tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/socio-economic-20019/articlessocio-economic – The Conversation2018-07-02T15:48:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/990872018-07-02T15:48:11Z2018-07-02T15:48:11ZTo fix South Africa’s dysfunctional state, ditch its colonial heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225339/original/file-20180628-117430-1sh6sxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's Union Buildings in Pretoria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Saad/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently made an astonishing statement: that the country’s <a href="https://m.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/governance-is-collapsing-in-sa-ramaphosa-20180616">governance is collapsing</a>. It takes extraordinary courage for a head of state and of the national executive to be so candid.</p>
<p>Ramaphosa’s statement followed the release of damning data about the state of governance in the country. For example, the most recent report from the Auditor General Kimi Makwetu showed that only 7% of the country’s <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/55-municipalities-are-dysfunctional-Mkhize-20180320">municipalities</a> are discharging their constitutional mandate. And only 8% were given a clean audit in the last financial year. </p>
<p>Hot on the heels of this report were parliamentary briefings which painted a gloomy picture of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpiTnPTjiNs">state of</a> public service. Added to this is the fact that a number of <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/download-the-full-state-of-capture-pdf-20161102">state owned enterprises</a> have gained notoriety as conduits for patronage.</p>
<p>Does this suggest that South Africa is at the tipping point? I’m asking the question because an important determinant of a functioning state is its administration. As the British political scientist <a href="https://www.macmillanihe.com//companion/Heywood-Politics-4e/Chapter-13-notes/">Andrew Heywood</a> argues:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Political systems can operate without constitutions, assemblies, judiciaries, and even parties, but cannot survive without an executive branch to formulate government policy and ensure that it is implemented.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The administration of the state is key. A political system can be optimised or vitiated by the way in which public affairs are managed. Politics decides a system of government while the administration of the state institutionalises how these objectives are realised. In a democracy this is about enhancing the quality of citizens’ life.</p>
<p>To understand what’s behind the appalling state of governance in South Africa it’s more useful to look at causes, rather than just the problems. <a href="https://utamu.ac.ug/docs/research/publications/journals/JOPA%20Vol%2046%20No%201.pdf%202012-PARADIGMS.pdf">I argue</a> the main driver is that South Africa’s democracy has been sacrificed at the altar of neo-liberalism - <a href="http://www.google.co.za/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755">a system</a> of organising society in which the markets are left unbridled and their principles thrust into various aspects of human life.</p>
<h2>The rise of neoliberalism</h2>
<p>The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the 1980s gave the neo-liberalism arsenal an unfettered edge. It was peddled as the panacea by international financial institutions and liberal scholars. Audaciously, an American political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama proclaimed in his book <a href="https://g.co/kgs/V9TcEK">The End of History and the Last Man</a> that the market economy and a democratic political system were the only means to achieve sustained growth and development. </p>
<p>The post-apartheid state was created just as these views were becoming more prevalent. This meant that the new state didn’t deconstruct the colonial architecture of its administration.</p>
<p>The African National Congress (ANC) also took over running the state with zero experience behind it. </p>
<p>In other words, the ANC ran into government in 1994 completely unprepared. As a result, it often embraced the <a href="http://www.power987.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/170630-0705-FINAL-Diagnostic-Organisational-Report-National-Policy-Conference.doc">colonial</a> apartheid governance model. </p>
<p>The intersection of a neo-liberal approach and a colonial edifice eroded the state’s capacity to fulfil the mission of the liberation struggle. <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/strategy-and-tactics-anc-building-national-democratic-society-revised-draft-anc-30-august-20">This was about </a>“uplifting the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor, the majority of whom are African and female.” </p>
<p>In a neo-liberal framework, the people’s sovereignty is replaced by the market. The public good is <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/jpad/50/2/EJC183286">commodified</a>. State and the citizens assume a transactional relationship in which citizens are characterised as customers. </p>
<h2>New public management</h2>
<p>During the 1980s a template began to emerge for state reform along <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0042098042000226957">neo-liberal</a> lines. It was called new public management. It remoulded the administration of the state according to private sector principles and practices, which saw the state becoming more service ensurer than service provider.</p>
<p>The approach dominated the 1980s but waned in the 1990s. South Africa embraced it anyway, and used it to frame the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1995.tb01147.x">post-apartheid model</a> for state administration.</p>
<p>The new public management approach became a staple diet in the education of students of government. They were taught that the performance of the state was the function of the economic value of efficiency, largely derived from privatisation cuts in public expenditure. The key is to maximise output with minimum input costs. It’s not about the “social effectiveness” of the state’s action - enhancing the wellbeing of the citizens. </p>
<p>This approach spawned inequality. Society is stratified along socio-economic lines. The hardest hit are the poor while the business, political and bureaucratic elites rich live lavishly.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://utamu.ac.ug/docs/research/publications/journals/JOPA%20Vol%2046%20No%201.pdf%202012-PARADIGMS.pdf">I have argued elsewhere</a>, “democracy in conditions characterised by inequities in socio-economic gains is not sustainable, particularly in South Africa with the history of many decades systematic marginalisation” of other races.</p>
<h2>Can governance be fixed?</h2>
<p>South Africa’s governance challenge can’t simply be fixed by reorganising the structure of government, such as by reducing the size of the public service. It requires rethinking the ideological edifice that frames it, and daring to decolonise the administration of the state. </p>
<p>To get there, the idea that government should be run like a business has to be jettisoned and the idea that it should be like a democracy embraced. This should be linked to the concept of the public good, where democracy should be given a <a href="https://epdf.tips/the-new-public-service-serving-not-steering.html">human face</a>.</p>
<p>Iain McLean, a British professor of politics at Oxford University, offers this conception of the <a href="http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199207800.001.0001/acref-9780199207800">public good</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>any good that, if supplied to anybody, is necessarily supplied to everybody, and from whose benefits it is impossible or impracticable to exclude anybody. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So how can this begin to happen in South Africa? As a crucial first step, governance requires new narratives. These must transcend neo-liberal prescriptions and colonial-apartheid entrapment, replacing them with the notion of the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mashupye Herbert Maserumule received funding from the National Research Foundation(NRF) for his postgraduate studies. He is affiliated with the South African Association of Public Administration and Management(SAAPAM). He is the Chief Editor of this learned soceity. </span></em></p>South Africa’s governance challenge can’t simply be fixed by reorganising the structure of government.Mashupye Herbert Maserumule, Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/783922017-06-22T00:42:16Z2017-06-22T00:42:16ZGrowing up in disadvantaged areas may affect teens’ brains, but good parenting can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171594/original/file-20170531-25700-1t0tan3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Disadvantaged neighbourhoods can be a source of stress for young people. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/83681036@N03/15210907756/in/photolist-pb8SWh-doeb5q-9C8uWk-4u2vHt-mKPf8-ypPwU-jbxza7-4bgxdv-88DWF8-TgNDYt-MZVBBA-9VB6hu-Umsd7Z-9iPpW3-6fSSyE-8wnQ7v-UbbfpN-UBG953-8KQTkv-4KGT6-75nwv4-dDhSUs-m8n1S1-5ujTv5-kbLkB8-PdVS-9iL1gD-9iL2wr-8ktTky-CqJyt-3KDKXM-RdXHqb-SWKN2R-ThKCrH-QA4Pmn-5CiuPk-52jZFd-6M1r8h-5Hs51w-5kodp9-nSiK8C-uAxFW-9sST5Q-9iKGzD-3WWXw8-fLpsa8-9iNshE-rZyW4U-gpbbZH-oYnMVT">Dielok/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2631892">New research</a> has found growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood may have negative effects on children’s brain development. But for males, at least, positive parenting negated these negative effects, providing some good lessons for parents.</p>
<p>Living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood (where there are more people who have low income jobs or are unemployed, are less educated, and have less access to resources) can cause stress, and <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/208555">has been linked with</a> psychological and social problems in children and adolescents. </p>
<p>This may come about because of limited access to resources such as quality education and medical care, or because adults in these neighbourhoods have fewer ties to the community and are less likely to monitor children.</p>
<p>But how could neighbourhood disadvantage lead to problems? During childhood and adolescence the brain is growing and changing rapidly, making it “plastic” or malleable, and susceptible to being changed by experience. So one way neighbourhood disadvantage might lead to negative outcomes in children and adolescents is by changing the way the brain develops.</p>
<h2>Stress and the brain</h2>
<p>We studied adolescents aged 12 to 19 from a broad range of neighbourhoods in Melbourne. We investigated whether neighbourhood disadvantage and family socioeconomic status were associated with brain development and functioning (including school completion). </p>
<p>We found growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood had detrimental effects on adolescent brain development, but that measures of family-based socioeconomic status (such as parental income, occupation or education) were not related to brain development.</p>
<p>Our results suggest growing up in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods may lead to slower cortical brain development. The cortex is the outer layer of brain, and plays a role in nearly all brain processes related to attention, perception, memory, thought, problem solving, language, motor functions and social abilities.</p>
<p>The altered development may be due to increased stress associated with living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. The <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/Supplement_2/17180.full.html">effects of stress on the structure of the brain</a> are well known. Stress hormones might lead to changes in brain development by damaging brain cells, or disrupting the normal processes by which brain cells (and their connections with each other) mature over time. </p>
<p>It’s important to note, though, that while we found altered brain development was associated with disadvantaged neighbourhoods, we can’t prove one caused the other.</p>
<h2>Overcoming disadvantage with positive parenting</h2>
<p>Our study also investigated whether positive parenting practices might buffer any negative effects of neighbourhood disadvantage.</p>
<p>Our research focused on parents expressing positive emotions and behaviours during disagreements with their children. Such behaviours included displays of affection, comments that validated children’s feelings, and use of humour. These positive parenting behaviours are thought to help children express and regulate their own emotions in healthy ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173925/original/file-20170615-24967-1973gjv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maturation of the frontal lobes helps adolescents to better manage their emotions and behaviour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2167702613505531">We’ve previously shown</a> a parent’s ability to be positive when having disagreements with their child is a strong predictor of future mental health outcomes during adolescence. For example, adolescents who have parents that tend to express more positive behaviours during such interactions have lower rates of depression.</p>
<p>We found more positive parenting during disagreements with children “buffered” some of these effects, but only in males. Specifically, growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods did not result in slowed brain development if a child’s parents showed high levels of positive behaviour as described above. </p>
<p>These buffering effects were specific to brain regions in the frontal lobes. These brain regions are important for regulating emotions and behaviour, and they are one of the last parts of the brain to mature. </p>
<p>Importantly, positive parenting appears to counteract neighbourhood effects by promoting “normal” maturation of the frontal lobes. Also, we found these positive changes on the brain lead to boys being more likely to finish high school. This may be because normal maturation of the frontal lobes helps adolescents to better manage their emotions and behaviour.</p>
<p>It’s not clear why the parenting findings were specific to male adolescents. One possibility is the timing of frontal lobe development during adolescence. Male brains, on average, develop later than female brains. </p>
<p>It may be that later frontal lobe development in males makes them more sensitive to the influences of both negative and positive environments in this age range. </p>
<p>Alternatively, it may be that females are as “sensitive”, but are affected by other things we didn’t study. This is likely as adolescent girls have higher rates of depression, and this has been <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763410001776">linked to interpersonal stress</a>. Importantly, <a>we’ve previously shown</a> positive parenting is protective against depression in girls.</p>
<p>Our findings do not suggest that growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood necessarily means children and adolescents will have poor outcomes. Rather, there are increased risks. Parents can be a source of support for their children, and if they can engage in positive parenting practices they can affect their children’s brain development in adaptive ways and improve outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Assoc. Prof. Whittle receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and The University of Melbourne. She has previously received funding from the Colonial Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian G. Simmons receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and The University of Melbourne. He has previously received funding from the Colonial Foundation. Dr Simmons is an honorary fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Allen receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), the National Institutes of Health (USA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (USA). . </span></em></p>New research has found growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood can have negative effects on children’s brain development.Sarah Whittle, Associate Professor in Psychiatry, The University of MelbourneJulian G. Simmons, Research Fellow in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, The University of MelbourneNick Allen, Ann Swindells Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/553382016-02-24T16:37:19Z2016-02-24T16:37:19ZSouth Africa’s finance minister tackles wastage, boosts confidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112763/original/image-20160224-16416-dpntdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivers his 2016 budget address to parliament in Cape Town.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A great deal was at stake for South Africa when its Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivered his much-anticipated <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2016/speech/speech.pdf">2016 Budget</a> speech. The political stakes for the governing African National Congress are high as it battles charges of corruption and a failure to deliver services to communities. The Conversation Africa Politics and Society editor Thabo Leshilo asked political scientist Keith Gottschalk to highlight the most important elements of the speech, and to assess whether Gordhan addressed the pressing challenges facing the country.</em> </p>
<h2>Corruption, spending cuts and education</h2>
<p>First, the finance minister announced more stringent procedures for state tenders to ensure that there was transparency in the way they are awarded. This will make predation from <a href="http://www.gov.za/tenderpreneurship-stuff-crooked-cadres-fighters">“tenderpreneurs”</a> - business people who enrich themselves through government tenders, often dubiously - and <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Political-hyenas-in-feeding-frenzy-20100826">“political hyenas”</a> - the country’s corrupt political elite - more difficult. </p>
<p>It has been <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-08-20-npa-realignment-step-2-willie-hofmeyr-out-of-asset-forfeiture-unit/#.Vs3B0Pl97IU">estimated</a> that funds lost to corruption in South Africa could well have increased to <a href="http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/why-is-corruption-getting-worse-in-south-africa/">one-fifth of the budget</a>.</p>
<p>Second, the minister announced that the budget deficit will be reduced each year for the next three years.</p>
<p>Gordhan’s formal qualification is as a pharmacist and it’s fair to say that he dispensed exactly the medicine ratings companies and credit agencies are watching for. The cuts on public sector travel, cars, accommodation, and conferences sends the right signals. The freeze on the hiring of public sector workers comprises the bulk of the freeze in expenditure. This will keep the <a href="http://www.brettonwoods.org/page/about-the-bretton-woods-institutions">Bretton Woods</a> institutions at bay.</p>
<p>Third, Gordhan announced the two-decade overdue project to ensure that all schools are built of brick, and supplied with water and electricity. He also announced acceleration in the provision of early childhood development schooling. At the other end of the education spectrum he announced a substantial increase in funding for the National Student Financial Aid <a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/">Scheme</a>. This provides support for indigent students at colleges and universities.</p>
<h2>Skillful tax hikes</h2>
<p>Fourth, the finance minister committed to unspecified reductions in the cost of doing business, and regulatory challenges that deter investors.</p>
<p>Fifth, there is no increase in VAT. He took this decision in a year in which working class families will be hit badly by inflation as food prices rise due to both the drought and the decline of the rand’s exchange rates.</p>
<p>Instead, Gordhan fell back on that favourite of the <a href="http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-dutch-east-indies-company-the-first-100-years">Dutch East Indies Company</a> - excise duties. New levies on sugar and tyres, and higher levies on fuel and plastics.</p>
<p>Overall, his team has skillfully cut expenditure and raised taxes where it will hurt least. The paragraph seeking to rationalise and privatise certain state-owned enterprises will help concentrate the mind of <a href="http://www.news24.com/Travel/Flights/SAA-leadership-rocked-by-scandal-again-20140521">South African Airways</a>, the troubled national airline.</p>
<p><em>*This article has been republished to correct a misattribution.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Gottschalk is affiliated with the ANC. This critique is written in his individual capacity as a political scientist.</span></em></p>South Africa’s finance minister delivered a good mix of macro and micro-economic strategies to ensure the country survives economic uncertainty, restores confidence and achieves some growth.Keith Gottschalk, Political Scientist, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/468992015-09-04T04:44:11Z2015-09-04T04:44:11ZMentoring the next generation of scientists in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93663/original/image-20150902-14045-k2wr7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Role models and mentors can help one learn throughout one's career. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SHUTTERSTOCK</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mentoring the next generation of scientists in Africa should start from primary school, continue at university and extend into the workplace.</p>
<p>We must encourage the majority of female African students to choose a career in science so that they contribute to the economic and social development of the continent.</p>
<p>Considering that Africa is still a developing continent, there is ample opportunity for careers in science that can contribute to science advancement as well as the continent’s socio-economic development.</p>
<p>Mentoring and <a href="http://www.stemrolemodels.org/">role</a> modelling should not be seen as two independent roles even though there are different forms of mentorship. Certainly, the type of mentorship and support one needs differs depending on the stage of one’s career. </p>
<h2>Encourage careers in science</h2>
<p>At school, subject choices matter. It is important to ensure that young girls are informed and encouraged to take up science and mathematics, subjects which open the world to careers in science. </p>
<p>One must consider careers in space science, astronomy, health sciences as well as skills in dealing with big data. A number of organisations, including the South African <a href="http://www.sawise.org.za/">Women</a> in Science and Engineering, support and encourage the women to participate in science and engineering.</p>
<p>The Organisation for <a href="http://www.assaf.co.za/about-the-south-african-owsd-national-chapter/">Women</a> in Science for the Developing World also promotes the participation of girls and women in science and technology in Africa. </p>
<p>As a parent I advise my teenage daughter and her friends to avoid choosing subjects, like maths literacy, just because they can get higher marks in them. We have arguments about what subjects help towards a successful future in science. One of the questions is usually around which career offers the best pay.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93657/original/image-20150902-14056-15gq2bq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teach them young - the message of science should be sustained from primary school to tertiary studies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SHUTTERSTOCK</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the first degree to postgraduate level, mentoring plays a significant role in ensuring that women graduates stay on a chosen career path.</p>
<p>For example, the Women in Science and Engineering mentorship programme - a global campaign - targets young women at undergraduate degree level and prepares them for careers in science. One of the programme’s aims is providing leadership and role models to young women who want to pursue a career in science and engineering.</p>
<p>There are a number of programmes which offer well structured mentorship programmes for postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and emerging researchers and a number of universities have different forms of mentorship programmes, which include skills training. </p>
<h2>Building networks</h2>
<p>Emerging researchers should join a research group that they feel they can contribute to and benefit from. Most research programmes involve working in multidisciplinary teams, which requires one to learn communication, networking and inter-cultural skills.</p>
<p>Networks can play a significant role. Through social platforms one can remain in contact with some of the top scientists and researchers across the world. Sometimes these networks can even become useful when applying for grants. Here again it is important to look out for academic exchange programmes or fellowships which can enable one to work with excellent teams at many institutions. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93666/original/image-20150902-14087-oztaa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remain networked for a fulfilling career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SHUTTERSTOCK</span></span>
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<h2>Creating enabling environments</h2>
<p>Looking back, my supervisor and mentor as I recall, never had to complete mentorship tracking and performance forms as we have to now but he gave me various tasks and opportunities to develop as a scientist.</p>
<p>These included invitations to co-author articles, handling administrative duties as corresponding author, preparing conference presentations, applying for grants, organising workshops and conferences, and opportunities for national and international travel. </p>
<p>Of course, I did not know that all of this would count but it helped me gain confidence early in my career. I still draw on these experiences in dealing with my students, colleagues and those that I mentor. Institutions must provide networking opportunities for researchers. </p>
<p>As a research director at a South African university, I spend about 60% of my time mentoring. Creating enabling research environments both at organisational policy level and leadership level is critical in order to achieve one’s goals. </p>
<p>Typical policies that contribute to how supervisors or mentors behave towards those their mentor or supervise include how performance in research groups is measured. </p>
<p>The methods used by bureaucrats running institutions has been labelled “bean counting” which has reduced the autonomy of academics. Academic Amanda <a href="http://www.amandagoodall.com/GoodallFeat_1%20March%202012.pdf">Goodall</a>, for instance, argues that allowing universities to be run by “bean counters and bureaucrats” is detrimental to academics’ originality and productivity. Hence it is essential to ensure that organisational policies are enabling.</p>
<p>Issues around authorship in research groups can become quite sensitive if not negotiated well in advance. My advice to students, postdoctoral fellows and junior researchers is that they must agree in advance on what their contribution will be and the order of the authorship. </p>
<p>In big groups the project leader has to manage this as part of the mentorship process. This way group members will not see themselves as “pawns” being used to advance one’s career, devaluing each member’s contribution.</p>
<h2>Balancing a career and family needs</h2>
<p>When I was a full-time academic (before joining management) I loved the flexibility my role as a mathematician gave me. I worked long hours but made up for those long hours during university breaks. I planned conference trips around school holidays so that there was less stress on work colleagues and my family.</p>
<p>My family helped in taking care of my children when they were young. My husband has always been supportive. Of course, I have struggled emotionally and sometimes had to make difficult choices. </p>
<p>But I have been exposed to a vast network of colleagues globally who continue keeping my research candle burning. I still find great fulfilment contributing to knowledge in my subject area and supporting younger faculty members to achieve their goals. </p>
<p>The issue of balancing a career and family needs came under the microscope at an East African Research and Innovation Management Association 2015 <a href="http://events.mak.ac.ug/events/earima-2015-conference-uganda">conference</a> in Uganda. Delegates agreed that organisations must have flexible gender sensitive policies, including promotion criteria that takes into account gender issues without compromising on quality. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This article is part of a series on Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation in Africa by the South African National <a href="http://owsdsa.co.za/">Chapter</a> of the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sibusiso Moyo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Africa is a developing continent but there’s ample opportunity for careers in science that can contribute to science advancement as well as uplifting the socio-economic status of the continent.Sibusiso Moyo, Director: Research and Postgraduate Support, Durban University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.