CODESRIA invites applications from academics and researchers from African universities and research centres to participate in the 2017 session of the Gender Institute, in Dakar, Senegal May 14-25, 2018. The 2017 session of the institute seeks to provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on gains made and persisting challenges, especially in respect of the ways in which the engagements have made universities in Africa better institutions to spearhead social transformation. Candidates submitting proposals for consideration should be PhD students or early career academics in the social sciences and humanities and those working in the broad field of gender and women studies. Scholars outside universities but actively engaged in the area of policy process and/or social movements and civil society organizations are also encouraged to apply. Twenty places are available.
Jobs and Announcements
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) announces a call for submission of proposals from academics and researchers in African universities and Research Centers for the 2017 session of its annual Democratic Governance Institute. The institute will be held in the Council’s headquarters in Dakar, Senegal from 4 – 15 September 2017 on the theme “Economic Governance and Africa’s Economic Transformation’. The Democratic Governance Institute, launched in 1992 by CODESRIA, is an annual interdisciplinary forum which brings together about fifteen researchers from various parts of the continent and the Diaspora, as well as some non-African scholars engaged in innovative research on topics related to the general theme of governance. An area where Africa’s play a critical role in the global economy is the resource extraction sector. After the resource boom of the 2000-2010 decade and the confidence attending to the ‘Africa rising’ narratives, a number of countries are experiencing deeper economic regression. Creative ways to support the extraction of resources have not kept pace with demands of Africans for an interrogation of the place of Africa in the global value chain. Fast and fleeting forms of extraction are now being implemented because appetite for Africa’s resources from external markets remains high and continues to grow. While useful provisions to counter the appetite for African resources exist, many intellectuals have not publicized the African Mining Vision of the African Union to reiterate demands for changing the structures of mining and African economies.The theme of “Economic Governance and Africa’s Economic Transformation’ has been selected with the hope that laureates will have time to reflect in some depth on the contemporary economic trends in the continent and the kind of governance architecture required to insulate African economies from dangerous global economic networks. Applicants who wish to be considered as laureates should be PhD candidates or scholars in their early career with a proven capacity to conduct research on the theme of the Institute. Intellectuals active in the policy process and/or social movements and civil society organizations are also encouraged to apply. The number of places offered by CODESRIA at each session is limited to fifteen (15). Young African academics from the Diaspora and Non-African scholars who are able to fund their participation may also apply for a limited number of places. All applications or requests for additional information should be sent electronically to the email below.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the bi-annual Pan-Africa Film and Television Festival CODESRIA is organising the Humanities Institute in Ouagadougou on February 25- March 1, 2019. The theme will be ‘The essence(s), diversity and economies of the (Pan)-African arts: (Re)making and confronting memories and futures.’ The theme intends to promote contemplation of the structural conditions that hinder and facilitate involvement in shaping the future of the African arts and the event seeks to bring together a mixed group of scholars and artists.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) was established in 1973 as an initiative of African scholars for the promotion of multidisciplinary research that extends the frontiers of knowledge production in and about Africa, and also responds to the challenges of African development. As part of on-going programme innovation and expansion, the Council has decided to launch an experimental institute on Health, Politics and Society in Africa in a bid to promote an enhanced interest in multidisciplinary health research among African scholars. The initiative flows from the current CODESRIA strategic plan which has placed a considerable emphasis on the promotion of a social science approach to health studies in Africa and a structured dialogue between the Social Sciences and the Health/Biomedical Sciences.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2014 session of an initiative targeted at those members of the African social research community who, in their universities, are responsible for teaching social science research methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In cognisance of the multi-faceted crises confronting the African higher education system in general and the universities in particular, CODESRIA has invested itself in offering platforms for postgraduate students and mid-career professionals to be offered opportunities for training in quantitative and qualitative research methods. The first tranche of such training opportunities centred on quantitative research methods. Over the last few years, the accent was shifted to qualitative research methods. Organised as advanced research seminars at which participants were exposed to various methodological techniques and their roots in the history and philosophy of science. CODESRIA organises five research methodology workshops every year on the basis of one per sub-region, one specially dedicated to Nigeria and English-speaking countries of West and Central Africa, and one for trainers. This last one brings together researchers who have responsibility for imbuing others with the basic skills they require in order to be successful researchers.
One of the most important vehicles that CODESRIA uses to mobilise national-level research capacities and channel them into organised reflections has been the National Working Groups (NWGs). Through this mechanism, it encourages African researchers to autonomously organise and pursue research on priority themes of their choice. In line with the retention of NWGs as important instruments for promoting research, publication and the exchange of knowledge on important national issues in Africa by CODESRIA’s 2012-2016 strategic plan, the Council invites proposals for the constitution of NWGs under its 2014 grants competition. The Council particularly desires proposals that seek to weld structured empirical research into innovative theoretical reflections on important national issues.
The 2019 2nd Social Policy in Africa International Conference invites abstracts and papers that address the dynamics of social policymaking in Africa, identify the drivers of policies and their policy preferences, and address the issue of the nature of politics and the constitution of the public sphere necessary for enhanced economic transformation, human flourishing, and new forms of social compact in inclusive development. Presenters are invited to engage with these issues and explore the different national and regional experiences of modes of governance of the African social policy space, the drivers of public policy, and explore the modes of governance and politics necessary for enhanced human wellbeing and development. The conference also invites papers in the broad areas of social policy not directly concerned with the theme of the 2019 conference.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications from African scholars to fill a vacant position of Programme Officer (Research) in its pan-African Secretariat located in Dakar, Senegal. This position is categorized as belonging to the senior staff of the Council and as such is filled on the basis of an international announcement. The successful candidate will work as a member of the Secretariat under the overall supervision of the Executive Secretary of the Council. For further details see the website.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications from suitably qualified African professionals to fill the vacant position of Director of Publications in its pan-African Secretariat located in Dakar, Senegal. The position is a senior one and the successful candidate will work as a member of the Secretariat management team under the overall supervision of the Executive Secretary of the Council. The ideal candidate will be a scholar who also has a robust experience in academic publishing. African professionals who combine a robust experience in academic publishing with a solid training in the social sciences/humanities can also apply.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is calling for proposals for its new Multinational Working Group (GMT) on the theme of "Health, Society and Politics: for a equitable health system in Africa”. MWG is an important CODESRIA program that aims at promoting multinational and multidisciplinary reflections on issues affecting the African community of social science researchers. Each MWG will be led by two or three coordinators and will include a maximum of fifteen researchers. Two to three senior researchers will be selected as independent assessors and will also be resource persons during the meetings of each Group. The average length of an MWG is two years during which all phases of the research process should be completed and final results prepared for publication in the CODESRIA Book Series. For more details on the MWGs and on the activities of CODESRIA, visit the Council’s website: www.codesria.org.