Potential for a Pan-African Research College
With rapid urbanisation occurring in Africa, there is an urgent need to plan ahead. The GCI together with the Wits City Institute (WCI) are hoping to establish a Pan-African Research College on sustainable cities with support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Africa is urbanising rapidly. It consists of megacities that will expand further, as well as secondary cities that have their roots in rural origins, but that have been overtaken by the pressures, opportunities and demands and afflictions of urbanisation. The remaining areas, those that are currently known as rural areas or sparsely populated areas, have an uncertain future, given the likely demands to feed an urban Africa of the future. This is according to Prof Barend Erasmus of the GCI.
Some of the challenges that rapid, uncontrolled urbanisation can present include an increasing informal housing sector, poor sanitation, increased crime, food insecurity, spread of disease etc. According to the 15th edition of the African Economic Outlook report, Africa is urbanising at a historically rapid pace, with an unprecedented demographic boom, with the population living in cities doubling from 1995 to 472 million in 2015. The report further highlights that unlike other regions such as Asia, this rapid urbanisation in Africa is accompanied by slow structural transformation.
“The nature, pace and degree of urbanisation in various locations in Africa is difficult to predict. Drivers such as climate change impacts, religious fanaticism, food insecurity, water scarcity, poor governance, political unrest and social justice issues play a role. The only common thread is that the transition from rural to urban poses complex and wicked challenges. There is however potential for researchers to generate collective ideas that could address the challenges that might arise thus assisting to change the trajectory Africa is currently on. The challenges and opportunities that arise from rapid urbanisation require critical thinking and leadership expertise that universities can help to facilitate,” says Prof Erasmus.
In an effort to plan ahead, the GCI together with the Wits City Institute (WCI) have approached the Robert Bosch Stiftung for funding assistance for the establishment of a Pan-African Research College on Sustainable Cities that will further develop researchers to tackle rapid urbanisation challenges.
The college aims to bring together Pan-African experts who will have the opportunity to share knowledge, to learn from each other and attain a shared understanding of the complexities facing an urban Africa. The premise for bringing together this network is guided by transdisciplinarity approaches due to the complexity of challenges.
The Robert Bosch Stiftung gave positive and constructive feedback pertaining to the initial proposal submitted by WCI. Going forward, the GCI will host two workshops bringing together Wits scholars and scholars from four other African partners (University of Ghana, United Nations University in Accra, University of Nairobi and University of Cape Town) to co-develop the scientific basis, terms of reference governance structure and overall project plan for the college. The first workshop will focus on knowledge sharing activities as the basis for developing a common research framework. At the conclusion of the first workshop it is envisioned that all information will be collated to have a skeleton draft for a more in-depth grant proposal to submit to the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The second workshop will focus on collective writing and the finalisation of the proposal. Following this, GCI will submit the proposal to the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and, if successful, this will lead to the development of a Pan-African Research College.
The GCI will be the managing partner for the project, in partnership with the WCI and it is envisioned that all African partners will have an equal voice in the development of the network.
“The establishment of a Pan-African College speaks to the idea of African solutions to African problems. Our aspiration is to co-create a college that is useful, that meets real training and research needs, and that does so with mindful and thoughtful ethos,” concludes Prof Erasmus.
网易体育 Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH
The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of Europe’s largest foundations associated with a private company. In its charitable work, it addresses social issues at an early stage and develops exemplary solutions. To this purpose, it develops and implements its own projects. Additionally, it supports third-party initiatives that have similar goals.
The Robert Bosch Stiftung is active in the areas of health, science, society, education, and international relations.
Moreover, in the coming years, the Foundation will increasingly direct its activities on three focus areas:
? Migration, Integration, and Inclusion
? Social Cohesion in Germany and Europe
? Sustainable Living Spaces
Since it was established in 1964, the Robert Bosch Stiftung has invested more than 1.4 billion euros in charitable work.