Paper long abstract:

Youth unemployment is a leading crisis in Kenya. Recent evidence establishes that youth unemployment correlates with gender, geographic location, level of education and household socio-economic status. In some areas in Kenya, over 80 percent of youth from the lowest wealth quintile are unemployment. The lack of access to information exacerbates the situation, especially given that two thirds of youth in rural areas receive information through the word of mouth, and only a third through all the other media combined. Receiving this evidence, Safaricom Foundation, a Kenyan Foundation has established a scholarship programme to counter this crisis. The programme focuses on the most excluded youth, and uses evidence to define these. Among the key markers are a 60:40 gender ratio in favour of female, and at least 5 percent disability target. The program then targets partnerships with two civil society organizations, 12 training institutions and over 100 industry actors to equip 700 youth with skills, train them in life skills and employability competences, place them into internships and link them to industry for employment. The two-year program has developed a digital data and feedback platform, to track the youth over the training period, and into their post-training engagements. This paper proposes to share this Kenyan innovation for youth employment, raising at least four critical questions: 1) What works in linking research evidence to inform and nudge large interventions? 2) Which considerations are necessary in increasing success prospects for cross-sectoral collaborations? 3) What space does the self-agency of youth occupy in driving the success of employment initiatives? 4) How best can one navigate the complexities of systemic bottlenecks, to yield bigger impact and sustainability? The paper will share evidence from two national studies on youth capabilities in Kenya, conducted in 2019, and move to share emerging evidence from the scholarship programme, drawn from the digital platform. It is hoped that this paper and the sharing of the innovation may inspire other locally-generated and locally-funded initiatives to turn the youth bulge crisis into an opportunity for Africa.

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Paper long abstract:

Bridging the research-policy gap: Is University -produced Social Science Research being utilized by Policy Makers and Practitioners in Kenya?

Universities play a critical role in knowledge production through research, and are generally regarded the main knowledge-producing institutions in society. Such knowledge is however, only useful if it relates to the problems faced by humanity, offers solutions to the problems and informs the policy-making process. Consequently, a key concern in assessing the health and contribution of the university education system in a country is its research production. Social science research knowledge in particular, offers policy-makers a rich source of ideas and theory that can contribute to policies and practices that are more relevant and socially efficacious. In the Kenya Vision 2030, which is the current development blue print, research is expected to play a key role in the formulation of relevant and practical policies. This study therefore sought to establish how much and what social science research is produced by universities in Kenya as well as explore the extent to which university produced social science research is utilised in policy formulation and programme Implementation. Additionally, the study sought to identify the facilitators of and barriers to university-based social science research in Kenya. Using a mixed methods approach, quantitative and qualitative data was collected from social science researchers from five universities. Quantitative and qualitative data was also collected from national and county level policy makers in the ministries of education, health, and agriculture; and in related Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs). Some of the key findings from the study were that research production is generally low, public universities produce more research than private universities, and that there is lack of communication between researchers and policy makers. Inadequate funding and the fact that university had little time due to heavy workloads were found to be critical barriers to research production. The utilization of university-produced social science research from the universities by policy makers was found to be low. The study thus recommends increased funding for research, strengthening communication between researchers and policy makers, and encouraging joint research between university researchers and policy makers.

Paper long abstract:

Borders and their management have long been thorny issue on the African continent. Broadly speaking, borders are either seen as barriers or as bridges. This paper explores the contrast between the two different border-ideologies that both have their protagonist in academic and policy circles. On the one hand, there are those who perceive borders as potential bridges, propagating open borders, lower administrative burdens and the free movement of people. This group, dominated by civil society organisations and international NGOs, sees African cross-border cooperation and regional integration as an opportunity for development. The African Union Border Programme (AUBP) is an important result of this 'borders as bridges' agenda. The second perspective sees borders as useful barriers that need to be controlled and is dominated by protagonists of the narrative of national borders as a security concern. Sensitivities surrounding border management strongly influence relations between nations. I will explore the tensions and divergences between policy and research in border management based on working experience with an NGO on cross-border cooperation across Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia, and social-anthropological research on the borderlands of South Sudan, DR Congo and Uganda. I argue that rather than searching for explanations on why policy-oriented research risks to be ineffective, we ought to look at those interests and institutions that ultimately pull the strings in border management. Although African national security sensitivities differ from the EU's politics of securitization, the interests converge in the current discourses on global security, which leads to the marginalisation of the open-borders ideology. The challenge, therefore, is not to bridge policy and research on African border management, but instead, to find a middle ground in which both border-ideologies co-exist.

Paper long abstract:

In line with a global trend in policy formulation and program implementation, African governments and international organizations are also responding to the growing call for a strengthened research and evidence base. With this call, it is assumed that evidence-based policies and programmes are more likely to bring about desired development outcomes and processes, including for example economic transformation, food security, sexual and reproductive health, rule of law and inclusive governance. This proposed roundtable reflects on the opportunities and challenges for evidence informed policy-making in Africa and The Netherlands, based on the experiences of four Knowledge Platforms. These platforms were established by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of its new knowledge policy in 2011 and aimed to improve the way knowledge and research are used for international cooperation. Convenors of various communities of practice, will share the challenges encountered in the dialogue processes and strategies to overcome them, as well as the rewarding achievements in terms of making knowledge work for policy and practice. These include Food &Business Knowledge Platform's various knowledge brokering activities, the Knowledge Platform Security and the Rule of Law's Addressing Root Causes (ARC) Program Learning Group, Share-Net Internationals Communities of Practice & Small Grants Facility and INCLUDE's African Policy Dialogues.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change is regarded as one of the significant threats to places and sites of historical and cultural significance in communities contributing to the increased focus on mitigation, preparedness, adaptation and resilience to the impacts of the changes in climate through policy and research. The Nigeria Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy, for instance, adopted in 2012 to drive national response to multi-faceted impacts of climate change and improve climate action and support to sustainable transition to low carbon, climate-resilient and high economic growth communities. Various scholars and professionals, however, agreed that cultural heritage offers immense opportunities to leverage on to drive community-based actions and improve adaptation to climate change impacts. This paper, therefore, examines issues influencing integrating cultural heritage into policies and research on the impacts of climate change in Nigeria. The policies addressing climate change across national, state and institutional levels were analysed to understand the trends, themes and influence on cultural heritage. Also, key stakeholders in climate change policy planning and research participated the semi-structured interviews to understand the challenges influencing integrating cultural heritage in policies and research addressing climate change in Nigeria. Findings revealed technological, social, institutional and economic challenges to integrating cultural heritage in climate change policies and research. The study therefore conclude that improving level of awareness on the potentials of cultural heritage as soft power for creation of climate action will influence inter-relationship between climate change policies and research in Nigeria.

Keywords: climate action, climate change adaptation, development policy, heritage value, policy-oriented research

Paper long abstract:

Exploring the inter-relationship between policy and research generally raises a wide range of questions and debates on the relevance and impact of research in the policy environment and particularly in Africa, where knowledge production systems are facing a lot of challenges, including the undue influence and control by global forces. Research involves investigation aimed at the collection of facts and information, which are organized logically and coherently for application as and when necessary. In this regard, all research enterprises require certain technical conditions to be successful. However, besides, and very predominantly, the frameworks of knowledge, tools, methods, and even the outputs of research are influenced by social, economic, and political dynamics. This paper aligns itself with the analytic framework that regards research as a socially constructed process. In this way, the paper argues that research and other scientific activities cannot be isolated from the total social, economic, and political environment in which they take place, and proceed to analyse the present trends in the research-policy nexus in Africa within the context of power. It also acknowledges that the outcomes of research are necessary for policy guidelines and programmes for the management of social, political, and economic relationships. However, power is the overarching factor that determines 'who gets what and how'; how and why research projects are framed, funded, executed, and the outcomes deployed in particular formats, including whose or which interests they serve. Globally the power dynamics have significant influence, and control over knowledge production largely and indeed, the research-policy nexus. Power asymmetry in the world system puts the global North at an advantage in knowledge production and promotes. The reality of post-truth politics that allow everyone to have their version of facts has further complicated for Africa. More than ever, and with the aid of modern information and communication technology, more time debating about truth and facts. This paper examines the implications for Africa and highlights useful lessons.