AISA Research Reports

1. Introduction

AISA is an organ of state entrusted
with the mandate to conduct research on African Affairs in terms of the Africa
Institute of South Africa Act 68 of 2001. AISA’s
current research agenda premised on African continental integration expires at
the end of the 2010/11 financial year, which has necessitated the drafting of
this new plan. The programmes in the current
5-Year Plan derive from priorities of the South African government which are
informed by broader development challenges on the African continent. These
challenges deal, amongst others , with issues of poverty, democratization, sustainable
development, environmental conservation, and safety and security.

By focusing on these challenges over
the next five years, AISA will be giving meaning to its vision of being an
indispensable African voice on African affairs and to its mission of producing
relevant research products aimed at promoting sustainable political and
socio-economic development in Africa. AISA’s research output will definitely
seek to contribute directly and indirectly to the sustained development of
various communities in South Africa. The research agenda will however be based
on the idea that the development challenges and prospects of South Africa
constitute an integral part of the broader development processes of the African
continent. A relational perspective will therefore constitute the overarching
framework for the research activities of the various units at AISA. The
research activities will be aimed at influencing policy formulation and
implementation processes at the national, regional and continental levels.

2. Business
Environmental Analyses

External and
internal factors affecting the business of AISA have been identified, following
the 2010 Institutional Review. External factors include :

·
Competition
from other organizations focusing on Africa, both in the republicand globally,
e.g. universities, research consultancies and non-governmental
organizations;

·
Insufficient
visibility within the RSA; and

·
The
necessity to create varied sources of funding to augment the parliamentary
grant.

Internal
factors include the following:

Insufficient
attractiveness of AISA as an employer as portrayed by the relatively
significant staff attrition rate and difficulty in attracting high quality
researchers;

Limited
resources;
Inadequate
positive team dynamics among staff; and
Management
challenges.

The above challenges facing AISA will
be addressed by:

·
Clearly
delineating AISA’s niche as dictated by its legislative mandate and location
within the Department of Science and Technology;

·
Implementing
recommendations cited in the 2010 Institutional Review relating to improving
research capacity, funding from government, co-operation with like-minded
institutions and good management;

·
Developing
a clear communication and marketing strategy that will ensure that AISA’s
products and services are visible and attractive to its stakeholders and widely
accessible to policy-makers and broader society; and

·
Clearly
identifying what other similar research and governmental organizations are
contributing to the broader community and their stakeholders, and signing MoUs
with such institutions to have a better impact from partnerships.

Strategic
Objectives and alignment to Shareholder needs

The strategic
objectives of AISA have been developed in line with its vision, mission and
strategic thrusts as dictated by its mandate. They provide a basis for the
formulation of detailed programmes, projects and initiatives. The following
are the strategic objectives of AISA:

1. Generate
and encourage knowledge production and dissemination on African Affairs;

2.
Improve stakeholder relations and
partnerships;

3.
Mobilise resources to augment the
parliamentary grant;

4.
Increase the pool and quality of
researchers on African affairs;

5.
Encourage staff to improve their
scientific qualifications; and

6. Induce
a performance and development culture.

The key drivers of the strategic
objectiveis infra are as follows:

·
The
South African government priorities (2009-2015) on education, employment
creation, health, rural development and safety and security are addressed
through undertaking research on the above thematic priorities, which
coincidentally address challenges common to all African states.

·
The
vision of the AU which seeks “the actualisation of human dignity,
development and prosperity for the entire African people …anchored on a
vision of an integrated prosperous and peaceful Africa … driven and managed by
its own citizens… and representing a dynamic force in the international arena”.

·
Seeking
better ratings for virtually all African countries on the Human Development
Report (which measures the quality of life in different nations) of the United
Nations Development Programme, where they virtually make up the last 30 odd
countries.

Alignment of the AISA Strategy to the Ten Year Strategic Plan of the
Department of Science and Technology (DST)

A quick cross
reference between AISA’s identified objectives and the Ten year Strategic Plan
of DST, reveals a pleasing alignment between the two. DST expects the following
from AISA:

— Research
on African affairs;

— Analysis
of impact and linkages of science and technology to the human and social dynamics
grand challenge in the DST plan and;

— Identification
of effective decision support systems and tools.

3. Critical
Success Factors

“The composite
package of the way an organisation understands, manages and communicates all
contribute to its eventual success or failure. An organisation’s critical
success factors are the resources and capabilities needed to efficiently and
effectively deliver its strategy. There are a few fundamentals that must be in
place, particularly at the highest level of the organisation. If these are
established at the level of senior management, then there is a good chance that
the same good practice will be cascaded to the operational levels”. The
fundamentals for AISA are:

·
Understanding the needs of
stakeholders and customers

·
Effective internal and external
communication

·
Strategy ownership by governance
structures and senior management

·
Strategic resource allocation and
utilization

·
Appropriate structure to delivery on
strategy

·
Strategic management, including
performance management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting

·
Relevant internal culture and value
system.

The research
agenda is entitled “seeking solutions for Africa’s developmental challenges”.

Related broad
thematic priorities, which address challenges common to all African states,
are:

a) Engendering
developmental states in Africa: concentrating on improvement of public
services, health care, access to quality education, poverty reduction and
governance issues. AISA will determine the role and effectiveness of governance
and democracy in Africa with special focus on service delivery, observation of
elections, sustainable health care models that impact on the life expectancy of
Africans and also undertake comparative analyses of systems of education across
Africa with the aim of determining states’ inputs and benefits from such human
capital development programmes. AISA will also monitor the
effectiveness and impact of African multilateral and global governance regimes.
including South-South linkages, IBSA, BRICS and South Africa’s role in G20 and
other international bodies relevant to African Affairs.

b) Building
cohesive and sustainable communities void of conflict, crime and corruption:
AISA will conduct comparative studies on safety and security programmes, the
impact of migration and human interaction in Africa amongst others to
determine how these affect socio-economic development approaches and policies
across Africa to derive lessons from those models that are successful, so
countries and sub-regions and learn from each other. o emulate the impact of
migration and human interaction in Africa and determine how these affect
socio-economic development. These challenges are faced by all African states
due to internal political instability or from neighbouring countries and has
resulted, in most cases, in internal conflicts, refugees,
xenophobia, massive destruction of infrastructure, dysfunctional societies and post-conflict
reconciliation and reconstruction challenges. The question is how if at all can
these conflicts and their negative aftermaths be reduced or prevented?

c) Sustainable
resource management and use, rural development, food security and land reform: AISA
will investigate the agricultural policies
and strategies used across the continent so as to determine technology
interventions that will improve food security, investigate natural resource
management in Africa (green economy, renewable energy) and positively impact on
economic growth and sustainable livelihoods. Lessons will benefit all African
states battling with management of natural resources, which is linked to the
economic growth of every nation. The extent to which political, economic,
social and technological (PEST) sustainability underpins development planning
across Africa will be tested.

Implementation Strategy

The new
research agenda will be approached through long-term projects clearly related
to AISA’s mandate. This will be achieved through the following:

i.
Identifying relevant research programmes
and projects through a consultative process among AISA researchers and
stakeholders where apropos.

ii.
Defining
clear objectives and scope of research projects within the ambit of the
research agenda and the niche that each project addresses.

iii.
Performing
annual reviews of research programmes.

iv.
Performing
an impact analysis to measure AISA’s work in relation to the adopted agenda
after each five-year cycle of research.

4. Key
Result Areas

The consultative process generated a set of Key
Result Areas for each strategic objective. This section reflects in some detail
the areas within which AISA will deliver and from which it will derive its
business and operational plans. These will then be cascaded down to the level
of programmes, and sub-programmes or project to ensure that the outputs are
aligned to the new objectives.

A Programme is
a grouping of projects contributing towards a specific theme of relevance to a
strategy and has timeframes.

A
Project (sub-programme) is a grouping of
multidisciplinary activities, which collectively contribute towards a balanced
portfolio of research and development on a specific challenge within a
strategy. Projects also have timeframes.

Also of
importance will be the key outputs, performance indicators, budget and
programme review dates when delivery will be monitored and targets adjusted.

For the next five years research at
AISA will be guided by the following programmes:

·
Governance and Democracy

·
Peace and Security

·
Sustainable development

·
Science and Technology for human
development

·
Knowledge Transfer and Skills
development

In each of the
these programmes there will be specific projects with timelines ranging from
2-5 years as shown in Table 1.

Table
1: Projects within Programmes for 2011 – 2015

Programmes	Governance and Democracy	Peace and Security	Sustainable Development	Science and Technology	Knowledge Transfer and Skills Development
PROJECTS	Elections and Democratization in Africa.	Fragile states and human security in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe.	Impacts of climate change on agricultural production in Africa and its islands (South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal, Algeria and Comoros).	Investigating the influence of hazard analysis for critical control points in Africa (focus will be given to SADC, East Africa and West Africa).	An investigation of the African centred content and curriculum in education policies and teaching in universities, secondary and primary schools since 1994 in South Africa; a comparative study with experiences in Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Mozambique and Egypt.
	Good governance and national productivity in Africa: In partnership with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, University of Rutgers and University of Texas.	Violent conflict and peace building practice in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe.	Fishing, Livestock and Forestry activities in the Lake Chad Basin, Great Lakes and the Okavango Basin.	Geographical information systems -this is going to be a continuous activity that collates and generates data used in maps, Africa at a Glance and Africa A_Z. The project will cover the whole of Africa. Tools to be used include: · Geoportal · GIS · Spatial analysis.	Challenges towards research in African universities in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon.
	Global Institutional Arrangements : FOCAC, AU-EU Joint initiatives, AGOA, BRICS, and Brazil, India -Africa institutional impact on African infrastructural growth and industrialization.	Gender, HIV/AIDS and conflict. In Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe.	Pollutions impacts assessments of agricultural plantations and industrial parks in South Africa ,Swaziland., Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia.	Climate change monitoring This will entail monitoring of ecosystem transformation and its influence on African economies. Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, and Tanzania.	Entrepreneurial development as part of human capital development for the economic development: case studies in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia.
	SADC and SACU as instruments of regional integration : how is this dichotomy to be managed?		Indigenous rights, minority rights, and development in Kenya and Uganda Human rights and development in Tanzania and Madagascar: A comparative analysis.	Climate change monitoring This will entail investigating resource conservation and management South Africa, Angola, DRC, Chad and Cameroon.
			Human rights and development in Tanzania and Madagascar: A comparative analysis.	Climate change monitoring This will entail mapping urban food supply and distribution systems in Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia).
				Energy transition in Africa Africa Energy Fund. This will entail developing a concept of setting up the fund that will assist Africa to migrate from fossil fuel based economies to renewable sources.
EXTERNAL CONTRACTS				Standard Bank seminar series on Kenya, Angola, Tanzania, Nigeria, Russia, Brazil, China, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana.
NRF				AKILI NRF Projects: Energy and system dynamics. Managing the unknown in a complex socio-ecological system in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
BOOKS	Electoral Book Project: In partnership with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.	Achieving peace from below: the role of civil society in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.	Fishing, Livestock and Forestry activities in the Lake Chad Basin, Great Lakes and the Okavango Basin.	Energy transition in Africa. (this is a multi faceted book project that covers various issues related to renewable energy in Africa. Details of these are provided in the outline of the book).	Challenges to the South African education system.
	Emerging Powers and Corporate State Actors. In Partnership with UP.				Challenges to the South African education system.
	Good governance and national productivity in Africa.	From confrontation to cooperation: responding to protracted social conflict.	Lamu District and LAPSETT: development challenges.	Barriers in climate change adaptation and implementation in SADC.	Excellence and meritocracy in education.
	Africa in search of alternatives to current governance models and practices: Book Project.	Ethnicity, nationality, citizenship and post-conflict reconstruction in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe.	Indigenous and minority rights in Africa.		Harmonization of educational systems in the SADC region.
	Africa’s Response to the external intensified scramble for its resources.		Indigenous and minority rights in Africa.		Harmonization of educational systems in the SADC region.
Fellowships	Africa and its Diapora; conference and book	Topic to be determined	Topic to be determined	Topic to be determined	Education for Africa: workshop and book.
OUPUTS PER RESEARCHER	3Journal Articles and 2 Policy Briefs per year	3 Journal Articles and 2 Policy Briefs per year	3 Journal Articles and 2 Policy Briefs per year	3 Journal Articles and 3 Policy Briefs per year	3 Journal Articles and 3 Policy Briefs per year
BOOKS PER PROGRAMME	2 Books over 5 years	2 books over 5 years	2 books over 5 years	2 books over 5 years	2 books over 5 years
Knowledge dissemination and Sharing	2 Seminars from fieldwork and participate in the Campus Lecture Series and AYGS. Media presentations	2 seminars from fieldwork and participate in the Campus Lecture Series and AYGS. Media presentations	2 Seminars from Fieldwork and participate in the Campus Lecture Series and AYGS. Media presentations	2 Seminars from fieldwork and participate in the Campus Lecture Series and AYGS. Media presentations	2 Seminars from fieldwork and participate in the Campus Lecture Series and AYGS. Media presentations

Table
2: Programme Implementation Plan

Table
2a: Governance and Democracy in Africa:

Theme	Project	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Elections and Strengthening of Governance and Democracy	Elections and Democratization in Africa: In partnership with DIRCO
Elections and Strengthening of Governance and Democracy	Electoral Book Project: In partnership with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Governance and Democracy in Africa	Good Governance and National Productivity in Africa:: In partnership with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, University of Rutgers and University of Texas.
	Good governance and national productivity in Africa: In partnership with the, University of Rutgers and University of Texas. Book Project
	Africa in Search of Alternatives to Current Governance Models and Practices: Book Project
	Africa’s Response to External Intensified Scramble for its Resources: Book project
21st Century Global Governance:	Global Institutional Arrangements : FOCAC, AU-EU Joint initiatives, AGOA, and BRICS institutional impact on African Infrastructural growth and industrialization.
21st Century Global Governance:	Emerging Powers and Corporate State Actors. Book project in conjunction with the Department of Political Science, University of Pretoria
South Africa’s foreign policy .	Southern African Development Community and Southern African Customs Union as drivers of regional integration : how is this dichotomy to be managed?

Table
2b: Peace and Security in Africa:

Theme	Project	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Sustainable peace and security	Fragile states and human security in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe.
	Violent conflict and peace building practice in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe Africa.
	Gender, HIV/AIDS and conflict in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe.
	Book Project – Achieving peace from below the role of civil society in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. :
	Ethnicity, nationality, citizenship and post-conflict reconstruction in Algeria, Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, North and South Sudan and Zimbabwe . Book Project
	From confrontation to cooperation: Responding to protracted social conflict. Book Project

Table
2c: Sustainable Development in Africa:

Theme	Project	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Natural resources development	Impacts of climate change on agricultural production in Africa and small islands (South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal, Algeria and Comoros).
Natural resources development	Fishing, Livestock and Forestry activities in the Lake Chad Basin, Great Lakes and the Okavango Basin; Book Project
Human Development .	Lamu District and LAPSETT: development challenges Book Project
	Pollutions impacts assessments of agricultural plantations and industrial parks in South Africa ,Swaziland., Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia.
	Indigenous and minority rights in Africa Book Project
	Indigenous rights, minority rights, and development in Kenya and Uganda
	Human rights and development in Tanzania and Madagascar: A comparative analysis

Table
2d: Science and Technology for Human Development:

Theme	Project	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Standardisation	· Investigating the influence of hazard analysis for critical control point in Africa (focus will be in SADC, East Africa and West Africa)
Geo-Information Systems	This will be a continuous activity that collate and generate data used in maps, Africa at a glance and Africa A_Z, no specific region can be provided as the project covers that whole of Africa. Following tools will be used: · GIS · Modelling and Statistical Analysis · Geoportal · Spatial analysis
Green Economy	· Monitoring of ecosystem transformation and its influence on African economies. (Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Tanzania). · Investigating resource conservation and management in Africa (South Africa, Angola, DRC, Chad and Cameroon).
	· Energy transition in Africa. (this is a multi faceted book project that covers various issues. All these are provided in the outline of the book).
	· Barriers in climate change adaptation and implementation in SADC.
	· Energy Fund in Africa.
	· Urban food supply and distribution systems in Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia).
External Contracts (Standard Bank)	· Seminar series on Kenya, Angola, Tanzania, Nigeria, Russia, Brazil, China, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana (detailed plan is provided in the programme)
NRF (AKILI)	· Energy and system dynamics in South Africa
NRF (AKILI)	· Managing the unknown in a complex socio-ecological system in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Table
2e: Knowledge Transfer and Skills Development:

Theme	Project	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
African Centred Education	An investigation of the African Centred content and curriculum in education policies and teaching in Universities, Secondary and Primary Schools since 1994 in South Africa. a comparative study with experiences in Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Tanzania, Mozambique and Egypt.
Human capital development	Challenges towards research in African universities in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon.
	Entrepreneurial development as part of human capital development for the economic development: case studies in South Africa Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia.
	Challenges to the South African education system. Book Project.
	Excellence and meritocracy in education: Book Project.
	Harmonization of educational systems in the SADC region: Book Project.

Table 3: Projected Outputs

x =Outputs will change depending on
number of researchers per year. Y =Multi-authored books are not likely to be
completed in a year.

No.	Rank	Activity	Expected output as per Strategic Plan	Output 2011	2012^x	2013	2014	2015
15	Researchers	Fieldwork	20 Journal Articles (JA) and 12 Policy Briefs(PB)	32 publications (20JA+12PBs)	As defined in 2011	As defined in 2011	As defined in 2011	As defined in 2011
6	Fellows	Write books, resource mobilization and organize conference	I Fellow per Unit+ Director’s Office	24 Chapters	24 Chapters	24 Chapters	24 Chapters	24 Chapters
15	Researchers	International conferences	7 conferences	7 proceedings	8Proc	8 Proc	9 Proc	9 Proc
15	Researchers	National conferences/seminars	7 conferences/seminars	7 seminar reports	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	. as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011
6	Internships	Write Policy Briefs/Journal Articles, attend conferences/workshops/seminars	Average 2 publications	12 publications (12 PBs or 6 Journal Aricles	(12 PBs) or 6 JAs	(12 PBs) or 6 JAs	(12 PBs) or 6 JAs	(12 PBs) or 6 JAs
15	All researchers	Knowledge production activities: Campus Lecture Series Archie Mafeje Memorial Lecture Special seminars	1 Seminar from field/researcher +1Seminar for Campus Lecture Series	20 seminars	20 Seminars	20 Seminars	20 Seminars	20 Seminars
				2 monographs from the Archie Mafeje Lecture	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011
				4 Visibility /Website Quarterly reports +45 Media appearance(Radio, Print, TV, visible community project)	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011
	All	AYGS	Participation	10 occasional papers/monographs/Journal Articles	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011	as defined in 2011
	All	Networking	Participation	Reports
2	Administrators	Divisional administration
TOTAL				97 (91 if interns produce JAs instead of Policy Briefs) Publications including book chapters and 4 quarterly reports loaded on website). +45 media appearances +20 seminars	See 2011	See 2011	See 2011	See 2011

Table 4: Budget

No.	Activity	Cost per Unit/Activity	Expected Output	Budget 2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
20	Fieldwork	@ R100,000,00	32 Publications /year	R2,000,000.00	6% adjustment	6%	6%	6%
6	Fellows: Book Chapter Commissioning	@R160,000,00	24 Chapters	R1.140,000.00
20	International conferences	@R35, 000,00	10 Proceedings	R700,000.00
20	National conferences	@R15,000,00	Seminars and AISA visibility +media appearances	R300,000.00

6	Internships	@R354,000,00	12 Policy Briefs or 6 Journal Articles	R2,124,000.00
	Campus Lectures	Knowledge Production activities	Seminars	R615,000.00
9	Archie Mafeje Memorial Lecture		Monograph	R360,000.00
	Special seminars		Visibility/website
	AYGS			R369,000,00
	Networking			R260,000,00
	Administration costs			R184,000,00
*TOTAL				*R7,033,000.00

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AISA Research Reports

Strategic
Objectives and alignment to Shareholder needs

Alignment of the AISA Strategy to the Ten Year Strategic Plan of the
Department of Science and Technology (DST)

i.
Identifying relevant research programmes
and projects through a consultative process among AISA researchers and
stakeholders where apropos.

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Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Social Profilr

AISA Research Reports

Strategic Objectives and alignment to Shareholder needs

Alignment of the AISA Strategy to the Ten Year Strategic Plan of the Department of Science and Technology (DST)

i. Identifying relevant research programmes and projects through a consultative process among AISA researchers and stakeholders where apropos.

Calendar of Events (view all)

Latest News

Latest Products

Strategic
Objectives and alignment to Shareholder needs

Alignment of the AISA Strategy to the Ten Year Strategic Plan of the
Department of Science and Technology (DST)

i.
Identifying relevant research programmes
and projects through a consultative process among AISA researchers and
stakeholders where apropos.