triples test the study has not found significant evidence to reject the null hypothesis of „structural symmetry‟ among ten SADC member countries. 10 out of 15 members (i.e.66.67 percent) have exhibited structural symmetry in their real business cycles over the study period. However, close to 50 percent of the member states have weak cyclical co-movements with a low relative intensity. Taking the experience of the EMU where just five countries are able to create havoc in the entire union, we can safely say that the findings from the combined three tests from the first essay confirm that there is still work that needs to be done to coordinate economic policies in the region to improve real economic integration before entry into the proposed monetary union in 2018. In Essay 2, the study finds that the generalised purchasing power parity (GPPP) hypothesis holds for SADC economies given the stationary panel of RER series with one cointegrating relationship as exhibited by trace statistics and the existence of a long run co-integrating relationship amongst the system of real exchange rates. This implies that there is potential for relative prices to converge in the region in the long run, hence SADC is a potential OCA, based on the criteria of price convergence. However, the slow speed of adjustment towards GPPP long run equilibrium should be a warning for the possible ineffectiveness of policy to defend these countries against external shocks. In Essay 3, the Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (BDS) test and Fourier approximation confirm the non linear nature of real exchange series in SADC economies. This finding further supports an OCA in the region comprising those countries included in the study. The findings in this essay further strengthen the findings from the previous two essays that claim that member states could constitute a monetary union in the region at some future date. Lastly, the fourth essay, using a long run dynamic panel model finds that there are common policy variables determining the real exchange rate (RER)/ the real effective exchange rate (REER) series of SADC economies. The RER/REER equilibrium analysis reveals that SADC economies are characterised by persistent misalignment. This calls for further policy coordination and policy harmonisation in the region. By considering findings from all the four essays the study finds that nine SADC countries can potentially constitute SADC-OCA namely; Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. Angola and Mauritius disqualified from a SADC-OCA at least for the sample period considered in this study. Lesotho, DRC, and Zimbabwe are not included due to data limitations, otherwise Lesotho could join the qualifying group of countries given long experience with the Common Monetary Area (CMA). To reap benefits SADC economic integration initiatives, it requires realistic time span, political will, common understandings and awareness, commitment and self-disciplined policy actions from member states and their fellow citizens.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
tm2015
Economics
PhD
Unrestricted

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the extreme inequality in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, and pushed millions into poverty. The economic crisis continues due to the obscene global vaccine inequality. As of end March 2022, a dismal 14% of SADC citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 65.5% in the United States and 73% in the European Union. In 2021, with infections rising in SADC, the critical health, social protection and economic programmes put in place by most governments in 2020 were rolled back and replaced with austerity, in the context of growing debt burdens and lack of external support for country budgets. Such austerity has been built into IMF programmes in the region. Recovering from the pandemic, however, offers SADC governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do what their citizens want: increase taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, boost public spending (especially on healthcare, education and social protection), and increase workers’ rights as well as tackling joblessness and precarious work. With external support, including through debt relief and aid, they could reduce inequality drastically and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the extreme inequality in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, and pushed millions into poverty. The economic crisis continues due to the obscene global vaccine inequality. As of end March 2022, a dismal 14% of SADC citizens had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared with 65.5% in the United States and 73% in the European Union. In 2021, with infections rising in SADC, the critical health, social protection and economic programmes put in place by most governments in 2020 were rolled back and replaced with austerity, in the context of growing debt burdens and lack of external support for country budgets. Such austerity has been built into IMF programmes in the region. Recovering from the pandemic, however, offers SADC governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do what their citizens want: increase taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, boost public spending (especially on healthcare, education and social protection), and increase workers’ rights as well as tackling joblessness and precarious work. With external support, including through debt relief and aid, they could reduce inequality drastically and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.

This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.