Partnership For Africa Research Articles

India and the African Union’s Engagement Through IAFS: Challenges of Strengthening Partnership

India’s engagement with the African Union has been one of its important partnership agreements with Africa. The India–Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) kickstarted the engagement with African countries through the African Union overtaking bilateral relations and partnerships with regional organisations. India has since then remained a unique, request and need-based partner of the African Union. The various capacity-building initiatives taken up through IAFS have shown that India has shown serious commitment to India–Africa partnership. The first three IAFS shows that India committed substantial amounts of funds through IAFS. However, in reality, it could only deliver a very small portion due to the slow implementation of projects. Only 4% of Indian grants in 2017–18 were committed to Africa which improved slightly after 2019. Subsequently, over 40% of funds were committed but implementation had been very slow. There is never a third independent party evaluation of these projects for impact assessment or to suggest a solution for implementation issues. Presently, there is an urgent need to hold the next IAFS which has been delayed for a long time now. There is a need to organise review meetings with AU on a regular basis. India made extra-ordinary efforts to get the African Union admitted in G20 at the New Delhi meeting. However, the Indian expansion of Banjul Formula for IAFS, India’s renewed focus on Global South, bureaucracy-driven implementation of partnership projects and insufficient political-level communications with AU leadership throw new challenges.

Is larger always lekker? A comparative analysis of South Africa's water user associations (WUAs) and catchment partnerships (CPs) and their impact on water, energy, and food (WEF) security

Complexities in water, energy, and food (WEF) governance provide varied systems and pathways that shape welfare outcomes. The biggest question relates to the scale and complexities in resource management and governance, which reaches a certain equilibrium to achieve maximum welfare benefits. This is a proposition that is assessed in this study which sought to compare the WEF welfare outcomes of jurisdictions under Water User Associations (WUAs) and Catchment Partnerships (CPs). The study used a multi-stage purposively sampled cross-sectional survey of 1184 households from Greater Taung and Magareng Local Municipalities (Vaalharts Water User Association) and Matatiele Local Municipality (uMzvimvubu Catchment Partnership) in South Africa. The Household Water Insecurity Experiences, Household Multi-Dimensional Energy Poverty Index and Household Food In-Access Scale, Min-Max normalization and Propensity Score Matching were used to analyze the data. There was association between jurisdiction and the level of WEF security. Households under the jurisdiction of a WUA experienced 13.8%, 6.8% and 9.3% higher levels of water, energy, and food insecurity, respectively. The study concludes that households under the jurisdiction of a CP had higher levels of WEF security, with complexities or lack thereof resulting in higher welfare outcomes. Therefore, larger is not always lekker. The study recommends either (i) scaling down of WUA to CP and/or (ii) diversifying by increasing the breadth and scope of stakeholders within WUA. The governance systems should be integrated in an evaluation to ascertain any impact on the welfare outcomes.

Culture as a Dimension of Interweaving Reinvented South-South Partnership in Africa

Culture as a Dimension of Interweaving Reinvented South-South Partnership in Africa

Korea’s Partnership for Africa’s Industrial Promotion: Focusing on K-Entrepreneurship

Korea’s Partnership for Africa’s Industrial Promotion: Focusing on K-Entrepreneurship

Creation, Thomas Berry, and the Church in Africa

The ecological crisis is a sign of the times, demanding adequate understanding, appropriate interpretation, and pastoral action in light of the Christian faith. Scholarly discourse on the ecological crisis continues to inspire partnership and collaborative actions in Africa. Sometimes, these efforts have yielded significant results, though amid uncharted territories. Scholars appeal for humans to embrace a mutually enhancing relationship with creation to build a common home for all creatures. A suitable and sustainable ecological vision that supports a communitarian approach to resolving the ecological crisis is Thomas Berry’s cosmology. Berry’s cosmological vision reclaims a creation theology that fosters a mutual relationship between humans and other creatures. Humans are beings in communion and beings in relationships created by God and thus from a common origin and moving toward a common destiny. This cosmological presupposition of Berry aligns with the ecological vision of Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’. The Pope calls humanity to a new cosmic relationship that would foster interdependency of the ecosystem and respect the intrinsic value of every creature. Given the unprecedented ecological challenges, humans have a unique role as intelligent beings toward other creatures, for future generations and the common good of the earth. This human responsibility toward the earth can be realized through an ecological ethics that fosters interdependence, interconnection, and mutuality in the human–earth relationship. Berry’s insights and Catholic ecological teachings merit consideration for African Catholicism.

The Just Energy Transition Partnership in South Africa: Identification and Assessment of Key Factors Driving International Cooperation

The Just Energy Transition Partnership in South Africa: Identification and Assessment of Key Factors Driving International Cooperation

The Meso-Level in Quality Improvement: Perspectives From a Maternal-Neonatal Health Partnership in South Africa.

Sustained implementation of facility-level quality improvement (QI) processes, such as plan-do-study-act cycles, requires enabling meso-level environments and supportive macro-level policies and strategies. Although this is well recognised, there is little systematic empirical evidence on roles and capacities, especially at the immediate meso-level of the system, that sustain QI strategies at the frontline. In this paper we report on qualitative research to characterize the elements of a quality and outcome-oriented meso-level, focused on sub/district health systems (DHSs), conducted within a multi-level initiative to improve maternal-newborn health (MNH) in three provinces of South Africa. Drawing on the embedded experience and tacit knowledge of core project partners, obtained through in-depth interviews (39) and project documentation, we analysed thematically the roles, capacities and systems required at the meso-level for sustained QI, and experiences with strengthening the meso-level. Meso-level QI roles identified included establishing and supporting QI systems and strengthening delivery networks. We propose three elements of system capacity as enabling these meso-level roles: (1) leadership stability and capacity, (2) the presence of formal mechanisms to coordinate service delivery processes at sub-district and district levels (including governance, referral and outreach systems), and (3) responsive district support systems (including quality oriented human resource, information, and emergency medical services [EMS] management), embedded within supportive relational eco-systems and appropriate decision-space. While respondents reported successes with system strengthening, overall, the meso-level was regarded as poorly oriented to and even disabling of quality at the frontline. We argue for a more explicit orientation to quality and outcomes as an essential district and sub-district function (which we refer to as meso-level stewardship), requiring appropriate structures, processes, and capacities.

Key Success Factors Influencing the Sustainability of University-Industry Partnerships in South Africa

Due to the inability of stakeholders to address local and global challenges independently, there is a rising need for partnerships between academia and industry. Higher education institutions are key role players in developing future employees, necessitating intervention strategies with industry. Conversely, industry is eager to absorb these employees in an effort to identify solutions to their ongoing concerns. As a result, establishing symbiotic relationships with one another becomes critical, since such partnerships have been known to address a wide range of challenges. This study, therefore, investigated factors that influence the sustainability of university-industry partnerships by means of a quantitative survey applied to exit-level higher education students and industry managers. A hybrid questionnaire was used to collect data, incorporating open-ended and closed questions. Some of the survey findings include solidification of contracts, dynamic stakeholder engagement, strategic planning initiatives and fostering commitment, resulting in re-engineered business processes and bespoke education. These findings have significant implications for the long-term viability of university-education partnerships. As a result, it is critical for stakeholders to prioritise investment in these partnerships recognising their significance as catalysts for innovation and drivers of economic progress.

Constructed educational inequality, philanthropy, and power relations in educational public–private partnerships in South Africa

There is a robust debate about innovative ways to improve educational outcomes and governance in public schools located in the poorest townships in South Africa. This article looks at one recent innovation, a new model for providing basic education called ‘collaboration schools’, based on the British academy schools. We seek to understand what these partnerships between philanthropists, government, and parents entail, the specific problems the partners seek to address, the key actors involved, and the power relations that have emerged. Based on interviews with key local actors and a close reading of partnership agreements, the authors argue that although well-intentioned, the experts taking over schools have faced considerable resistance as well as deep structural challenges related to the social and economic decline in black townships. We also point to policy weaknesses linked to unsettled issues of class inequalities and apartheid spatial legacies.

‘Nothing has changed, South Africa’s sub-imperialist role has been reinforced’: Samir Amin’s durable critique of apartheid/post-apartheid political economy

ABSTRACT Samir Amin’s critiques of both apartheid-era and post-apartheid political economy contributed to his scathing view of the crucial ‘semi-peripheral’ layer of the world system, a perspective typically ignored in binary formulations of Global North and Global South. Amin’s 1977 article ‘The future of South Africa’ was among his first statements of how, using that era’s dependency theory language, ‘South African capital requires an outward policy of expansionism, so that ultimately, internal colonialism becomes coterminous with sub-imperialism’. Amin also labeled post-apartheid South Africa sub-imperialist because of the domination of ‘monopoly capital’ in the extractive-industry circuits (depleting what Marx called ‘free gifts of nature’) and the below-survival-level wages that have long shaped the economic structure. Two other coterminous factors were Pretoria’s imposition of continent-wide neoliberalism through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa BRICS network – both of which proved incapable of transcending neoliberal economic policies insisted upon by contemporary imperialism. Following the BRICS 2023 Sandton summit’s elite failure to advance de-dollarisation or other ‘delinking’ strategies, Amin would nod, knowingly, when hearing the term ‘sub-imperial’ to describe the bloc – and look for inspiration instead to successes of grassroots campaigners.

Building a carbon dioxide removal science–policy partnership for southern Africa

Building a carbon dioxide removal science–policy partnership for southern Africa

From Loan-Financed to Privatised Infrastructure? Tracing China's Turn Towards Public–Private Partnerships in Africa

Waning debt sustainability has challenged the debt-financed, infrastructure-led global expansion of Chinese capital. This article traces the gradual shift in the financial governance of the Belt and Road Initiative towards public–private partnerships (PPPs). We first document China's domestic PPP experience and its failure to check the unsustainable indebtedness of sub-national governments. We then conceptualise China's “turn” towards PPPs in Africa as an attempt at “metagoverning” its current growth model. Analysing official Chinese sources, we discern dominant Chinese narratives that present PPPs as panaceas for African debt problems. However, Chinese risk perceptions and empirical examples, such as the Nairobi Expressway, the Tanzania–Zambia Railway, and the Congolese Kolwezi–Kasumbalesa toll road, reveal that China's experimentation with PPPs in Africa engenders new challenges, including popular contestation, controversies over financial terms and corruption. Furthermore, contrary to the official Chinese narrative, profit imperatives behind PPP investments and potential financial complications that were widespread in China's domestic PPP experience risk adding to the financial burdens of African governments and populations.

Strategic Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships as a Tool for Achieving SDG 5 on Gender Equality in South Africa

South Africa faces several socioeconomic issues—gender inequality being one of them. This issue cannot be addressed by government alone and requires the involvement of other stakeholders. This study provides valuable insights into existing multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) in South Africa aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.5 (gender equality through support for women in leadership). The aim of this qualitative research study was threefold. Firstly, it investigated the focus areas of existing strategic MSPs driving the achievement of SDG 5.5. Secondly, it aimed to understand the collaborative approaches within these partnerships. Finally, it determined how existing relationships could be improved. This was a generic qualitative study. Twelve professionals (from 12 organisations) participated in the semi-structured interviews. The findings were analysed using thematic analysis. Several findings came to the fore—one of which related to the involvement of men as a key driver of gender equality in South Africa.

Influence of Geo-Technologies Integration on the Learning of Geography among Public Secondary Schools

Technology integration has become critical globally in pursuit of transforming education. In Siaya County, a persistent dismal mean of scores in Geography subjects among public secondary schools from 2016-2022 at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination has been blamed on the learning approaches. The data from the seven sub-counties indicated that very little learning occurred. Further, no known study has addressed rote learning in Geography using an explanatory research design about Siaya County. The study sought the influence of integrating geo-technologies on learning in Geography among public secondary schools in Siaya County. This study focused on Geo-technology integration influencing learning among public secondary schools in Siaya County, Kenya. The objective that guided this study was to explore the influence of a geo-technology integrated classroom environment on learning Geography among public secondary schools in Siaya County, Kenya. The study sought to answer the question; during 2016-2022, how did the integration of geo-technology in the classroom environment influence the learning of Geography in public Secondary Schools in Siaya County? The study adopted interviews, questionnaires, and observational checklists to collect data. The study employed social cognitive constructivism theory to envision effective learning. The study sampled 102 respondents from 262 public secondary schools based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. The choice of Siaya County was based on the fact that it is the only county in the larger Nyanza where technology integration was piloted by New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) for quality learning. This study employed a mixed method and explanatory design to carry out the study. The study adopted interviews, questionnaires, and observational checklists to collect primary and secondary data.

Post-Cold War International Relations and Foreign Policies in Africa: New Issues and New Challenges

AbstractThis paper argues that international relations in Africa have changedespecially in content since the abatement of the Cold War. These changeshave been accelerated by the pressures unleashed by the internationalenvironment, including the reality of Africa’s marginalisation and the forcesof globalisation. These, along with domestic factors, including debt, internalconflicts, the impact of the ubiquitous structural adjustment programmes(SAPs), HIV/AIDS and human insecurity in general have combined tounderscore foreign aid and economic assistance as key driving forces ofthe continent’s foreign policies and diplomacy towards the North. Yet, thenew thrust of foreign policies, informed by the need for foreign aid, has notoccurred without a price. Among other things it has elevated technocrats incentral or reserve banks and finance ministries to positions of prominencevis-à-vis officials from foreign ministries and in the process introduced extra-African actors into the foreign policy making process of the continent. Thisin turn has undermined Africa’s increasingly tenuous economic sovereignty.But above all, it has led to the strengthening of ties with the North andinternational creditors in particular at the cost of intra-African relations.The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the AfricanUnion (AU) recently inaugurated, promise to open a new chapter in Africa’sinternational relations. It is argued, however, that against a background of aconfluence of factors, these new continental projects will make only a minimalimpact in terms of mitigating the consequences of the aid-driven foreignpolicies and thus altering the donor-oriented postures of African states

NEPAD and the Challenge of Africa’s Development:

Abstract:The critical necessity of development for Africa in the 21ˢᵗ century is an issue around which there is considerable consensus. There is, however, little agreement on the nature of the crisis, the required development framework, and the ‘desired state’. In the context of the debate, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has been promoted by its authors and sponsors as Africa’s development blueprint for meeting its development challenges. Much of the criticism of NEPAD has focused, procedurally, on the lack of consultation in its drafting, and, paradigmatically, on its neo- liberal content, the same set of policy instruments that have damaged Africa over the last 20 years. The latter underscores the sense of betrayal that comes through civil society resistance to NEPAD. The question though is this: Why would a group of African leaders, who seem genuine in their concerns, take responsibility for such policy framework? The paper seeks an explanation in the complex interaction between a set of developments since 1980: the neo-liberal hegemony at the level of state policymaking, internal policy atrophy, coercive power of compliance, but equally the new constituencies (class forces) that have been thrown up in the last two decades – within the state, economy, and importantly the civil society in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the latter is premised on the ‘death of the emancipatory project’ and the dominant politics of the petty bourgeois class in Africa. It is in this sense that we understanding NEPAD as a class project, hence, its import.Introduction

Shaping influence in governance networks: The role of motivations and information exchange

AbstractIn governance networks, some actors might have more influence than others in the group's collective decision‐making. This paper investigates whether an actor's prosocial and/or self‐interested motivations to participate in a governance network help predict its level of influence in the group. We argue that information exchange is an important mediator in this relationship because an actor's tendency to actively diffuse information will depend on its motivations; while other participants being exposed to information from an actor are likely to increase the actor's influence on them. Using a unique relational dataset from 10 anti‐corruption multi‐stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) in Latin America, Africa and Eurasia, we find that self‐interested actors, rather than prosocially motivated ones, take the lead in information‐exchange activities. The data also shows how this central role in turn increases perceived influence of self‐interested actors among other participants, conditioning potentially the direction of agreed‐upon collective objectives.

The challenges of international collaboration in conflict and health research: experience from the Research for Health in Conflict-Middle East and North Africa (R4HC-MENA) partnership

BackgroundHealthcare is a basic human right extending across all humanitarian contexts, including conflict. Globally, two billion people are living under conditions of insecurity and violent armed conflict with a consequent impact on public health. Health research in conflict-affected regions has been recognised as important to gain more understanding of the actual needs of such populations, to optimise healthcare delivery, as well as to inform advocacy and policy change. International collaborative research maximises the resources and skills available for dealing with global health issues, builds capacity and endeavours to ensure the research reflects real needs of the populations. Under the UK’s Global Challenge Research Fund in 2017 a number of such international programs were created including the Research for Health in Conflict-Middle East and North Africa (R4HC-MENA) partnership to build capacity in conflict and health research as well as study specific areas, namely noncommunicable diseases in conflict (cancer & mental health) and the political economy of health in conflict.MethodsA qualitative study using semi-structured online interviews was conducted to explore researchers’ and stakeholders’ perspectives on the R4HC-MENA programme over its lifetime from 2017 to 2021. It aimed to understand the factors that influenced and accelerated international collaboration within the R4HC-MENA programme on conflict and health research, and to provide deeper insights into the implementation of the programme. Data collection was conducted from March 2022 to June 2022. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used for participant recruitment. Thematic analysis was applied for data analysis.ResultsTwelve researchers/stakeholders participated in this study: four men and eight women. Four main themes were generated: Theme 1: Network building (personal and institutional levels); Theme 2: Hierarchies and power dynamics (power imbalance between different academic status, genders and institutions); Theme 3: Communication challenges; Theme 4: Career development (management, leadership, research, and teaching skills).ConclusionsThis study provided preliminary insights into perspectives on international collaboration in a major international programme of research on conflict and health. Several key challenges and outputs were generated by the researchers in this study. The findings are important for further developing effective strategies to tackle the challenge of power imbalance and ineffective communication in international research collaborations.

Exploring social processes in transformation: the case of a collaborative water partnership in South Africa

ABSTRACT We explore the social processes supporting transformation towards collaborative water governance in the uMngeni catchment, South Africa. Using Holling’s adaptive cycle as a heuristic of phases (conservation, release, reorganisation and exploitation) present during transformation of social-ecological systems, we consider the role of learning, power, agency and structure during each phase of the evolution of the uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership (UEIP). The UEIP is a partnership between government, research institutions, and civil society groups that facilitates broader and more collaborative participation in water management. During the conservation phase, strong control power and institutional structure (denoted by a hierarchical governance mode embodying control and regulation by the State) limited the introduction of new ideas and reinforced single-loop learning. The release phase was triggered by a shock which weakened control power and permitted the introduction of new ideas thereby enabling double-loop learning. The changing conditions gave rise to protean power (defined as results of practices of agile actors coping with uncertainty) which enhanced the agency of key actors who began to mobilise others in a rapid phase of re-organisation. Triple-loop learning was evident in the exploitation phase as new collaborative institutions, that were better able to accommodate innovative ideas, began to emerge. We found the adaptive cycle helpful for delineating phases of change, while the four multi-faceted processes of learning, power, agency and structure proved useful in illuminating dynamics of change. This understanding may help to inform actions to steer transformations towards more sustainable and collaborative water governance in South Africa and elsewhere.

Harnessing Capacity in Southern Africa to Support and Develop Human Resources for Nursing and Midwifery in Africa – Part 2: Case Studies from the DRC and Mozambique

Human resources for health has been the centre of attention for many decades as more African countries fail to meet health targets even though there is no shortage of country-specific policies and strategies to improve these resources. The WHO Africa region has a critical shortage of nurses and midwives, which will remain unresolved as long as funding and policy implementation challenges persist. In the interim, the profession itself must find innovative and collaborative ways to make inroads into the nursing shortages – specifically in areas where advanced clinical skills are needed. Harnessing capacity from within universities in southern Africa is posited as one of the ways to bolster the education of nurses and midwives. Presented in part 1, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development project aimed to increase the number and enhance the quality of postgraduate education and clinical training of nurses and midwives to improve the quality of healthcare services with particular reference to the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality rates. In fulfilling this aim, clinical master’s programmes were developed and implemented in seven African countries. In this article, we chose illustrative case studies to describe the master’s programme design and roll-out, in line with the health profile of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Mozambique. We explain the programme electives, enrolments and throughput, including outputs and outcomes. From experiences gained and lessons learnt, we extrapolate implications for future cases that employ pan-African and south-to-south university partnerships.