Social Science Research Council

The Africa Program selected 17 fellows for the 2002-03 program Understanding Exclusion, Creating Value: African Youth in a Global Age. The program received over 80 applications on the theme of "African Youth, Civil Society, and the NGO Sector." The program was an initiative of the SSRC/ACLS Africa Regional Advisory Panel (RAP), in partnership with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF). The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Education for Democracy and Development Initiative (EDDI) of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) generously provide funding for the program, with additional support from the NRF.

Fellows

Background

Among scholars and policy-makers, an awareness is growing that young Africans hold the key to the continent's ability to realize the promises of an African renaissance. It is a truism that in all societies young people are "the future," but conditions in Africa make this truism especially relevant. Demographic trends reveal that African countries have extraordinarily high percentages of their populations between the ages of 15-25, many with little access to education, health or employment. Many are also vulnerable to reproductive health challenges (especially HIV/AIDS). As a result, many youth have to fend for themselves, their families, and communities.

The lives and futures of young people in Africa - their problems, their activism, their sense of citizenship (and powerlessness), their education, health, employment and socialization prospects have increasingly drawn the attention not only of governments, but also of secular and religious non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and international organizations working in the areas of advocacy and service provision. With greater frequency, these organizations target youth as clients or participants in their activities. Sometimes this comes under the guise of broader programs or interventions in sectors such as health or human rights, while elsewhere programs or organizations specifically devoted to youth have emerged. Research relevant to this theme thus focuses on the activities of a range of organizations and civil associations - both international institutions that have established local offices in the region and/or locally established NGO's, many of whom have financial support from or other kinds of linkages to transnational organizations. Relevant issues that such organizations address include, but are not limited to: Children and youth rights and advocacy; Demobilization of child soldiers; Education at primary and secondary levels, as well as non-formal education; Health, including reproductive health, AIDS prevention and orphan care; Vocational training, entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihoods; and Youth mobilization for social service provision and political change. While research related to the intersection of youth with NGO's and civil society in general was eligible, the program especially sought projects that examined the connections between organizations and their broader socio-political, economic and cultural contexts as well as projects whose results would constructively and critically engage with the activities and strategies of organizations that have an impact on youth.

The program did not seek to impose a rigid definition on youth, since demographic, legal and cultural definitions may differ. Proposals specified what definition they were using and justified why that was appropriate, given the purpose of their research. To the extent possible, proposals addressed the theoretical and practical implications of the research.

Fellows attended a five-day orientation workshop prior to research in September 2002, received a research grant of up to $10,000 USD for their field research, and attended a final workshop at the conclusion of their fieldwork.

African researchers based in the region who held at least a Masters degree and who were no more than five years beyond a Ph.D. were eligible for this program.