Impact of Astronomical Facilities on Local Development - Perspectives from Sutherland: An OAD Report

Astronomy has played an important role in shaping our understanding of the universe and ourplace in it, especially since our identity as the human race is in one way or another tied to thestars. In recent times, the role of astronomy in socio-economic development on the home base(Earth) has been brought into the spotlight, leading to the establishment of the Office ofAstronomy for Development (OAD) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Put simply,the OAD’s mandate is to work on translating astronomy into development related outcomes,guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The OAD strives to promote theattainment of various SDGs through participating in and funding different activities. Based on anassessment of past project lessons, experience, international consultations and trends, the OADidentified “flagship projects” that would be driven from the office itself. “Sustainable LocalSocio-Economic Development Through Astronomy” is one of two main flagship projects that theOAD is currently seized with driving into the foreseeable future. This theme seeks to harnessthe potential of astronomical facilities (such as observatories) to stimulate local socio-economicdevelopment mainly through astro-tourism. To achieve that, it is important to understanddevelopment from the perspective of the community. Hence a diverse team of OAD fellowsvisited Sutherland [a town in Northern Cape, South Africa that hosts the Southern Africa LargeTelescope (SALT)] in June 2019 to seek some community perspectives and to also qualitativelyassess the impact of the SALT telescope and the Sutherland Observatory in general on localsocio-economic development. After a series of interviews with different stakeholders of theSutherland community, we note overall that the populations are either satisfied with, or haveneutral opinions about the presence of the observatory and its outreach activities. The studyreveals that although the SAAO has positively impacted local socio-economic development inthe town of Sutherland through creation of jobs and its diverse outreach activities, manychallenges such as unemployment and school dropout still face the local communities. Wepropose different ways in which the observatory can further use astronomy to leveragesocio-economic development in Sutherland, and improve its relations with the local communities.