Research Output Repository (HSRC)
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Strengthening gender mainstreaming in South Africa: the role of Gender Focal Persons (GFPs) in the public sector
No full textHSRC Policy Brief, JulyThis policy brief highlights the challenges faced by GFPs based on a situational analysis that includes a desktop review, stakeholder consultative dialogues, and key informant interviews conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) as part of groundwork aimed at framing and developing a gender mainstreaming strategy. The policy brief further outlines the policy implications for strengthening gender mainstreaming in the public sector in South Africa, with a focus on the role of GFPs.N/
Continuity or change? racial segregation in Cape Town
No full textCape Town’s racial segregation has declined since 1994, but demographic shifts complicate comparisons over time. We decompose post-apartheid segregation trends and examine neighborhood-level patterns to distinguish between city demographic effects and deeper segregation changes. Most of the decline stems from citywide population growth among Africans, with limited evidence of deeper social integration. Yet there are some notable neighborhood-level patterns. Middle-income corridors, such as along Voortrekker Road, show notable desegregation through black upward mobility, while former-white suburbs are changing slowly. Historic townships remain predominantly black, reflecting persistent housing market inequalities. Urbanization is leading to densification in poorer areas away from the core rather than socio-spatial integration. Thus, while Cape Town appears less segregated, apartheid’s spatial legacy endures, as most black households remain priced out of former-white areas.
South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES) and its societal impact
No full textPaper presented at DCES Brownbag Seminar, Pretoria, 21 Augus
Towards developing a collaborative PhD program across ARUA member universities: experiences from the University of Mauritius
No full textCommissioned by the African Research Universities Alliance (ATUA), NovemberThis report highlights the status of PhD education in Mauritius, using the University of Mauritius as a case study. The report provides an overview of the country's socio-economic status, which has a bearing on how universities organise PhD programmes and which may influence the direction of the design of collaborative programmes as envisaged by ARUA. The report details the national and institutional policy and operational frameworks for PhD
programmes in Mauritius, the nature of student access and progression policies across the programmes, opportunities for designing collaborative arrangements, and challenges that need to be addressed. The report is divided into five sections. The next section provides an overview of Mauritius's socio-economic and political dynamics. Section two provides a brief description of the higher education landscape in Mauritius. Section three delves into the case study of the university and the two selected programmes. Section four presents the findings from the data collected from the two case study programmes. Section five provides some recommendations and conclusionsN/
Understanding nature’s impact: South Africans' awareness, interest and concern
No full textThe 2022 South African Public Relationship with Science (SAPRS) Survey asked the public about their knowledge of, and concern about, several environmental issues. Here we present the public's self-reported knowledge, interest and concern about environmental issues. We include a focus on two natural disasters by province: droughts or water shortages, and floods, both of which have affected the country extensively over the last few years.N/
Integrating Ubuntu: embedding African philosophy into disaster risk reduction and management
No full textDisasters, whether natural, socio-natural, or anthropogenic, are not merely technical challenges but deeply political and cultural phenomena shaped by historical and ideological contexts. In Southern Africa, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRMM) has long been dominated by global, technocratic frameworks that sideline indigenous knowledge systems. Yet, as climate hazards intensify, the limitations of infrastructure-centric
approaches become evident, demanding a shift toward culturally grounded resilience strategies. This opinion piece argues that integrating Ubuntu1, an African philosophy emphasizing communality, reciprocity, and shared humanity, into DRRM offers a transformative alternative to Western-centric models. While Ubuntu has influenced
postcolonial governance and justice, its potential in disaster risk governance remains overlooked. The opinion piece challenges universalist risk paradigms and advocates for decolonized, participatory disaster governance where resilience emerges not from institutional power alone, but from the moral and social fabric of communities.
Advocating for gender equality and social inclusion in disaster risk reduction planning and management, Southern Africa development community experiences
No full textHSRC Policy Brief, AugustIn disaster incidents, women, children, and the disabled are often the most affected victims in disaster situations, especially in developing countries. Extremely poor and developing countries, especially in Africa, lack effective impact-based early warning systems (EWS), hence their communities are often vulnerable and exposed to a range of risks which make disaster mitigation and preparedness a serious challenge. In addition, there is often a lack of disaster relief capacity and resilient infrastructure, hence disaster response and recovery activities become a struggle for impacted communities. In this context, women in particular face greater challenges due to economic dependency, limited resources, and societal perceptions. These deficiencies have become clearer in the decision-making space, especially during post-disaster distribution of relief (humanitarian aid), as this is where human rights violations and discrimination most often happen. This reality of deficiencies has always negatively affected women in the entire disaster management cycle. This policy brief presents, through pertinent arguments, a proposal to the National Department of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD), as it is with this institution that the responsibility for advocacy in gender- and disability inclusivity lies. Gender and disability risk-informed disaster management planning cannot be postponed. It has to be injected into the mainstream policy agenda of government and appropriately resourced for implementation. Additionally, this
brief underscores ground-up active participation and leadership of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). It is high time that those most often affected take a proactive stance and begin championing their specific needs, which must be acknowledged and integrated into the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and the Service Delivery Improvement Budgeted Plan (SDBIP) at local government level.N/
Prioritising care, powering economies: a G20 agenda for inclusive growth and women’s empowerment
No full textHSRC Policy Brief, OctoberCare is central to human, social, economic, and environmental development, and essential for society to live, thrive, and grow. The care economy—spanning education, childcare, support for people with disabilities and elder care, domestic work, and health and other social services—is described by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as comprising paid and unpaid care work, direct and indirect care, its provision within and outside the household, the people who provide and receive care, and the employers and institutions offering
care (ILO, 2024). The ILO’s 5R Framework for Decent Care Work (Addati et al, 2018) in Figure 1 provides a comprehensive perspective on care: to recognize, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work, reward paid care with decent work for care workers, and guarantee care workers’ representation, social dialogue, and collective
bargaining. This framework must be supported, paired with an approach grounded in human rights, equality, and non-discrimination, where care is seen both as a universal right and as a public good (United Nations [UN], 2024;
UN Human Rights Council, 2025). Such an approach emphasizes co-responsibility across society, with the State as the duty-bearer, and through this, care and support systems become more inclusive and resilient, particularly in the face of global challenges, such as climate change, humanitarian and economic crises, and pandemicsN/
Blesser relationships among orphaned adolescent girls in contexts of poverty and gender inequality
No full textThe term blesser has become part of South Africa’s contemporary lexicon, replacing the older terminology of ‘sugar daddy.’ While much recent literature has focused on the blesser phenomenon, the voices of orphaned adolescent girls on their entanglement in blesser relationships have had insufficient attention. Using the theory of gender and power as an analytical lens, this qualitative study analyses the visual and textual data generated by orphaned adolescent girls on their relationships with blessers. To generate data, the participants used photovoice to represent their relationships with older male sexual partners in their resource poor South African township neighborhoods. Our analysis reveals a set of factors that render orphaned adolescent girls vulnerable to age-disparate relationships, such as the structural dimensions of their lives, including their status as orphaned girls, heteropatriarchy, age-based hierarchies, and poverty in their households and communities. On the other hand, our analysis explores the less understood area of the relative agency, intentionality, and proactive approach that orphaned girls take to initiating and negotiating blesser relationships. The findings have implications for further research that will expand our understanding of girls’ agency—and the structural limits to that agency—in adverse socio-cultural circumstances. Such research holds potential for interventions that might enable orphaned girls to
better advocate for themselves in the context of unequal power relations.
Military coups in West Africa and the Sahel as impediments towards the achievement of the African Union-Agenda 2063, Aspirations (3) and (4)
No full textIn an attempt to transform Africa into a global powerhouse of the future, the African Union (AU) championed Agenda 2063, which serves as Africa’s developmental blueprint towards achieving inclusive and equitable socio-economic development over 50 years. However, close to 10 years after its implementation, Africa is still battling with challenges such as a resurgence of military coups and Unconstitutional Changes of Government (UCG). Recently, these military coups occurred mainly in West Africa and the Sahel regions. Although AU-Agenda 2063 is founded on seven Aspirations, this chapter will focus on Aspiration 3 (good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice, and the rule of law) and Aspiration 4 (a peaceful and secure Africa). Findings are that the resurgence of military coups in West Africa and the Sahel are hindrances towards attaining AU-Agenda 2063 Aspirations 3 and 4. Instead of these states consolidating their democracies and adhering to the rule of law, they experienced democratic reversals and the rise of authoritarianism. Ultimately, this impedes Aspirations 3 and 4 of the AU. Thus, instead of silencing the guns by 2030, 124Security-Development Nexus in Africa the military has turned these guns against their own states. Furthermore, demerits of military rule include the suppression of human rights, limited opposition, and lack of capacity to address the many pre-coups socio-economic challenges which pose security threats in both regions. This qualitative literature assessment will adopt content analysis to produce the study findings. This chapter intends to respond to three related objectives: (i) to explore the root causes of military coups in West Africa and the Sahel, (ii) to examine how military coups in these regions serve as impediments towards the achievement of the AU-Agenda 2063 Aspirations (3) and (4), and (iii) to evaluate the AU’s response to these coups d’état and UCGs.