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Title: Programme Assistant (Professional Development, Training and Fellowships Programme)

Reports to: Programme Manager

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Open to: Kenyan Residents and Nationals

Duration: 1 year contract (Renewable)

Application deadline: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 (1700hrs Kenyan Time)

Background

The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) is an independent, non-partisan pan-African not-for-profit organisation established in 2011 and located in Nairobi, Kenya. PASGR is working in more than 14 African countries to enhance research excellence in governance and public policy that contributes to the overall well being of the citizens. Our vision is ‘a vibrant African social science community addressing the continent’s public policy issues’.

In partnership with individual academics and researchers, higher education institutions, research think tanks, civil society organisations, business and policy communities both in the region and internationally, PASGR supports the production and dissemination of policy relevant research; designs and delivers short professional development courses for researchers and policy actors; and facilitates the development of collaborative higher education programmes and manages fellowships to support scholarship and research.

Professional Development, Training and Fellowships is one of the three core PASGR’s programmes responsible for research capacity strengthening and administration of fellowships.

 Key Responsibilities

Training Support

Support the training function of the programme including marketing of the programme, call for application preparation, selection process, invitations for participation, source for training venues, instructors’ logistical supports including travels and accommodation, and training materials preparation.
Support to the digitization of the PDT courses and delivery of online courses.
Support to the management and capacity strengthening efforts of the body of instructors

2. Coordination of Fellowships

Provide support to the Programme Manager and the Higher Education Programme team in the coordination and implementation of fellowships, including selection of fellows.
Assist with the implementation of the fellowships’ activities including the Joint Annual Academic Seminars.
Manage timely payment of fellowships related costs.
Facilitate and manage communication with fellows.
Support donor engagement by preparing and availing documents required for grant management and reporting.

3. Resource Mobilization

Identify and disseminate funding opportunities to programme teams.
Working with Programme teams, participate in the entire proposal development of identified funding opportunities.

4. Programme Implementation Support

Support and carry out monitoring and evaluation of the Programme activities.
- Provide support in the preparation and tracking of PDT budgets, procurement of services, processing of payment requests and budget reconciliations.
- Take charge of all programme’s documentation including print and electronic filing to ensure safe storage and easy retrieval of PDT information. This also includes maintaining of an updated contact database.
- Set up Programme’s virtual and physical meetings including taking minutes and ensuring that agreed action points are well documented and actioned.
- Prepare programme’s reports, service contracts, presentations, including editing and formatting.
- Receive and respond to general enquiries about the Programme, as well as to requests from partners and collaborators.
- Handle all logistical support for training workshops and meetings.

Competences

Initiative, creativity, enthusiasm, maturity, tact and high sense of responsibility.
High level of computer literacy.
Ability to learn new tools, tasks and skills quickly.
Attention to detail.
Excellent organisation skills.
Professionalism and adherence to deadlines.
Excellent oral and written communication in English.
Ability to work independently, set priorities, juggle tasks and meet tight deadlines.
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multicultural and multi-ethnic environment.

Qualifications and Experience

Masters in any of the Social Sciences, Education or related disciplines such as Business, Communications and Development Studies.
Post qualification experience in any of the following areas preferably with an international or similar regional/ national organization would be an advantage: fundraising and proposal writing; coordination of training programmes; programme management, Monitoring and Evaluation; advocacy; policy engagement.

How to Apply

Applications should be sent to info@pasgr.org by July 8, 2020. The email must include: a CV and a cover letter.

Background

Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PedaL) is a partnership of eight institutions whose aim is to catalyse systemic change in teaching and learning in African universities. The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) is the Prime Agency, leading 7 other partners including Alliance for Research Universities in Africa (ARUA), Institute of Development Studies (IDS) of the University of Sussex, UK; as well as five implementing partner universities. The implementing partner universities are namely, the University of Ghana in Ghana, University of Ibadan in Nigeria, University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Egerton University in Kenya and Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda. PedaL was designed around four phases, namely planning and delivery preparations; training and graduated roll out of PedaL in social science programmes of 5 core partner universities; sustainability planning and scale-up; and finally evaluation as the last phase. The project has been in operation since July 2017 and is expected to end in September 2021.

Purpose of the Assignment

PedaL embodies three key interventions: training; application of newly learnt teaching and learning methods (PedaL pedagogy) to deliver social science programmes; and leadership that entails influencing others to replicate PedaL for greater impact. The consultant/evaluator will lead the evaluation of PedaL with the view to provide information and knowledge about what has been achieved, how, and what lessons to derive from this, for the partnership and other stakeholders. The evaluation will go beyond impact in line with the PedaL theory of change to establishing the mechanisms under which the results have been achieved. The evaluation will further seek to understand what elements of PedaL have contributed significantly to the transformation of teaching and learning in the target higher education institutions; and how positive relationships and trends that have emerged can be sustained and enhanced.

Findings and conclusion from the evaluation will be shared with the PedaL and SPHEIR partnerships as well as wider interested groups including higher education institutions, networks, and knowledge systems in Africa and beyond.

Scope of the Work

The evaluation should review all aspects in line with the PedaL theory of change from its inception in May 2018 to date. The consultant will be expected to implement a robust evaluation approach that would yield defensible and credible findings. The project evaluation will cover the quality and quantity of PedaL outputs spanning all university programmes that have implemented PedaL across the continent. The teaching staff trained and others that they have engaged as well as the students who have participated in target PedaL programmes will also be engaged; so will other stakeholders such as potential employers and policymakers at different levels. PedaL has trained over 1,000 teaching staff from the five implementing partner universities (University of Dar es Salaam, Egerton University, University of Ghana, University of Ibadan and Uganda Martyrs University) and more than 50 other African universities. PedaL evaluation will be aimed at establishing the impact of project interventions specifically on 25 graduate social science programmes of the five universities, as well as the spillover effect on other programmes within and without the core universities. The focus will also be on the range of outcomes leveraged from PedaL and the extent to which these outcomes can be sustained to create the expected impact. The evaluation, which is to begin in August, is estimated to last for a maximum of 5 months, with the final report expected out by March 2021.

Evaluation Objectives

The evaluation will be aimed at establishing, among other things the effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact of PedaL:

Effectiveness – whether PedaL is producing the expected results;
Efficiency – whether PedaL outcomes were achieved with the least possible resources;
Sustainability – whether PedaL outcomes can be maintained over a long period of time; and,
Impact – whether the benefits accruing from PedaL outcomes extend beyond the direct beneficiaries in a way that influences the higher education ecosystem in Africa.

The consultant will need to explore intended and unintended outcomes for purposes of accountability and, more importantly, for learning within and beyond the partnership.

Accordingly, the objectives of the evaluation are to:

Independently verify (and supplement where necessary), the record of achievement of the project as reported through its annual reports and defined in the project results framework;
Analyse the extent to which factors that have influenced the achievement of project outcomes can be leveraged for the sustainability of PedaL;

Document lessons learnt;

Suggest recommendations for improving the programme’s design and implementation for scale-up and sustained impact.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation will use these five standard criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability.

Method of the Evaluation

The impact of PedaL is expected to be assessed through teaching staff and students’ perceptions of learning experiences and assessment of student learning outcomes. These will be explored through teaching staff and student surveys, review of teaching and learning materials, review of student and teaching staff artifacts as well as in-depth case studies, and other process tracing methodologies. Although a theory-based approach is preferred for PedaL evaluation, the consultant will be expected to apply a mixed-methods approach to allow for triangulation. Whichever the methods applied, the consultant should be able to explore how different dimensions of the project (such as structures and processes) work together to produce the desired outcomes and impact as well as test the underlying assumptions. It is envisaged that beyond measuring results, it will be possible to understand how and why these results have/have not been achieved, implying the need for an adaptive methodology. The evaluation methodology may, therefore, include contribution analysis (as a mandatory method), interviews, desk reviews, case studies, change/impact stories, case studies, institutional visits, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and analysis of administrative data, among others.

The evaluator will be expected to include in the inception report a detailed statement of the method of evaluation showing how each of the evaluation objectives and questions will be answered.

Roles and Responsibilities

PedaL partnership will be responsible for:

Availing the relevant baseline data and other relevant documents;
Facilitating access to respondents;
Periodic review of work in progress and provision of feedback;
Dissemination and utilization of the results of the evaluation;
Implementation of quality checks and controls designed in collaboration with the consultant to ensure the quality of the information being collected during the evaluation process.

The consultant will be responsible for:

Development of a detailed work plan for designing and executing the evaluation;
Preparation of the design for the evaluation;
Refining the proposed methodology for answering the evaluation questions identified;
Deciding on the detailed evaluation questions and data sources and instruments to be used for addressing them;
Designing the data collection instruments to capture all the variables of interest;
Working collaboratively with PedaL Team Leader, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer and university MEL Leads to manage the evaluation as it unfolds;
Implementation of quality checks and controls designed in collaboration with PedaL evaluation steering group to ensure the quality of the information being collected during the evaluation process;
Development of outline of the final report for review by the members of PedaL evaluation steering group;
Conducting data analysis (both qualitative and quantitative) and writing draft and final reports from the analysed results; and,
Ensuring that the data is maintained and stored in a manner that is fully confidential; all collected data should only be made available to the responsible persons within the PedaL partnership.

Deliverables

An inception report that clarifies the consultant’s understanding of the TOR and demonstrating how the evaluation questions will be answered including the proposed methods, sources of data and data collection tools and evaluation work plan, and how data analysis will be triangulated for validation of the findings;
Draft evaluation report;
Presentation of findings to the PedaL partnership;
A summarized PowerPoint presentation of the findings;
Final evaluation report with clear findings and recommendations presented in a publishable format for internal use as well as dissemination to stakeholders including to SPHEIR; and,
An abridged version of the report for quick reference and consumption.

Proposed Timelines

The expected timelines for delivery will be:

Deliverable	Descriptions	Timeframes
An Inception Report	The inception report should capture the intervention logic based on desk reviews, the ToR, and other project documents. The consultant’s initial thoughts on the evaluation approach design should also be included.	10 working days from the time the contract is awarded.
A detailed proposed evaluation plan	A comprehensive plan that captures the timings of evaluation tasks and the associated deliverables including, data collection, analysis, reporting, and dissemination of the evaluation results.	1 working day
Managing data collection	Executing the proposed evaluation plan so to collect data that meets all the data quality criteria of validity, integrity, precision, reliability, and timeliness.	30 working days

Data analysis	Data cleaning, processing, and analysis in response to the evaluation questions and objectives.	10 working days
A draft Evaluation Report	A complete draft evaluation report should be available to be discussed among the relevant stakeholders in order to provide comments.	14 working days
Final Evaluation Report	The report should include, but not limited to the following content areas:Executive summaryTable of contentProject descriptionEvaluation purposeEvaluation methodologyMain findings Lessons learnedConclusion and recommendationsAnnexes (including a list of key informant interviewed/consulted during data collection, a record of interviews and focused group discussions conducted, etc.)	The final evaluation report should be submitted by March 5, 2021.

Required Expertise & Qualification

At least a master’s degree in a relevant area (education, project management, impact evaluation, etc.);
Prior experience in design and leading evaluation, data analysis skills, and knowledge of the regional and institutional context, and have technical competence in the higher education sub-sector;
A minimum of 5 years of practical experience in evaluation research spanning qualitative and quantitative suite of designs;
Working experience in Africa is desirable;
Working experience with higher education institutions;
Excellent and proven analytical skills;
Excellent and proven English writing skills; and,
Excellent organizational and communication skills, ability to prioritize and work with minimum supervision.

Reporting Requirements

The consultant will work in close consultation with PedaL Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Officer, who will backstop on all the issues of planning, execution, and reporting of the evaluation findings.

Budget and Payment Terms

The proposal should include a detailed budget in GPB, specifying all the costs, and any applicable taxes required to execute the scope of work and obtain the deliverables. The consultant should provide a breakdown of costs by tasks (for example, data collection, data cleaning, data analysis, report preparation, etc.). Payments will be phased based on tasks and approved deliverables.

Application Procedures

Interested applicants who meet the job requirements and qualifications and with the right personal attributes are invited to complete and submit the following:

A technical proposal answering to the TOR;
Financial proposal;
A brief description of the evaluator outlining recent experience in similar assignments (three assignments over the past four years);
At least three references of similar assignments;
At least 2 samples of work similar to this assignment;
An up-to-date CV.

All applications should be sent to PASGR info@pasgr.org by June 30, 2020. Quote “EOI -PedaL Evaluation” in the subject line of your email.

Click here to download the document in PDF.

Keynote Speakers:
Tade Akin Aina Executive Director, Partnership for African Social Governance and Research (PASGR), Nairobi, Kenya.
Tatiana Carayannis Director, Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, Understanding Violent Conflict, China-Africa Knowledge Project, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Brooklyn, USA.
Bhekinkosi Moyo Director, The Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), Wits Business School, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Moderators: Maribel Morey & Lars Trägårdh ESBH, Center on Civil Society Research Philanthropy and Democracy Program
the FOURTH annual seminar on philanthropy:
VIRTUAL Seminar Thursday, MAY 14, 2020 10:00-15:30, Stockholm Time

For Further Seminar Details, Please Register by Emailing maribel.Morey@esh.se

Introductions
10.00-10.05 Welcome by Magnus Karlsson, Head of the Center on Civil Society Research, ESBH 10.05-10.10 Introduction by Lars Trägårdh, Director of the Philanthropy and Democracy Program at ESBH 10.10-10.20 Introduction by Maribel Morey, HistPhil co-editor and Guest Researcher, Philanthropy and Democracy Program at ESBH

I. Philanthropic Practices and Philanthropy Research in Africa
10.20-10.45 Keynote I: Bhekinkosi Moyo, The Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), Wits Business School, Johannesburg, South Africa: Philanthropy in Africa Today 10.45-11.00 Q&A with Bhekinkosi Moyo led by Tade Akin Aina, Partnership for African Social Governance and Research (PASGR), Nairobi, Kenya
11.00-11.25

Keynote II: Tade Akin Aina, Understanding African Philanthropy and Philanthropy in Africa
11.25-11.40 Q&A with Tade Akin Aina led by Bhekinkosi Moyo 11.40-12.15 Q&A with Tade Akin Aiana and Bhekinkosi Moyo led by Maribel Morey, ESBH
12.15-13.30 Break
II. International Civil Society and Africa 13.30-14.00 Keynote III: Tatiana Carayannis, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Brooklyn, USA, The Third United Nations
14.00-14.15 Q&A with Tatiana Carayannis led by Lars Trägårdh, ESBH
14.15-14.35 Tade Akin Aina, Africa and International Order beyond Neoliberalism 14.35-15.00 Q&A with Tade Akin Aina led by Tatiana Carayannis

III. Closing Remarks
15.00-15.20 Bhekinkosi Moyo, Some Final Reflections on Philanthropy in Africa
15.20-15.30 Final Q&A with virtual audience led by Maribel Morey

the Fourth annual seminar on philanthropy
F o r F u r t h e r S E m i n a r D e t a i l s , P l e a s e R e g i s t e r b y E m a i l i n g m a r i b e l . M o r e y @ e s h . s e

The maiden edition of The Policy Forum programme held on Monday, the 28th of October, 2019; by 12 noon prompt at Four Points by Sheraton, Oniru Chieftaincy Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Of all the 5 growth drivers – strong institutions, human capital, entrepreneurship, culture, and public policy, public policy provides the framework for the development of all four, if driven by a leadership culture that prioritizes societal needs over pecuniary self-interests. Therefore, The Policy Forum shall attempt to position public policy making in its rightful pride of place as an integral part of Nigeria’s development trajectory by providing a space for policymakers to dialogue and exchange views with policy practitioners, diplomats, non-state actors, and other stakeholders on ‘a wide range of policy-centric topics.

Are you eager to undertake research in Africa and to collaborate with EPFL?

The Junior Faculty Development program of the Excellence in Africa initiative, jointly launched by Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco and EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne in Switzerland have launched the Excellence in Africa initiative with the aim of supporting the training of promising early-stage researchers in Africa and thus of enabling them to have a significant economic and societal impact.

Call for the Junior Faculty Development Program Now Open:

A program based on the creation of scientific tandems, each comprising an early-stage professor in Africa and an EPFL professor Funding available for jointly-designed research projects Research project to be implemented at African higher education institutions.

Eligibility Requirements:

To be employed or due to be hired as a professor by an African higher education institution,
To have earned a Ph.D. degree between January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2020,
To have an outstanding research and publication track record.

Submissions:

Deadline for submissions: March 31, 2020. For more information, please visit the website

FCDO-World Bank-UNHCR

“Building the Evidence on Protracted Forced Displacement: A Multi-Stakeholder Partnership”

– YOUNG FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM –

Up to 10 Fellowships, July 2020-June 2021 Deadline for applications: March 6th, 2020.

Note: File updated on February 21st with the revised application link.

To download the PDF version

Background

In 2016, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) partnered with the World Bank and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to establish a research program on forced displacement called “Building the Evidence on Protracted Forced Displacement: A Multi-Stakeholder Partnership”. The objective of the program is “to improve the wellbeing of the forcibly displaced and of host communities by improving global knowledge on the effectiveness of policies and programs that target these populations”. The program is administered by the Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) department of the World Bank and currently includes 5 pillars: 1) Research on global questions related to forced displacement in the education, health, social protection, and jobs sectors; 2) Impact evaluations of programs administered to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); 3) A research program on gender and forced displacement; 4) Research on forced displacement on selected topics not covered under pillars 1-3 and 5) A Young Fellows program for post-doc scholars interested in research on forced displacement. The first cycle of the Young Fellows program was launched in June 2018 and saw the participation of 10 African scholars who worked at the World Bank and the UNHCR for a period of 12 months between July 2018 and June 2019. The program proved to be a success as all scholars were able to produce high-quality research and subsequently found employment in international organizations, including the World Bank and the UNHCR. Based on the experience of this first cycle, the FCDO-WB-UNHCR research program on forced displacement is now launching a second cycle opened to young scholars globally. The program is offering up to 10 new fellowships for the period July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021. Fellowship The fellowship consists of a Short-Term Consultancy (STC) contract with the World Bank for 150 days to be used over the period of one fiscal year between July 2020 and June 2021. This is the maximum number of days allowed by the World Bank’s STC rules and does not preclude fellows from holding other positions or consulting contracts with other organizations. Consulting fees are based on education and work experience as established by the World Bank STC regulations. The World Bank will also provide one return ticket in economy class between the home country and the location of the consultancy. Fellows will be assigned to a unit in the World Bank or the UNHCR and a supervisor within the unit. The location of the consultancy is agreed between the fellows, supervisor, and the program’s administrator. This location can be in World Bank or UNHCR headquarters, field locations, or anywhere else provided is agreed with the relevant parties. Each fellow will work with existing data available at the World Bank, UNHCR, or elsewhere and is expected to produce two working papers during the course of the fellowship. The topic of the papers is decided jointly by the fellow, supervisor, and the program’s administrator and is expected to relate to the World Bank or UNHCR operational work. Good quality papers will be published in the World Bank Policy Research Working Paper series and these papers are expected to be submitted to peer-reviewed journals following publication in the WP series.

Eligibility

Mandatory requirements:

A completed Ph.D. in Social Sciences by June 30, 2020 (Economics, Statistics, Politics, Sociology, etc);
Strong quantitative skills (Statistics, Econometrics, Machine Learning, Impact evaluations skills);
35 years of age or below by December 31, 2020;
Citizen of a low- or middle-income country as defined by the World Bank;
A proven interest in forced displacement issues.

Priority will be given to scholars with:

A Ph.D. thesis addressing forced displacement questions;
Personal forced displacement experiences (Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and other scholars who have personally experienced forced displacement situations);
Proven work experience in forced displacement contexts;
A publication record.

Application

Please submit a Curriculum Vitae and a cover page at this link. The cover page should include the following information: description of forced displacement experience and proposed research topic.

The deadline for application is March, 6th, 2020. Given a large number of expected applicants, submissions will not be acknowledged. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by April 17th, 2020

For more information refer to this webpage

The aim of the African Research Universities Alliance or ARUA to increase Africa’s contribution to global research output and its commitment to strengthening the continent’s research base are ‘fundamental’ to nurturing and supporting the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in Africa.

Professor Margaret Dallman, vice president (international) and associate provost at Imperial College London, told University World News that ARUA’s strategic aim of increasing Africa’s contribution to global research to 5% from 1% over a 10-year period was “fundamental to nurturing and supporting” the 4IR in Africa.

Dallman, who addressed ARUA’s Second Biennial Conference – held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 18-20 November – on the issue of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and skills drivers of the 4IR, said: “ARUA recognises that a growing research base provides the platform to harness Africa’s unique talent and provide the pipeline of discoveries which will drive new industries, be it advances in synthetic biology that drives food production and agri-tech, or breakthroughs in mathematical sciences that underpin precision medicine and drug discovery.”

She said Imperial College London’s joint seed fund with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and African institutions aims to play a very small part in those endeavours by seeding risky, ‘blue skies’ research projects that have a small chance of being genuinely transformational.

Innovative curricula

In addition to building research capacity, she agreed it was important to develop innovative curricula for students – “many of whom may [one day] be working in sectors that do yet exist, and focusing on the crucial skills of creativity and critical thinking across disciplines”.

She said universities have to use their “unique convening power – and many ARUA members are working along these lines with their developing incubators and hackspaces – to bring together scientific researchers, corporate partners, entrepreneurs, and the local community to turn cutting-edge scientific research into real-world benefits for society”.

Emphasising the potential of ARUA to play a leadership role in the 4IR, international consultant and lecturer at the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation in Kenya, George Odera Outa, told University World News that, if nurtured, ARUA could “lead not only to closer intra-African collaboration among African scholars but also create crucial linkages with the Global North for mutual benefit, cross-learning as well as some form of equity”.

‘A visionary start’

“I think ARUA is off to a visionary start in the leap towards a Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Outa who delivered a presentation on humanities-science and social research collaboration.

Oluyemi Theophilus Adeosun, lecturer at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, said in order to catch up in the 4IR stakes, greater institutional research capacity would help Africa to “leapfrog in the development space”.

“We lost out in the last industrial revolution and we must lead the world based on our increasing youth population,” he said.

“We must embrace multi- and trans-disciplinary and collaborative research along with embracing new technology in education and knowledge dispensation in order to bridge the Africa skills gap,” said Adeosun, who presented a presentation on university internships and preparation for the world of work in the 4IR.

“We must be flexible to ensure inclusive learning, distance and electronic learning with exposure to digitisation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc,” Adeosun said.

“We must improve industry collaboration, internship systems, innovation hubs and labs focused on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and resolving local challenges based on community engagements, along with enhancing exchange programmes for students both within the Global South and North,” Adeosun said.

“African governments and the private sector must commit more resources to funding education, research and capacity building.

“Just like M-Pesa [a mobile phone-based money transfer system] was novel to the world, we must birth more solutions for local and global benefits,” Adeosun said.

Lifelong learning

According to Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, deputy vice-chancellor of research and postgraduate affairs at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, lifelong learning is and will be central to the process of university curriculum design as changes relating to the Fourth Industrial Revolution advance at an exponential pace.

Vilakazi, who delivered a keynote address on “Getting Africa quantum ready”, told University World News it was too early for universities to “copy and paste” past international best practice in preparation for the 4IR as both the Global South and North were grappling with the changes.

However, he said there were priorities relating to the strengthening of institutional research capacity in Africa. These include reviewing curricula and a greater integration of research and teaching functions, both of which should be informing the other.

“We should ensure that lifelong learning becomes central in how universities structure their curriculum, as these changes are advancing at an exponential pace and therefore some agility and dynamism is needed,” he said.

“Key to this is the integration of our research agenda with the global knowledge commons,” he said.

Vilakazi stressed the need for an appropriate balance between STEM disciplines and the humanities and social sciences, advocating, where appropriate, a breakdown of the “Berlin Wall” traditionally separate disciplines.

While agreeing that Africa and its universities can be active agents, rather than passive recipients in the rapidly evolving “technological exponential” that characterises the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said: “The African higher education system is varied and also depends on the state of development of a country, so a monolithic approach would not be appropriate for African universities to follow for 4IR.”

He said some of the technologies that 4IR will bring could also be greater equalisers. “Mobile technologies, for example, have helped in giving endless opportunities to those that have hitherto been left behind by the earlier revolutions which were heavily infrastructure-laden, and that alone created longer lag times,” he said.

Integration of teaching and research

Echoing some of Vilakazi’s observations, Alex Ezeh, professor of global health at United States-based Drexel University, who spoke at the conference on building institutional research capacity, told University World News he anticipated that research and teaching or learning would become “even more closely intertwined” in the 4IR.

”Institutions that are strong in research are more likely to be strong in preparing graduates who can go out and make a progressive difference as employees or entrepreneurs in practically any sector of the economy,” said Ezeh, who is also the founding executive director of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), an initiative to strengthen doctoral training and the retention of academics at African universities.

“To fit into the new economy of the 4IR, African graduates of the future will need less of memorised facts and more of critical thinking and data manipulation skills, which are best acquired in a laboratory or research environment,” he said.

”Research – fundamental and applied research – enables us to master current knowledge, to generate new and forward-looking knowledge, to resolve problems that are bound to emerge along the way, and to lay a solid foundation of evidence upon which future innovation can be built,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of innovative teaching, Beatrice Muganda, director of the higher education programme at the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research based in Nairobi, Kenya, told University World News that “appropriate pedagogical interventions are critical for developing competencies in collaboration, communication, problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking that are mandatory for active participation in 4IR”.

Muganda, who chaired a session on new approaches to higher education, said: “It is for this reason that ARUA is partnering with the Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PedaL) project that trains university teaching staff to unleash their creative capacities in preparing the next generation of graduates to be holistically grounded.”

This has been reposted from https://bit.ly/2OwpFB1

Starting at the University of Nairobi

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.) In Public Policy The Department of Political Science and Public Administration,
The University of Nairobi, in collaboration with Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), invites applications for admission into the January 2020 intake for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Public Policy.

About The Programme

The doctoral programme in Public Policy aims at providing graduates with the knowledge, skills, and competencies that will enhance leadership in policy-relevant research, the practice of public policy and the advancement of scholarship in public policy. The innovative programme was collaboratively designed by sixteen African Universities to enhance interdisciplinary grounding in the practice of public policy and to deepen research competencies. The programme will also impart knowledge and skills in research communication, scholarly publishing as well as leadership in pedagogical practice for next-generation academics, researchers, policy practitioners, and leaders. Graduates will be highly motivated and adequately equipped to contribute to economic development and social transformation at the national and global levels.

Key Programme Features

Work with experts to resolve real policy problems
Continuous networking with prospective employers and key stakeholders
Strong Linkage with the Global Public Policy Network of Leading Schools Internationally

Our aim is to produce graduates that will form a unique cadre of world-class professionals in public policy and research for work in:

Governments
Think tanks
Civil Society Organizations
Regional and International organizations
Media
Universities

General Admission Requirements

To be eligible for admission: a candidate must:

Be a holder of at least a Master’s degree in any academic discipline from the University of Nairobi or any other institution recognized by the University of Nairobi senate.

Duration

The Doctor of Philosophy Degree will last for a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 academic years.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 20, 2019

Attraction

Limited Competitive Scholarships available for top applicants

Application process, please log in and apply online through
https://application.uonbi.ac.ke
For further details, please contact, the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Arts,
Tel: +254 20 318262 Ext. 28146/28218 or E-mail: deanarts@uonbi.ac.ke or

For further inquiries, please contact the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Nairobi
Tel: +254 – 20 338262 Extension 28171 or E-mail: dept-pspa@uonbi.ac.ke

Themed ‘Pedagogy on the Move: Our Journeys’; the joint event was hosted by PASGR and its partners in the Pedagogical Leadership in Africa project as well as the collaborative Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP) programme. It was held at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel, Mombasa, Kenya on June 24 – 28, 2019 and marked by a series of activities: from a one day conference with a watershed keynote address; to two days of documenting and sharing pedagogical journeys; and, a standalone Trainer of Trainers’ programme for resource persons.
It was an opportunity for an estimated 170 participants to interact and exchange perspectives on emerging outcomes of pedagogical innovations. These included: government officials, education policy actors drawn from various national and regional organizations; university leaders and managers; research organizations; university teaching staff and students; the media; resource persons; and, PASGR staff.
Pivotal in the event were teaching staff who have been trained in PedaL pedagogy and translated the newly acquired skills into practice over a period of one year. The teachers shared their experiences as well as lessons learnt. The objective was to inspire exchanges; promote opportunities for leveraging, adapting, testing, and sharing available resources, knowledge, and technology to enhance and broaden best practices in teaching and learning in African universities.

1. Background

The public policy domain in Africa is shifting at a rapid pace moving towards inclusivity, democratization and the integration of gender as a significant component of equitable and inclusive public policies. At the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), the significance of gender in the studying, understanding and making of public policy has been recognized as indisputable and therefore integrated into all our programs and institutional formation.

PASGR intends to include more gender-based courses in its training including one on gendering the public policy process. A one-day forum that convened experts, activists, policy actors and researchers on gender was organized by PASGR in May 2019. The forum examined and explored the various dimensions and issues involved in the development of a training module to “engender the policy process”. The convening also made the connections between the changing nature of governance and key notions and practices embedded in state-citizen relations and their implications for evolving gender and politics; and gender and policy discourses.

This call is for expert(s) and academic(s) with the interest, commitment, expertise and capacity to design and develop a high quality stand-alone module on “gendering the policy process in Africa.”

PASGR is an independent, nonpartisan, pan-African not-for-profit organisation established in 2011 and located in Nairobi, Kenya. Currently engaged in more than 26 African countries, PASGR works to enhance research excellence in governance and public policy that contributes to the overall wellbeing of citizens. In partnership with individual academics and researchers, higher education institutions, research think tanks, civil society organisations, as well as business and policy communities both in the region and internationally, PASGR supports the production and dissemination of policy relevant research; designs and delivers suites of short professional development courses for researchers and policy actors; and facilitates the development of collaborative higher education programmes. Our vision is ‘a vibrant African social science community addressing the continent’s public policy issues’.

2. Purpose of the assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to develop a short course on gender and public policy in Africa. The title of the course is “Gender and Public Policy Transformation in Africa: Understanding and Practice”. The focus of the course will be to contribute to the understanding and practice of the public policy process in Africa through a more dynamic and organic integration of gender in the narrative as well as the practice.

The course among others is expected to cover some of the following elements:

An- Introduction: that provides rationale, brief analytical overview and conceptual clarification utilizing Gender analysis as a running thread/theme
A brief overview of relevant theoretical perspectives
An exploration of the implications and importance of voice & agency in the policy process
An exploration of concrete practices in selected thematic areas to provide context and substance for conceptual and theoretical content.

3. Scope of work

The assignment will entail designing and developing of the short course structured around key elements stated above. There will be a requirement to consider and use PASGR’s innovations in pedagogy that blend face-to-face delivery made up of a variety of learning approaches and platforms with online delivery. It is expected that the course will utilize both the blended approach and stand-alone face to face delivery covering no more than four days.

Specific tasks will include the following:

Develop a course on gender and public policy that:
addresses the understanding and practice of the gendering public policy process;
contains intrinsic gender engaged and gender transformative content, process and objectives;
addresses needs of the target audience (predominantly policy actors and policy practitioners);
concretely demonstrates how gender inclusivity is effectively integrated in, or can help reform specific policy processes;
demonstrates alignment in content, delivery methods and learning outcomes;
Identify and develop learning resources/material for the course.

Engage and endeavour to link the course delivery with appropriate pedagogical strategies currently in use by PASGR.

Design innovative assessment tools.

4. Request for expressions of interest

PASGR invites expressions of interest (EOI) from individuals or teams with demonstrated expertise and experience in:

Gender and public policy analysis/Gender and Governance
Teaching and facilitation at higher education or advanced learning levels
Module development and writing.

Interested persons who meet the specification are invited to complete and submit the following:

A Technical Proposal answering to the TORs (not exceeding 5 pages). This should cover the approach to work, detailed course outline, and work plan with indicative time frame.
A Financial Proposal;
A brief description of recent experience in similar assignments;
A current writing sample on the subject or current course description and brief curriculum if they have developed a similar course
CV (2 pages highlighting relevant experience)

All applications should be sent to PASGR info@pasgr.org by July 15^th, 2019. Quote “EOI- Gendering Policy Process Course Development” in the subject line of your email.