Leadership In Africa Research Articles

Human mobility, Covid-19, and survival in Africa: revisiting the coronavirus pandemic as the Russia-Ukraine war rages

Africa has seen some changes pertaining to human mobility in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The continent has also witnessed a dramatic reduction in cross-border movements, especially along the Zambezi River (Zimbabwe and South Africa, Botswana, and South Africa, as well as Mozambique and South Africa). These changes have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which decimated tourism and business travel and severely curtailed labour migration and stifled the movement of all stripes, from that of international students to intellectual exchanges in all fields of studies. While the overall picture of human mobility from 2020 to 2021 was dramatically stifled, the experience of this curtailment is different when juxtaposed with other regions. Also, the war between Russia and Ukraine has not been helpful to Africa either. This paper endeavours to probe the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ravages of the war between Ukraine and Russia in Africa and illustrates that while Africa is yet to fully recover from the socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, this conflict poses another major threat to the global economy with many African countries being directly affected. The article uses the lens of Pan-Africanism as a theory that very well encapsulates the yearnings and frustrations of Africans who are overwhelmed by the onslaught of globalisation that only looks at development from a skewed western paradigm that is more about enriching the already wealthy countries that thrives by a continuous siphoning of the wealth of the marginalised countries. The article uses an archival method of collecting the data that is documented in books, articles and other sources to seek mitigating factors to the COVID19 Pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The paper recommends a drastic change of leadership in Africa to usher in a new crop of leaders who are more driven by the development of the continent in areas of economics, governance, and self-reliance.

Rethinking Development in Africa: Agenda 2063 and John Wesley’s Socio-Political Theology

Africa remains underdeveloped despite many years of conceptualising, formulating and implementing different development policies and programs. Africa’s developmental challenges have attracted attention from various stakeholders and many factors have been identified as contributing to the problem. The African Union, at its Golden Jubilee celebration in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in 2013, adopted a new development plan aimed at making Africa a key player in global affairs by 2063. Africa’s new development Agenda has been engaged at various conferences and seminars. However, not much theological engagements with the document have been witnessed so far. The purpose of the paper is to explore how a contextual application of selected aspects of John Wesley’s socio-political theology might catalyze the achievement of two of the seven aspirations set out in Agenda 2063. The main thesis of this paper is that human political activities are deeply rooted in God’s political nature and hence must be exercised within God’s sovereign rule. The paper concludes that the development of Africa must not only focus on socio-economic progress but also on moral/spiritual development. The paper contributes to the ongoing scholarly discussions on Agenda 2063 and provides Christians, political leaders in Africa and other stakeholders with theological framework for achieving a holistic and sustainable development in Africa.

Political Leadership in Africa: Leaders and Development South of the Sahara By Giovanni Carbone and Alessandro Pellegata, 2020, Cambridge University Press, 386pp, €38.95.

Political Leadership in Africa: Leaders and Development South of the Sahara By Giovanni Carbone and Alessandro Pellegata, 2020, Cambridge University Press, 386pp, €38.95.

Ethical Leadership: Lessons from Africa for International Management*

Scholarship at the interface of ethics, leadership and organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is still scarce. We draw from literature about leadership in Africa to identify three research streams (functional, cultural, and critical) and use these streams to make sense of research on ethics, organizations and leadership in SSA, as well as to analyze opportunities for research. We propose four interpretative approaches allowing the advancement of research in the field of ethical leadership in SSA. More diverse research on SSA is important for it allows the development of textured theories on the context and opens possibilities for revitalizing organization theory.

The Burden of Borders: Reassessing the Impacts of Nigeria’s Border Closure on the National Security

ABSTRACT The pan-African worldview of Nigeria’s political leaders and Abuja’s putative hegemonic leadership in Africa had entailed Nigeria operated an idealistic border policy. However, convinced that border closure remained a solution to the perennial insecurity and economic ‘sabotage’ in Nigeria, President Buhari imposed border closure in 2019. While the government declared the controversial policy a ‘success’ in the fight against crimes, this paper disagrees with this assertion, contending that the closure failed to achieve its purposes. The study interrogates the factors accountable for this failure. It identifies poor governance of national borders despite closure as a potent factor exacerbating the crisis.

Female representation in oncology leadership in Africa: Analysis of trends in the African organization for cancer research and training in cancer (AORTIC).

11052 Background: Board membership in oncology organizations and invitation to speak at major oncology conferences is an established indicator of gender disparities in oncology leadership. Recent studies note an upward trend in female board membership and female speakers at oncology conferences in European and American contexts. However, little is known about trends of female representation in board membership and at oncology conferences in Africa. AORTIC is the premier African cancer organization and hosts a biennial conference, during which its council members are elected for a two-year term. The conference hosts over 1000 participants and is highly regarded internationally. As the largest gathering of African oncologists, the conference presents a unique opportunity for insight into workforce disparities and trends. This study presents an analysis of female council membership and speaker participation at the 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 AORTIC conferences. Methods: AORTIC conference programmes and AORTIC elections for council membership in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 were analyzed for gender representation. Speakers were divided into categories including keynote speakers, facilitators, session speakers, panelists, and oral abstract presenters. For each AORTIC session, data was collected on speaker name, gender, and affiliated country. Participants who presented multiple times were counted multiple times, as their role often varied between sessions. Personal data and country affiliation was determined through online biographies of speakers and/or visual confirmation of professional photographs. A simple descriptive analysis of the data and trends is presented here. Results: Since 2015, the proportion of female speakers and council members at AORTIC has increased. In 2015, females accounted for 44% of speakers, in contrast to 55% in 2021. In 2021, females made up over 50% of all speaker categories except keynote. The proportion of female council members also increased, from 42% in 2015 to 69% in 2021. Trends in geographic representation of speakers were also analyzed for gender, revealing an increase in female speakers residing in Africa. (Table) Conclusions: The proportion of female speakers and council members at Africa’s largest cancer conference has increased significantly since 2015. Female speaker participation was higher than in North America and Europe in 2017 and surpassed 50 % in 2021. In addition, female council membership in AORTIC has surpassed 50%, up to 69% in 2021. These trends suggest a rise in female leadership in cancer research and training on the continent, indicating that strengthening local platforms in LMIC may be associated with improved gender assimilation. [Table: see text]

Change for performance improvement in the Tanzania Ports Authority, a public sector organization in Tanzania

PurposeThis study is about the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), a central institution in the country that has seen efforts towards improved performance in terms of cargo handled and revenue generated from port operations. This study identifies the actions that were taken by public institutional leaders as a result of political leadership call for performance improvements and implications therefrom for sustainable performance. It attempts to engage with both change and public value theories to make sense of TPA efforts and implications as a result.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted at TPA headquarters in Dar-es-Salaam and involved the management and other staff members. The study design was descriptive and exploratory. Data collection involved mostly the use of semi-structured questionnaires and review of documents.FindingsThe study reveals that the efforts to improve performance at the TPA indicate success in terms of cargo handled and revenue increases. Factors that support change and factors that impede change efforts were also identified making reference to Lewin's change theories and ADKAR (awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement) model. The varied level of improved performance is attributed to the emphasis on change factors and the origin of change that do not give the human element the requisite concern. The quest for performance improvement in the public sector organization is also found wanting on the failure to place the requisite emphasis on public value creation both in processes set in motion and the desired outcomes. A more planned systematic change, championed or internalized within the organization by internal players, specifically TPA's management, is also proposed for a better and more consistent sustainable change in performance at TPA and possible in other public organizations.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is about an organization within a change context that is driven by the top leadership of the country. There have been studies on TPA but not as a change process and not yet after 2015 when the country witnessed a very strong leadership. According to Kets de Vries (2016), powerful leadership in Africa has had little to show and a legacy to be lauded. Therefore, there might be some relevance to contribute to the reasons why most African leadership fails, if that is the case.Practical implicationsPerformance can be achieved through change efforts that are driven by the country's top leadership when the context is right and support factors are present. What can be elusive is sustainable performance creating public value and that endures despite changes in the country's leadership, particularly when internal leadership of a public organization is not the change champion and is basically toeing a line, and the change process is not holistic. A more systemic approach to efforts to create strong organizations as opposed to strong individuals in leadership may be key to sustainable change in similar institutions in Tanzania and Africa.Originality/valueThe study is based on change management models that have gained long-term interest of both scholars and practitioners. It explores a performance-seeking initiative in a developing country's context that is driven by top country's political leadership. It is thus unique because the institutional leadership had to be in stride with national level changes that was centered on efforts to improve service delivery and to counter corruption and complacency in public institutions. It has also attempted to link change theories and public value creation in the quest for improved public performance.

“Bring Back Our Money”: The Legality of Returning Assets and Wealth Acquired by African Leaders Through Corruption to African States

In the wake of corrupt activities by some leaders in Africa and the world at large, their extravagant assets in foreign lands and fattened offshore accounts after their prosecution has become the focus of recent discussions. The success of the modern legal framework has made it possible for corrupt leaders to be arrested and prosecuted. This has resulted in assets of such leaders being seized and accounts being frozen by legitimate court orders. This paper highlights the legal procedures that govern the return of assets and wealth acquired through corrupt means on both the international and domestic fronts. Not doing away with the challenges and hindrances to this honourable act of returning the wealth of mostly developing nations to them, the paper makes use of relevant case studies as it addresses the hurdles to this effect in modern contexts. It however concludes that this phenomenon should not be an issue for only developing countries but should also be of keen interest to developed nations as well. The pursuit of globally sustained development is not a race for some but for all. With all major stakeholders playing their part, the embezzled funds which has deprived the victimized states of substantive development shall be returned.

An emic-etic-emic research cycle for understanding context in under-researched countries

Given the importance of understanding the context of management issues in the world, this article discusses the role of both emic (developing culture-specific concepts) and etic (applying concepts across cultures) research in the international management literature. This paper proposes a more comprehensive mixed methods research cycle that can provide researchers with a deeper understanding of the context in under-researched countries. Using a decolonial lens, this theoretical paper proposes that an emic-etic-emic cycle is the best way to disaggregate contextual issues in organizational research, particularly when dealing with human issues in management. By examining a research project on leadership in Africa and the African diaspora from decolonial perspective, our proposed emic-etic-emic cycle (1) stresses the importance of using an emic approach in addition to the dominant etic approach in cross-cultural management; (2) provides researchers with a deeper understanding of context in under-researched countries; and (3) contributes to decolonial approaches to management, which call for a symmetrical dialogue across borders which decentralizes the dominant Western approach, and provides a deeper understanding of management from an indigenous and local perspective. Contextualizing research using the emic-etic-emic cycle can enhance rigor and relevance of the research.

Political Leadership in Africa: leaders and development south of the Sahara by Giovanni Carbone & Alessandro Pellegata Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 386. $99.99 (hbk). – ERRATUM

Political Leadership in Africa: leaders and development south of the Sahara by Giovanni Carbone & Alessandro Pellegata Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 386. $99.99 (hbk). – ERRATUM

Black, Female, and Divorced: A Discourse Analysis of Wangarĩ Maathai’s Leadership with Reflections from Naleli Morojele‘s Study of Rwandan and South African Female Political Leaders

Marriage and divorce are factors that impact female leadership in Africa. Women are defined by their roles as wives and mothers and less as leaders. There is a dearth of research on the influence of marriage and divorce on female leadership in Africa. Most studies have focused on the societal importance of marriage and the negative effects of divorce on families. Using Wangarĩ Maathai’s biography Unbowed, this paper explores the role of marriage and divorce and their intersection with Maathai’s leadership. To enrich the analysis, I introduce insights from Naleli Morojele’s study of Rwandan and South African female political leaders. African feminist thought, transformative leadership theory, and African concepts of marriage and divorce form the theoretical framework. The main findings indicate that Maathai’s leadership is transformative. African feminism recognizes the role of men in women’s equality. Female leadership has increased in Africa, though it contends with socio-cultural attitudes and colonial legacies that fuel its skepticism. Marriage is a duty and the focus of existence in African thought and divorce is synonymous with failure. Women’s disunity on gender issues is problematic. Female leadership is very demanding and costly to family relationships. These findings are important in identifying gaps between policy and social attitudes on female leadership in Africa.

2 - The Hybrid Administrator-scholar Paradigm in Higher Education Leadership in Africa

The higher education landscape has been in a state of flux since the turn of the twenty-first century owing to pressure to internationalise and adopt entrepreneurial approaches in response to global demands. These exigencies have not spared middle-level managers in the academy who straddle the divide between administration and scholarship. This article explores the administrator-scholar paradigm in the context of the globalisation momentum in the academy, using an autoethnographical approach, in which I examine my personal and professional experience as a department chair in two universities over a period of five years. The study pays particular attention to how the dual role was enacted and views the administrator-scholar phenomenon as a resource, not a problem, as explicated in existing research. I articulate the leadership qualities that middle-level managers – more particularly, heads of departments – need, to navigate the contested space and ambivalent landscape of higher education leadership. Institutional gaps and the absence of systemic socialisation led me to develop a domain acculturation model, Divergent Collaborative Leadership, which emphasises the administrator- scholar in the construction of professional identities in higher education in the African context.

1 - Editorial: Reimagined University Bureaucracy and Mid-level Academic Leadership in Africa

1 - Editorial: Reimagined University Bureaucracy and Mid-level Academic Leadership in Africa

1 - Re-imagining Leadership Development for Middle-level Academic Leaders in Africa

The university today is a postmodern, neo-liberal, competitive, boundary-less knowledge conglomerate, a far cry from its historical, traditional, classical and collegial roots. Although remaining true to its primary mission of research, teaching and community engagement, its organisational form has changed significantly, with its concomitant implications for governance, leadership and management, especially in a developing world context. The regional and institutional disruptions and protests by students and other stakeholders in African countries like Algeria, Kenya, Sudan and, more recently, South Africa in the guise of the ‘#RhodesMustFall,’ ‘#FeesMustFall’ and ‘#OpenStellenbosch’ campaigns, starkly illustrates this challenging, nebulous environment of higher education on the continent. The article provides a reflection and engagement on these critical issues and aims to illustrate that:(i) the global and local contexts of higher education have changed dramatically, with its concomitant added levels of complexity for academic leaders;(ii) this environment has implications for the conception and practice of leadership and management in universities, for middle level academic leaders in particular; and(iii) this setting provides the backdrop for a holistic and integrated academic leadership intervention in universities in Africa.

Protocol for scoping review of effective nursing leadership in Africa; Prospect and challenges

Background: Leadership is an essential aspect that contributes to the success of organizations through people who are organized, inspired, encouraged, and assessed to perform up to the standards that have been set. Leaders have the capacity and the talent to develop and shape attitudes toward the completion of objectives through the support they receive from group members. Since nursing, which is widely regarded as a respectable profession, accounts for the vast majority of the healthcare workforce involved in the provision of high-quality care, the nursing staff's leadership is of the utmost importance in reaching and sustaining high care standards. Effective nursing leadership requires the nurse manager to possess strong time management, organizational, and professional abilities to effectively communicate ideas to a team of nurses working in the healthcare institution. As such the nursing leadership is obligated to bring their profession to a level that will have a constructive influence on decision-making on a worldwide scale to fulfil their responsibilities. However, this is complicated by the politics of organizations, the high levels of stress and burnout that contribute to depression, and the fact that the majority of nurse leaders who compete for leadership roles are depressed. This protocol seeks to review available studies on effective nursing leadership and to determine the prospects, challenges, and the way forward in Africa. It will also assess previous work, identify and fill gaps, and add to the body of knowledge, particularly to nursing leadership in Africa. Conclusion: Researchers expect to find studies of effective nursing leadership in Africa that will enhance nurse managers effectively make appropriate decisions to determine the prospects and the challenges of effective nursing leadership to improving health care delivery in Africa. Systematic review registration: review registry 1392 The Objective of review: Effective nursing leadership in Africa; Prospects and Challenge: A scoping review protocol. Research questions: 1. Is there evidence of the prospects for effective nursing leadership in Africa? 2. To date what are the challenges to effective nursing leadership in Africa? 3. What is the way forward to effective nursing leadership in Africa? Purpose of review: Nursing leadership will be better equipped to design leadership practices in the future as these practices will assist nursing leadership to alleviate the problems that hinder successful nursing leadership and exhibit their professionalism and abilities. In addition to this, it will assist registered nurses in examining strategic roles, methods of performance evaluation, and the leadership paradigms that will be used in the future to enhance overall performance in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, the nursing community will benefit from more leadership mentorship as a result of this evaluation, which will help advance professional growth. Systematic review registration: This review was registered with the Research Registry for Systematic Reviews with unique number review registry 1392.

Pathways to research leadership for early career researchers in Africa: A potential role for African and Global Funders

Early career researchers at African universities face numerous challenges and demands within a context of minimum resources; yet on the other hand, there is significant expectation for doing excellent science that is of high quality with integrity, while aligning science with societal goals. Furthermore, there is also expectation to increase outputs, make the system more inclusive, attract international partners and contribute to the University’s global rankings. The need therefore to build research capacity, expand the number of active researchers and advance the careers of African researchers has never been more critical, particularly if continental and other global priorities are to be achieved. There is consensus that research leadership is essential to building research capacity in African universities. As a result, there have been increasing investments in building research capacity and research leadership, with initiatives ranging from the creation of north-south research partnerships across disciplines and empirical subjects, to training research leaders and university administrators in top ranking universities in Europe and North America, as well as building the capacity of funders and science systems in Africa. This article will examine the competencies required to be a research leader and the programs that are currently available that support capacity building in research leadership. In addition, it will provide perspectives on the role that global and African funders should play to advance the careers of early career researchers to transition into research leaders, foster innovation, build linkages with policy makers and promote scientific leadership in Africa.

Egypt in the competition for economic leading in Africa

The article analyzes the economic potential and development dynamics of Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa in the period from 1970 to 2020 based on GDP indicators in constant prices in 2015 and in PPP, as well as in per capita GDP. As a result, the author concludes that South Africa continues to maintain its position as the economic leader of Africa, although Egypt is developing much more dynamically and has already surpassed the South African Republic in a number of indicators. However, it continues to lead in the monetization of its scientific and technological activities, the volume of FDI and commodity trade with the African countries. Nevertheless, the author believes that in the mid-30s it will be possible to talk about a change in the economic leader in Africa. He attributes the success of Egypt's economic development to the deep modernization of the country in all spheres of public life during the republican rule. Since 2014, President A.F. as-Sisi has also been pursuing a course of carefully elaborated and profound reforms in order to improve public finances and the efficiency of the Egyptian economy, primarily through the development of human capital, and change its position in the system of international economic relations on this basis. However, since initially these changes would have had a very negative impact on the well-being of the vast majority of Egyptians, they were preceded by measures of targeted support for the least well-off segments of the population. The success in the reform of the Egyptian economy allowed it to maintain a high growth rate in the crisis of 2020, while in South Africa and Nigeria there was a deep recession.

Women Political Leaders in Africa

Women Political Leaders in Africa

Political Leadership in Africa: leaders and development south of the Sahara by Giovanni Carbone & Alessandro Pellegata Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 386. $99.99 (hbk).

Political Leadership in Africa: leaders and development south of the Sahara by Giovanni Carbone & Alessandro Pellegata Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 386. $99.99 (hbk). - Volume 59 Issue 4

COVID-19 in Africa: rethinking the tools to manage future pandemics.

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains an incurable, progressive pneumonia-like illness characterized by fever, dry cough, fatigue, and headache during its early stages. COVID-19 has ultimately resulted in mortality in at least 2 million people worldwide. Millions of people globally have already been affected by this disease, and the numbers are expected to increase, perhaps until an effective cure or vaccine is identified. Although Africa was initially purported by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be severely hit by the pandemic, Africa recorded the least number of cases during the first wave, with lowest rates of infections, compared to Asia, Europe, and the Americas. This statistic might be attributed to the low testing capacity, existing public health awareness and lessons learnt during Ebola epidemic. Nonetheless, the relatively low rate of infection should be an opportunity for Africa to be better prepared to overcome this and future epidemics. In this paper, the authors provide insights into the dynamics and transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) during the first wave of the pandemic; possible explanations into the relatively low rates of infection recorded in Africa; with recommendations for Africa to continue to fight Covid-19; and position itself to effectively manage future pandemics.