Faculty of Humanities (Research Outputs)

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Browsing Faculty of Humanities (Research Outputs) by Keyword "Africa"

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    Full Proceedings - Arts Research Africa Conference 2020
    (Arts Research Africa (ARA), 2020) Doherty, Christo
    The full proceedings of the Arts Research Africa Conference 2020, held at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, from 22 - 24 January 2020. Description: An international conference organised by the Arts Research Africa project in the Wits School of Arts. The conference featured a wide variety of inputs, from traditional conference paper presentations and panels, to performances, interactive engagements and workshops. The conference brought together artists, scholars, and artistic researchers to collectively address the question of artistic research in Africa in the 21st century.
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    Measurement and conceptualization of male involvement in family planning: a bibliometric analysis of Africa-based studies
    (BMC, 2024-06) Petlele, Rebaone; Oni, Tosin Olajide; Banjo, Olufunmilayo Olufunmilayo; Bankole, Akinrinola; Akinyemi, Akanni Ibukun
    Background: Male involvement in Family Planning (FP) is an exercise of men’s sexual and reproductive health rights. However, the measurement of male involvement has been highly inconsistent and too discretional in FP studies. As a result, we used bibliometric tools to analyze the existing measures of male involvement in FP and recommend modifications for standard measures. Methods: Using developed search terms, we searched for research articles ever published on male involvement in FP from Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. The search results were filtered for studies that focused on Africa. A total of 152 research articles were selected after the screening, and bibliometric analysis was performed in R. Results: Results showed that 54% of the studies measured male involvement through approval for FP, while 46.7% measured it through the attitude of males to FP. About 31% measured male involvement through input in deciding FP method, while others measured it through inputs in the choice of FP service center (13.6%), attendance at FP clinic/service center (17.8%), and monetary provision for FP services/materials (12.4%). About 82.2% of the studies used primary data, though the majority (61.2%) obtained information on male involvement from women alone. Only about one in five studies (19.1%) got responses from males and females, with fewer focusing on males alone. Conclusion: Most studies have measured male involvement in FP through expressed or perceived approval for FP. However, these do not sufficiently capture male involvement and do not reflect women’s autonomy. Other more encompassing measures of male involvement, which would reflect the amount of intimacy among heterosexual partners, depict the extent of the exercise of person-centered rights, and encourage the collection of union-specific data, are recommended.
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    Why skills anticipation in African VET systems needs to be decolonized: the wide-spread use and limited value of occupational standards and competency-based qualifications
    (Elsevier, 2023-08) Allais, Stephanie
    The shift from manpower-planning to labour market analysis and skills anticipation has been analyzed since the 80 s in this journal and elsewhere, with the aim of improving. Insights into how education can contribute to economic growth and development. This paper considers recent trends in policies for skills anticipation and curriculum reform in Africa, with a focus on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems. The data consists of 2 continent-wide surveys of a range of TVET stakeholders, document analysis of skills and TVET policy as well as industrial policy where available online, and 21 in-depth interviews with key role players and experts in 13 countries. Our research found considerable activity developing pre-determined rules and tools that don’t work in their own right, and are inappropriate for African labour markets because they are not used in formal work, and have little engagement with informal work. A set of ‘rules and tools’, such as occupational standards, qualifications frameworks, and part qualifications/ modularization, is promoted by international organizations. These pre-developed and uniform solutions continues to dominate policy agendas. We found considerable focus on developing and (to some extent) using these rules and tools for forward planning, system improvement, and curriculum design. Most noticeable was a strong emphasis on competency-based qualifications, which are described as a tool for skills anticipation as well as curriculum reform, drawing on employer input into skills requirements. There is considerable focus on employer-identified skills needs as the tool for both understanding current and emerging economic demand for skills as well as medium to longer term skills needs. The dependence on employer-specified competencies means there is little engagement with the reality of informal work in the African context—other than strong rhetorical emphasis on entrepreneurship as an add on in curriculum design. Amongst other problems, the ‘rules and tools’ which are being implemented in many countries start from an idealized vision, and are more preoccupied with their own internal logic than the systems with which they are dealing. The rules and tools present a level playing field for individuals and for countries, constrained only by a lack of skills, and a world view in which everyone could come out on top.