Human resources in african ag research asti - iaae
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IAAE Symposium on Improving Returns to Agricultural Research in Sub-Saharan Africa Foz do Iguaçu | 20 August 2012 Theme 2: Human Resource Developments in African Agricultural R&D Nienke Beintema ASTI program | International Food Policy Research Institute
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Transcript of Human resources in african ag research asti - iaae
IAAE Symposium on Improving Returns to Agricultural Research in Sub-Saharan AfricaFoz do Iguaçu | 20 August 2012
Theme 2: Human Resource Developments in African Agricultural R&D
Nienke BeintemaASTI program | International Food Policy Research Institute
Outline presentation
• Short overview of human resource capacity challenges in African agricultural R&D
• Training the next generation of African agricultural researchers: New developments
• Options for moving forward
Growth in Africa’s agricultural researcher pool
• Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya accounted for most of the growth during 2000-08
0
3
6
9
12
15
1971
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
2007
SSA
Agric
ultu
ral r
esea
rche
rs(t
ousa
nd fu
ll-tim
e eq
uiva
lent
s)
Source: Beintema and Stads 2011
Capacity challenge: Fragmentation
• Many African countries remain to have small capacity pools, but overall size has grown
0
10
21
31
1971 1981 1991 2008
Num
ber o
f cou
ntrie
s
Number of FTE researchers
< 25 25-99 100-499 500-999 > 1000
Source: Beintema and Rahija 2011
Capacity challenge: Decreasing qualifications
• Shares of BSc-qualified staff have increased in some countries since 2000
Source: Beintema and Stads 2011
24% 27%
47% 43%
29% 30%
0
20
40
60
80
100
2001 2008
Shar
es o
f FTE
rese
arch
ers (
%)
BSc MSc PhD
Capacity challenge: High staff turnover
• Staff departures and an aging pool of well-qualified researchers remain major areas of concern for many countries
0
20
40
60
80
100
ISRA Senegal KARI Kenya ZARI Zambia
Retirement DeathResignation Transfer/leave
Shar
esof
dep
arte
d re
sear
cher
s (%
)
BSc MSc PhD ARC, South Africa 39.9 40.8 48.5 43.4 ISRA, Senegal — 55.7 47.3 49.6 KARI, Kenya 41.6 45.1 49.5 45.1 ZARI, Zambia 36.4 42.0 50.0 39.7
NARIDegree
Total
Average age of researchers, 2010
Source: Sene et al 2011
Capacity challenge: Limited training opportunities
• During 1970s and 1980s, many countries received considerable donor support for staff training abroad but by the late 1990s, many donors had cut/eliminated funding for training
• SSA universities have been facing a number of constraints such as increased workloads, which has affected quality of teaching and student supervision
• Large influx of young less-qualified researchers combined with staff turnover has strained the capacity of institutions to provide adequate mentoring by senior researchers
But there are some positive developments
• Growth in private universities has created new training opportunities
• Changes in governance have facilitated greater autonomy for universities and allowed tuition fees to be adjusted
• Students have pressured universities to improve the quality of the training provided
• Donor organizations have acknowledged the importance of capacity strengthening and increased funding
• A wide number of successful regional initiatives and platforms have been established
A quiet revolution in capacity strengthening
• Growth in private universities has created new training opportunities
• Changes in governance have facilitated greater autonomy for universities and allowed tuition fees to be adjusted
• Students have pressured to improve the quality of the training provided
• Donor organizations have acknowledged the importance of capacity strengthening
• A wide number of successful regional initiatives and platforms have been established
Ways of Moving Forward (1)
• Halt the prevailing high turnover of agricultural
scientists through a series of measures• Increase civil servant retirement age, improve remuneration
packages, enhance working conditions, increase training opportunities
• Develop innovative training methods• Focus on MSc & PhD training, improve quality, enhance
relevance to African smallholder agriculture, train the trainers, promote soft skills, foster entrepreneurial ability
Ways of Moving Forward (2)
• Strengthen institutional capacity to create an enabling
environment• Indentify best approaches to systematic organizational change
and institution building among agricultural R&D agencies • Scale up existing successful networks and partnerships
• Increase financial support by governments and donor organizations
THANK YOU
