Developing and Retaining the Next Generation of African Academics: Sustaining the Next Generation

Bhekinkosi MoyoTrustAfrica

•About TrustAfrica

•Definitions and Context for Policy Making

•Frameworks on Sustainability

•Dialogues on Higher Education

An African institution

Rooted in Africa, with headquarters in Senegal

Led by trustees and staff from across the continent

Active in all sub-regions plus the Diaspora

Supported by a broad mix of foundations, government agencies and individuals

About civic engagement and policy advocacy on treaties and committments

How we work

We convene workshops where Africans can forge partnerships and set their own priorities for democracy and development

We make grants to civil society groups working to build a safe, free, and prosperous Africa

We provide technical assistance to strengthen civil society organizations, including mobility support

We generate knowledge on policy and advocacy related strategies

Our core programs

Democracy & Civil SocietySecuring the conditions for democratic governance by strengthening civil society

Equitable DevelopmentFostering African enterprise and extending the benefits of economic growth to all members of society

African PhilanthropyLeveraging new and traditional forms of African giving and minimizing reliance on external donors

REFLECTIONS ON SUSTAINING THE NEW GENERATION

Definition and context

• Sustainability is simply defined as the ability to endure (endurance)-remaining diverse and productive over a long timeframe (persistence).

• It is also a potential for long term life span taking on many dimensions-economic, social and environmental (note that the economy and society are constrained by environmental limits)

• The move to sustainability (institutional or otherwise) is driven by the attention on outcomes based funding in part-arguing that outcomes must be evident and must remain long enough to have an impact

• Yet it is difficult to formulate and implement sustainable policies in the current context where decision making in the democratic or non-democratic structure tends to be inherently short sighted due to pursuits of electoral office and demands of the constituencies are of central concern to officials and bureaucrats (this is against the needs of future generations), essentially policy making is a political process-normally short term.

• Democratic institutions are also weak; and social and economic structures are in-egalitarian 5

REFLECTIONS CONTINUED

• Four groups of independent variables affect policy implementation: environmental (physical, socio-economic and political structures), inter-organisational relationships (linkages, coordination), resources and attitudes/skills etc)

• Most governments in Africa are funded by external donors-who also take an interest and fund policies; by default most policies are set by external actors. Even the innovations that are developed to address this dependency are also funded by external donors

• The state is indispensable, hence the need for stable environments

In many ways what this shows is that addressing sustainability requires;

Rethinking organizational missions

Restructuring programs (in the case of universities, restructuring courses, research programs and life on campus)

Contextualizing knowledge in a globalised society and opening up closed spaces 6

GENERATIONAL FRAMEWORKS ON SUSTAINABILITY

• Economic model: something is sustainable if recipients continue to get the intended economic benefits even after economic inputs have long stopped. Sustainability here refers to the ability of an initiative to be financially self sufficient and maintain service levels after funding has ended

• Socio-political model: sustainability here refers to the transfer of power, skills, knowledge, structures, etc from initial project implementers to subsequent generations of actors. In the field of higher education, sustainability in this case refers to the establishments of mechanisms that facilitate citizens participation, for example associations, unions, governance structures that are inclusive, etc

• Ecological model: refers to the survival of individuals and cultures-focuses on preserving resources for future generations as opposed to the economic model that focuses on the productive use of resources. Emphasis here is how current decisions impact on the productivity of future societies-making universities more viable and enduring assets (community ownership and investments)

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GENERATIONAL FRAMEWORKS

• Innovation-diffusion model: here sustainability depends on community acceptance of values and mechanisms associated with an innovation or initiative. In other words, a project is sustainable if those involved feel ownership and are kept involved (collective participation and partnerships are crucial from the planning phase, and social processes are used for implementation and dissemination). This is the approach that TA uses. Effective leadership is also an important factor

Here understanding one’s role in the project is important as it facilitates local ownership and the re-organisation of power structures within a particular community-a university in this case. Thus decision-making ceases to be an exclusive domain of certain groups (politicians or university officials) but rather collaborative, and within a power-sharing model what in Political Science would be an equivalent of consociations/consensus building to avoid resistance

Long term sustainability depends on local leadership (developed) and social cohesion (fostered)-even though good planning, resources, transparency, skills etc are important

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GENERATIONAL FRAMEWORKS

Local leadership and social cohesion require patience and long term frameworks-which sometimes are ad odds with outcome based planning and evaluations

Because at the end of it all, sustainability might be better assessed in terms of subsequent behaviour of participants rather than in terms of organisational structures

Thus financial resources should not be the only focus of sustainability, rather these should be seen as practical ways that support ideas and innovations to sustain the new generation of academics.

Sustainability is both an outcome and process ( as a catalyst for educational change and institutional innovation)

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POLICY DIALOGUE SERIES ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA

• Goal: To promote higher education transformation in Africa through policy dialogues

Strategic Objectives:

• Build an effective platform, network and a movement for the revitalization of the African university system and identify reform issues in higher education in Africa (linking various actors such as social movements, private sector and various formations taking up higher education as a platform for advocacy, campaigns and seismic shifts within the broader sphere of governance, policy and leadership development);

• Initiate, own and sustain policy dialogues on higher education among key stakeholders in higher education in Africa;

• Build an African constituency (coalition) that places higher education at the centre of the generation of knowledge so crucial for societal development (this is designed along TrustAfrica’s approach and values-consultations, solidarity and ownership, partnerships building and collaboration, dialogue and African agency)

• Leverage resources for higher education transformation and ownership in Africa. 10

POLICY DIALOGUE SERIES ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA

Key Activities:

• Scoping studies of organizations, situational analysis of policies and database development (Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda)

• Policy dialogues and Convenings (six-two pan African and four in-country dialogues) One held already at UB-whose main emergent trends are, definition of transformation, ownership of the university, breaking down the walls, mobilization of different stakeholders in the governance and ownership of the university, etc.

• Capacity Strengthening-through a small grants facility around such areas as governance, board development, policy analysis, report writing, strategy development, policy engagements, internship programs, exchange programs, communication, publications and conference attendance

• Discussion forums, and policy briefs, and webcasts

• Technical assistance

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