CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Beyond the Tyranny of Measurable Outcomes Godwin R. Murunga Executive Secretary C O D E S R I A executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa What does the story of Ebola in West Africa (2013 to 2015) 01 reveal about the contrast between investing in “research” as opposed to directly investing in “poverty alleviation”? SIDA Science Days executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa At the core of the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa in 2013 was:- • a health problem (medical intervention); • an attack on social relations (socio-political intervention); - EVD attacked the capacity of people to move, stay in contact; -undermined the funeral procedures, customs and traditions that people observe. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa attacked the idea and practice of care; making it impossible for people to feel comfortable with each other and those already infected. caring became dangerous: made it impossible to greet someone, to touch someone, visit a friend or do anything for someone even if you cared about their illness. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa At the end of the day, the army of health workers were left asking for anthropologists, sociologists, historians, etc. WHY?
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa • EVD fine case for investing in SSH research; • need for historians? For long, they know that disease causes panic and anxiety; that governments go for measures (fumigation, cordon sanitaire or quarantine); that … • … often end up exacerbating the problem rather than resolving it.
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa • EVD revealed the extent to which political economy (context) is critical for effective intervention to control the spread of a disease; • Though reported in Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, UK, US, Italy, Spain, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, only in the last 3 did it have its most devastating effect. WHY? executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa In other words, dealing with a health dilemma needs more than a medical response to be effective; a medical response without a social understanding can be catastrophic in the short and long term; a medical response with adequate social understanding helps prepare for contingency and assures potential for success. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqGA1ldvYE executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa All human problems have social and political dimensions irrespective of whether they are 02 biological, physical or natural SIDA Science Days executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa • Poverty, too, is a social problem; calls for socio-political interventions; • CODESRIA’s study of SAPs showed that as a social problem, poverty reflects a weakness in human relations, a failure of reciprocity. • there is no precise formula to address this breakdown in reciprocity. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Poverty expresses a failure to share (redistribution); a lack of will to address inequalities; at the end, it reflects poor or unsustainable economic thinking. When such economics are packaged as international agenda for development, they become the cause of long term disaster. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa CODESRIA Publications on SAPs: Our Continent, Our Future; Between Liberalisation and Oppression executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa • Redistribution, political will and bad economics centre on human relations; • calls for an understanding of overall context in which workable interventions to reduce poverty can be mounted; • Not all problems can be resolved by throwing money at them; all problems become less threatening when they are properly understood (research). executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Developing that understanding through funding research is a sure way of dealing with the stress and adversity such problems cause; and a sure way of enhancing resilience; resilience is based on knowledge, not on guesswork. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Basic research in the SSH and policy action- the CODESRIA Experience; Demonstrated that policy actors can and do respond to 03 research findings in the SSH and can adjust policy based on: i. the strength of the findings of the research & ii. how vigorous and in what places research outputs are presented. SIDA Science Days executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa CODESRIA research outputs useful in pushing back against policies that otherwise were potentially or actually disastrous to society [RFGI; SAPs]. Crucial - this was research designed to expand knowledge, challenge existing assumptions. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Research on democratic governance - two major contributions: 1. getting intellectually inclined policy actors to use research to policy purposes (CODESRIA CARDs) and, 2. getting academics who shift to active politics or into policy arena to use their knowledge and experience to influence policy; 3. e.g. Peter Anyang Nyong’o in Kenya; Charles Soludo in Nigeria; Mamadou Coulibaly Cote d’Ivoire; Henri Ossebi in Congo); 2014 Elections in Nigeria/CODESRIA DG Institute 2019 executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Investment in research is investment in the capacity of institutional (be they governments, CSOs, Regional or International organisations) responses to either KNOW or 04 simply to UNDERSTAND the social, economic and political circumstances in which problems emanate and need to be resolved; SIDA Science Days executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa • important to avoid the tyranny/dictates of immediate measurable outcomes; • it is not only that which can be measured that is useful; • most relevant SSH research output are not measurable in quantitative terms; they are the product of long term investment in basic research and their value rests in the fact that research findings (knowledge) cumulated over time. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Investment in knowledge requires asking relevant questions; knowledge depends on finding suitable balance of interactions between organisations, communities and individuals where social problems like poverty exists; Thus, capacity to interact is important; but capacity for responsive interaction is a higher level that encourages self-knowledge, self-reliance and avoids dependency. executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa Ultimately, investment in basic research is the most critical part for all forms of knowledge; basic research is the forte of 05 CODESRIA SIDA Science Days executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa • ultimate aim of investing in research is NOT just to resolve pressing societal problems with evidence of measurable outcomes; it is to create awareness, develop capacity for understanding and foster and sustain self-reliance; • After all, what is development if it is not “something that people must do for themselves, although it can be facilitated by the help of others.” (Claude Ake, 1996:125) executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa For CODESRIA: our key is to create a community of scholarship and policy actors; driven by an unceasing desire to understand communities in Africa both from • its pan-African anchor but • with an adequate appreciation of the continents diversity and complexity executive.secretary@codesria.org
CODESRIA Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa In CODESRIA • We do not minimise the value of any branch of knowledge; or… • the worth of any intellectual endeavour or investment by counter- poising one area of against the other; executive.secretary@codesria.org
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