Call for Proposals: Gender Equitable and Transformative Social Policy

Deadline: 21-Feb-21

The Institute of African Studies (IAS) at the University of Ghana, with funding support from the Open Society Institutes of Africa, is calling for proposals for multi-country research that investigates the trajectories, processes and outcomes of social policymaking in Africa since the colonial period.

It is against this background that this call is interested in understanding the framing and value propositions underpinning social policy; the assumptions about the role of the state,  markets and society (the family and community); the interface between social and economic policies; and the socio-economic development outcomes of social policy, particularly in terms of gender, class and spatial inequalities.

The overarching goal of this project is the transformation of the discourses, approaches to and cultures of social policymaking and implementation to establish Gender Equitable and Transformative Social Policy approaches in Africa.

Project Aims

The aims of the project are to:

• Map the current social policy landscape and its elements, opportunities, and challenges.
• Understand the interface between social and economic policies in African countries.
• Identify positive approaches to social policy in Africa and the global South, explaining why and how they work, and their potential for replicability.
• Design a framework for a reorientation of social policy.
• Grow a new generation of dedicated researchers of social policy.
• Capacitate constituencies to struggle for transformative social policy.
• Engage with policymakers and advocate for social change through transformative social policy.
• Build a repository of documentation on alternative approaches to social policy.

Funding Information

• The budget available per country cluster for this year is up to US$ 39,000 (made up of up to US$ 18,000 for honoraria;
• US$ 9,000 for data collection and other research costs; and
• Up to US $12,000 for national dissemination including the costs of translating the final research report, constituency building and advocacy activities in the countries of study).

Research Questions

The research questions guiding this call for proposals are as follows:

• How has social policy been conceptualized and framed in different time periods since the colonial period? Specifically, what issues have been prioritized and how has this changed over time? Which social policies have been most pivotal in the trajectory of the countries of study, and why?
• What explains the social policy choices that have been made in various countries and how these policy trajectories have evolved over time?
• What is the current state of social policy and what are its dominant underpinnings, features and instruments? How do they address the key functions of social policy- i.e. production, social reproduction and reproduction of the care economy, redistribution, protection and social integration?
• How do social policies currently conceive the role of the state, market and societal institutions? How do social policies interact and interface with economic policies?
• What are the implications of social policy for particular social groups and for inequalities of gender, class and space, and for economic and social development?
• How has COVID-19 influenced the current state of social policy, and which of these influences is likely to be lasting, and promising for the transformation of social policy?
• What recommendations for change arise from the current state of social policy and its implications?

Country Clusters of the Project

This is a multi-country study project designed to learn from the experiences of as many African countries as possible so as to allow for effective comparative analysis and creative lesson drawing. Therefore, the project is focused on ten country clusters based on contiguity and shared characteristics. The country clusters are:

• Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia;
• Senegal, Mali, Mauritania;
• Ghana and Nigeria;
• Cote D’Ivoire, Benin and Burkina Faso;
• Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco;
• Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti;
• Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda;
• Congo DRC, Gabon and Cameroon;
• Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau;
• South Africa, Mauritius and Zambia.

Application Criteria

• Interested researchers should address their proposals to research any one of the country-clusters.
• Interested researchers are encouraged to build multi-disciplinary research teams composed of 2 or 3 researchers, ideally with representation from different countries in the cluster. The team should have a clearly identified lead with whom the project will contract for administrative purposes.
• Proposals are accepted in English or French. GETSPA is unfortunately not able to work in more than two languages. However, it is envisaged that some project outputs will be in Portuguese.
• Proposals must commit to analysing:
  • the historical trajectories of social policy,
  • use an expansive definition of social policy beyond the current focus on social protection,
  • describe the implications of the structure of economies and dominant economic policy approaches on social policy, and
  • analyze the gendered nature of social policies in the chosen country clusters.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3cTr2pM