The DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Social Policy and its partners invite abstracts of papers to be presented at the 2017 Social Policy in Africa Conference. The conference will take place from 20-22 November 2017 at the University of South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa). The organisers invite abstracts and papers that offer critical reflections on (a) Africa’s experience with social policy since Africa’s decade of independence in the 1960s, (b) contemporary experiences of social policy, and (c) prospective inquiries into social policy for addressing Africa’s diverse challenges of developmental and human wellbeing. The conference seeks to theorise Africa’s social policy experiences (formal and non-formal) in rethinking social policy to return to a wider vision of social policy and a more holistic development that reinforces the complementarity of economic and social policies. the conference calls for reflections on how the multiple tasks of social policy can be activated to enhance the quality of lives for the rural population. How can land and agrarian reforms be understood from a social policy perspective?
Jobs and Announcements
The conference theme “Africa: Ending AIDS-delivering differently” engages the whole continent and all stakeholders in the post SDG framework. The 19th ICASA is an opportunity to renew this global commitment by drawing the world’s attention to the fact that the legacy is now under threat as a result of the global economic downturn. This year’s ICASA is an opportunity for the international community, and all Africans, to join efforts in committing to achieving an AIDS-free Africa. Given the urgency of the issue the organisers are anticipating 7 000 -10 000 of the world’s leading scientists, policy makers, activists, PLHIV, government leaders – as well as a number of heads of state and civil society representatives – will be joining the debate on how to achieve this vision. The conference will be chaired by Dr Ihab AbdelRhaman Ahmed, an epidemiologist and President of the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA). It will be co-chaired by Dr. Raymonde Coffie Goudou, Ministry of Health representing the Government of Côte d’Ivoire. The conference will be an opportunity to promote inter-sectoral achievements in the AIDS response and to strengthen the partnership among governments, civil society, and development partners. The objectives of ICASA include promoting innovation, partnerships to increase domestic investments to achieve 90/90/90 targets, integrating approaches for sustainable Responses towards ending AIDS, TB, Hepatitis and associated diseases and translating science into action to maximise programme impact. Further objectives include providing a platform to Maintain and Sustain Investment for CSO and FBO’s, providing a platform to promote rights-based models to overcome structural and policy barriers towards universal access.
With six offices spread around the country, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has a national footprint and offers specialist public interest legal services in key programme areas such as refugee and migrant rights, land reform, housing, environmental justice, penal reform, gender equality, worker rights and strategic litigation. LHR is seeking to appoint a National Director to lead the organisation with various human rights programmes and law clinics around the country. The candidate will be required to provide strategic thinking, positioning and management of LHR and manage the organisations programmes and law clinics effectively. The candidate will represent the organisation and advocate with government, multilateral organisation, the United Nations and other relevant institutions, and coordinate closely with programs managers on fundraising. The candidate will need to identify and build strategic partnerships and networks and foster meaningful relationships and have a close and interactive relationship with the LHR Board on developmental issues and be accountable to the Board.
The Rural Health Conference is an vibrant event bringing together doctors, therapists, nurses, clinical associates, health students and NGOs, always in a rural location. Attendees will meet up and share ideas and friendship with colleagues from around South Africa and Africa. The themes for the conference include Recognising Rural Health Challenges, Working together – Better and Smarter, Use of innovations in Communication Technology and Healthcare, Using Trans-disciplinary Teamwork to find innovative solutions and Working together to Advocate for better Rural Health.
Smile Train is an international children’s charity that provides 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children in 85+ developing countries. Their sustainable model empowers local doctors to provide cleft care in their own communities. The overall purpose of the role is to devise, plan and implement local strategies to achieve the mission and goals of Smile Train in terms of high-quality and safe cleft lip and palate care through effective management of programmes and partnerships in Southern Africa. Key responsibilities for the position include instituting suitable business processes and necessary control mechanisms for the continual monitoring of financial, programmatic, and medical targets in the region and receiving, reviewing, and analysing all grant requests from local stakeholders. The candidate will need to ensure all operations are legally and financially transparent and in compliance with all local laws and laws of the U.S. that apply to local business practices and lead efforts to share Smile Train’s global messaging locally and help to build the brand and awareness of Smile Train programs in Southern Africa. The candidate will be responsible for capturing and sharing stories, images, and videos that help to tell Smile Train’s story and that could be used across the organisation to further Smile Train’s mission. Lastly the candidate will be required to build and nurture the ‘Smile Train’ brand, developing an image of a focused, committed, ethical and caring organisation upholding and furthering ‘best practices’ in cleft care.
The Centre for Development Support within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Free State is presenting a two-year part-time, interdisciplinary degree - Master of Development Studies. This programme combines distance-based learning with five one-week contact sessions held at the University f the Free State. The programme is a qualification aimed at those in NGOs, government, parastatals or private sector. Candidates with an Honours degree or postgraduate diploma or candidates with a degree and extensive development related work experience are invited to apply. The compulsory first year modules include studies in development, underdevelopment and poverty, governance and development, development and the environment, applied development research and project management. Students select two elective modules with a mini-dissertation in the second year.
At a time when the debate on trade has rarely been as prominent or controversial, the WTO's 2017 Public Forum, "Trade: Behind the Headlines", offers an opportunity to go beyond the rhetoric and examine in detail the realities of trade – the opportunities it offers and the challenges it can bring. The Forum will provide a platform for discussions among policy makers, civil society representatives, business people and researchers as they consider how to make trade work for more people and ensure that the trading system is as inclusive as it can be. The opportunities that trade generates for greater growth and development and its ability to create jobs, raise incomes and reduce prices is, for some, only part of the story. There is a growing feeling that now is the time to consider the broader picture. While trade has indeed pulled millions out of poverty, the reality is that for some the experience has been different. The Public Forum is the WTO’s largest annual outreach event.
This short-course in Cape Town, South Africa, has been developed to support staff of governmental and non-governmental organisations working at national, provincial and district levels, in the implementation of the new Adolescent & Youth Health Policy 2017 and allied policies. It aims to build the capacity of those with management responsibilities for the implementation of policies through improved knowledge about adolescence, key health problems affecting young people and priority evidence-based interventions to address them and strengthen programming skills. This course is provided by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, housed within the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre (DTHC) at the University of Cape Town.
Within the framework of its 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, CODESRIA introduces Meaning-Making Research Initiative (MRI) as the principal tool for supporting research. Like previous tools, MRI will focus on supporting research that contributes to agendas for imagining, planning and creating African futures. The Council is issuing this special call for proposals because of the peculiar challenges that teaching and research in the Humanities are encountering in African universities today. It is also motivated by the important contributions that scholarship in the Humanities can make to an understanding of Africa and efforts to construct African futures. CODESRIA seeks projects that broach new and interesting questions and employs innovative methods to address these issues. Projects that address important social challenges on the continent and that are rooted in conversations between the Humanities and other fields of knowledge like the social and natural sciences are strongly encouraged. Work that examines on the status and importance of the Humanities in society and reflects on how to develop humanities teaching and research in universities are also encouraged. Group initiatives: MRIs under this special call should be groups of researchers from one country or multiple countries. Each group should have between 3 and 5 members and should take into account CODESRIA’s core principles of gender, linguistic, intergenerational, interdisciplinary diversity. All applications must engage with CODESRIA’s 2017-2021 thematic priorities and cross-cutting issues: democratic processes, governance, citizenship and security in Africa; ecologies, economies and societies in Africa; higher education dynamics in a changing Africa.
The Global Symposium on Health Systems Research is organised every two years by Health Systems Global to bring together the full range of players involved in health systems and policy research and practice. The Alma Ata vision of ‘Health for All’ remains as compelling today as it was in 1978, as reflected in goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But the world has changed in forty years. Despite improved health outcomes, there remain extraordinary challenges for health equity and social inclusion, such as demographic and disease transitions, conflicts and their subsequent migrations, pluralistic health systems and markets, and climate change. Political systems still marginalise those most in need. Yet there are new opportunities for health systems to achieve universal coverage. The Fifth Global Symposium will advance conversations and collaborations on new ways of financing health; delivering services; and engaging the health workforce, new social and political alliances, and new applications of technologies to promote health for all.