The HSRC’s Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) division undertakes research to transform educational outcomes and increase economic participation. It recognises that education and the economy have long been linked, and therefore conducts research in both areas, sometimes discretely, many times overlapping, and through a multidisciplinary lens. The EEE division tries to understand educational performance and improve learning for those who have had unequal starting points, and interrogate the social, spatial and structural obstacles to economic participation to bring about the gains and growth South Africa needs. A large part of the EEE division’s work includes assessments of the effectiveness of government programmes in maths and science education, skills development, land, housing and economic development; participation of young people in accessing dignified and decent work; the transformation of higher education; and innovation that supports wider access to services and food security.
The national economy is made up of diverse regional, city and local economies. It changes constantly, affecting people’s livelihoods and living standards. Research in this strategic area seeks to understand the forces that drive temporary fluctuations in the economy, and the bigger longer-term shifts in economic structures, social relations, and spatial distribution of economic opportunities. A focus of research by the HSRC’s Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) division is on innovation and how to change the economy so that it produces better outcomes for all people, including the role of the state in enacting economic policies that foster wider participation among the vulnerable and marginalised. The HSRC has considerable expertise in spatial economic development (rural, urban and regional), human settlement formation and community dynamics. The key stakeholders include the national departments of Trade, Industry and Competition; Human Settlements; Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development; local government; and National Treasury, along with key provinces and metropolitan municipalities.
Education is central to human actualisation and greatly affects young people’s life outcomes and our societies. South Africa has long struggled with the issue of quality education, and the era of technological disruption and innovation poses new challenges. The educational sector at primary, secondary and tertiary levels must respond to the need for new forms of knowledge and knowing. At the tertiary level, issues of access remain significant as well as the differentiation between university-level higher education offerings and those needed from the Tertiary Vocational Education and Training sector. Research conducted by the HSRC’s Inclusive Economic Development division looks at the planning, quality, governance, effectiveness, transformation, transitions and outcomes of education at all stages. The division’s work currently focuses on the unequal contexts of learning, assessment of achievement, the acquisition of relevant life and livelihood-ready skills in the context of changing technologies, and the future of work for youth in South Africa, Africa, and the Global South.
The Mastercard Foundation has funded the HSRC to conduct a longitudinal cohort study, The Imprint of Education (TIE). Over a period of five years, TIE is pursuing questions on topics such as ethical and transformative leadership, giving back, livelihoods, identity, mentoring and work with the view to understand how to better prepare young African graduates to have a real impact on their worlds. Read more about TIE.
A Community of Practice of Global South Youth Studies Scholars (GSYSS)
Ninety percent of the world’s youth live in Africa, Latin America and the developing countries of Asia. Despite this, the field of Youth Studies, is dominated by texts that universalise the experiences of youth despite having been researched and written in Northern contexts. Read more about GSYSS here
In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa was the country that experienced the highest Covid 19 death rates, reaching over 700 per 100 000 in places. The Eastern Cape Province was at the epi-center of the crisis with very high Covid death rates, social fracture, and the systemic collapse of the public health system. Rural women had a heavy load to bear as custodians of family health, as care workers, mothers, anchors for rural livelihoods, and community organizers.
In this context, rural women used the idiom: ‘Ukuvalo isango’ (“closing the gate”) to describe their experience of exclusion under Covid-19 regulations.This research will be the first step towards building policy and infrastructure that can “re-open the gate” (ukuvula isango) – that is, to “build back better” for women.
This project will be carried out by the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa and McGill University Canada to address key issues related to the precarity of women in rural areas of South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic as a starting point for post COVID-19 rebuilding. Using the ‘peoples science’ action approach in two phases, the team will document and explore women lives before and during the pandemic to identify trends and triggers that elevate or depreciate their livelihoods and health status. In the second phase, the project will use this analysis to explore strategies to enhance prevention in both the health and livelihood spheres
For more information please click HERE
