TAARN is a network of those concerned with applying research on chiefs to various development issues. TAARN’s major project is the IDRC-funded project entitled "Traditional Leaders and Local Governance in Social Policy in West and Southern Africa". This project involves researchers and policy practitioners from Ghana, Botswana, South Africa and the University of Calgary.
The specific objectives of this project are to:
a) Identify and analyze the traditional values that affect social policy processes in the areas of land tenure, health and education, including those related to gender and conflict resolution, allocation and pooling of resources, and access to services;
b) Identify the autonomous traditional authority structures inside and outside the state structure in order to examine what role they play in the social policy process put in place by the state;
c) Identify ways in which traditional values, traditional structures and community participation can be incorporated into social policy processes put in place by the state in order to enhance the responsiveness, effectiveness and equity of selected social policies;
d) Conduct a comparative analysis among the selected countries in order to identify the nature and the effect of the diverse contributions of traditional values and authority structures in social policy processes;
e) Make policy recommendations and disseminate the results of the project.