For effective development planning, goal setting, monitoring and evaluation, access to information on the state of development is critical. Development reports often provide key sources of information on the state of human development, whether it is across the globe, for different regions or for specific countries. South Africa has a rich resource base of data on development generated through national surveys such as the Census data, General Household Survey and the Labour Force Survey. However a gap remains in that it lacks a national recurring state of development report which informs and advises all players on critical development issues and which includes both quantitative and qualitative data.

This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study conducted during 2013 based on a review of international and South African experiences of human development reporting process as well as primary research with key role players in South Africa’s development arena. The study commissioned by the National Development Agency (NDA) was aimed at providing a blueprint for the NDA on developing an Annual State of Development Report by firstly assessing the need for such a report, secondly identifying the core focus of such report if developed and thirdly to offer guidance on how to institutionalize the development of such a report in respect of the principles and process for the development, production and dissemination of a National Annual Development Report for South Africa.<