GCRO 2019/20 Annual Report
This Annual Report covers the 2019/20 financial year, the final full year in the GCRO's five year strategic plan - approved in late 2014 - for the period 2015/16 to 2019/20. This was a year of major strategic planning for the organisation, as we took stock of the last five years of work, and developed new plans for the 2020/21 to 2024/25 period. GCRO also saw major introspection on it's organisational structure, working practices and production processes, and identified a host of new innovations. In the last month of the financial year COVID-19 hit South Africa, bringing a key new point of focus to GCRO's work..
Date of publication:
January 2021
GCRO 2018/19 Annual Report
The fourth year of GCRO 2015/16 to 2019/20 five year strategic plan saw a range of significant achievements, including: the launch of results from the fifth Quality of Life Survey (2017/18) in November 2018; a major exhibition - We are here - at the Metropolis Annual General Meeting in Johannesburg; the completion of a pilot firm level survey; major support to a GPG end-of-term review process; and the finalisation of a number of GCRO publications. Sadly, the year also saw the retirement of GCRO's long-standing finance and admin manager, Adele Underhay, who had been with the organisation since its inception.
Date of publication:
December 2020
GCRO 2017/18 Annual Report
In late 2014 the GCRO Board approved a new five year strategy for the period 2015/16 to 2019/20. This Annual Report covers 2017/18 financial year, the third year of the five year plan.. After hiring a number of new researchers in late 2016 and moving into new office space in early 2017, the financial year April 2017 to March 2018 saw this increase in capacity begin to bear fruit, with the initiation of a range of newly defined research projects. Considerable progress was made on the fifth iteration of the Quality of Life Survey, although delays in fieldwork will see the survey only concluded in 2018/19. Highlights included the publication of four significant Research Reports, a major exhibition at the Seoul Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism (reproduced as part of the GPG stand at the World Urban Forum in early 2018), strong participation in the African Centre for Cities International Conference, and a Routledge book published on the space economy of the GCR.
Date of publication:
January 2020
GCRO 2016/2017 Annual Report
This Annual Report covers the 2016/17 financial year, the second full year in the GCRO's current five year strategic plan - approved in late 2014 - for the period 2015/16 to 2019/20. This was a year of much growth for the GCRO, as a host of new researchers hired at the end of 2015 began to find their feet, and as we occupied new and expanded office space on the 6th floor of Wits' University Corner in March 2017. Results from the fourth Quality of Life survey for 2015/16, now with 30 000 respondents, were launched in June 2016, and important new programmes of research, including a 'city-region economies' thrust, and within this a pilot firm survey, got underway.
Date of publication:
January 2019
GCRO 2015/2016 Annual Report
GCRO is a partnership between the Gauteng Provincial Government, the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), and organised local government in Gauteng. This report covers the 2015/16 financial year, the first in the GCRO's current five year strategic plan for 2015/16 to 2019/20. This was a turbulent year for the higher education sector in South Africa, and indeed for South Africa as a whole. It was also a year of much change for GCRO with a number of staff leaving - including GCRO's founding Executive Director Prof. David Everatt - and new talent joining. The year saw a number of important milestones, including the running of the fourth Quality of Life Survey, a complete organisational rebranding and launch of the new website, as well as a significant uptick in both academic output and support work to government.
Date of publication:
January 2016
