SSA’s overall mandate is operationalized through three main mutually interrelated areas namely, research, consultations and outreach. 

SSA’s research mandate involve wide dissemination of original research by contributing to programs that further development and social change. Through its research, SSA facilitates a critical understanding of these changes and responds to them in a manner that promotes social and political transformation.

SSA’s consultations involve collaborating with international development agencies and local partners to design and implement research and develop measurable indicators, surveys, and opinion polls that deal with the political economy of development, democracy, human rights, gender equity, and conflict resolution. For decades, international funding agencies have relied on SSA’s capacity to efficiently design, execute, and disseminate research for evidence-based policymaking.

SSA’s outreach is targeted at established as well as upcoming researchers, academics, government and non-governmental stakeholders, and the general public. With a history of responding rapidly to political developments and crises, SSA has organized and continues to organize workshops, discussion groups, and book launches which have attracted local and foreign scholars as well as sections of the concerned public.