Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service

Abstract

As a result of the way in which community service (CS) partnerships are structured, these partnerships may be dominated by universities, which in some cases become too involved in the operational side of addressing   community needs. This article briefly assesses community service learning, action research and CS partnerships. The two research partnerships of the Centre for Development Support are then described and lessons from these case studies are identified. The main lesson is that CS partnerships should be reassessed. It is proposed that a university does not have to be directly involved, as an implementation agency, in order to address the socio-economic realities of our society. The possibility of linking such partnerships with accredited student learning is pointed out, along with the importance of conducting research that is relevant to the socio-economic realities in South Africa, and the fact that CS and the entrepreneurial route are not necessarily mutually exclusive.