Dear RCI Students':
 
‘Thank you for your excellent participation in Module 1, 2 and 3! Module 4 will be in Durban in April 2009. See Specific Modules for more information.Please fill in the Workshop Evaluation Form loaded on the left-side of the Web-site for Module 2 and 3.
 

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Research Capacity Building
The annual RCI learning programme
For whom, and why
The institutional context
The goals of the learning programme
The delivery method
The curriculum
The presenters
Assessment
How to Apply

Research Capacity Building
Central to the SANPAD mission is the commitment to develop research capacity amongst persons from previously disadvantaged communities. Every SANPAD-funded research project has therefore to include in the approved research team one or more junior researchers from these groups, whose skills and confidence as researchers will be honed by working in the project under the guidance of senior researchers. But this practical engagement in research would not necessarily greatly increase the junior  researchers’ knowledge of the theory and the general methodologies of research in the social sciences, without which the junior researchers might forever remain just that – junior!

The characteristics of South African society, with its legacy of apartheid, mean that any research collaboration that has as its ultimate aim the making of a contribution to the socio-economic development of the country must put particular emphasis on capacity building. SANPAD has established a learning programme, the Research Capacity building Initiative (RCI) to develop the knowledge of research methodology of a selection of these junior researchers, the majority of whom are participants in a project, and others that are selected out of a pool of nominated candidates. This annual programme is offered in a series of seven one-week workshops scheduled to take place largely in university holidays.

The annual RCI learning programme
The RCI programme was initiated in 1999 in a form rather different from its present form. It is now offered annually from February to February, in a total of seven weeks of  intensive workshops spread over the four usual university holiday periods. As the effect of these ‘snapshots’ of learning would be lost if they were not continuously reinforced, the RCI students are required to engage in on-line learning in between the workshops. To ensure that all of the members of the group are at more or less the same level of development academically, possession of a master’s degree or an equivalent is now taken as a minimum criterion for selection for the programme. This makes it possible for the presenters, a selection of the best theoreticians available in South Africa and the Netherlands, to teach the curriculum at an appropriate level and with a certain amount of confidence in the ability of the students to benefit from the learning experience. The table below indicates the demography of the students who participated in this programme since its inception.

For whom, and why
In order to begin to redress past inequities, recruitment into the programme targets primarily South Africans who are members of what the Employment Equity Act calls the designated groups – black people, women, and disabled people. Those accepted will have finished a masters degree, be registering for a doctorate, and will intend to make a career in a university, a technikon, or some other institution where they can engage in continual research production in accordance with SANPAD’s overall aim, which is to foster research which addresses the quality of life in South Africa. Annually a few places in the programme will be awarded to students who are not part of a SANPAD-supported project but who are otherwise thought to be particularly deserving.

The institutional context
Where a student is a member of the staff of a teaching institution, the Vice Chancellor is asked to ensure that the student is afforded the opportunity to engage fully in the SANPAD learning programme, even if this means making special allowance in the student’s teaching load. The request to a Vice Chancellor is motivated through reference to the imperative of staff development and the benefits that accrue to an institution from having excellent researchers among its staff. Students, on the other hand, are required to sign contracts in which they declare that they will engage fully in all of the work required of them in the learning programme, and that they will complete the course of study.

The goals of the learning programme
The programme attempts to produce reflective academics who have a broad insight into theories, ideas, methods and practices in research in the social sciences, who are capable of making informed choices among these, and of further developing their knowledge and expertise in their chosen fields, who are capable of bringing a research project to a successful conclusion within a specified time frame and budget, who are capable of writing up their results as academic articles worthy of publication in reputable journals, and who are capable also of disseminating their results less conventionally among those who can best make practical use of them.

The delivery method
Typically a student will be required to attend workshops at a conference centre in a South African city for a week in February, a fortnight at Easter time, a fortnight in June/July, a week in August/September, and   a week in the next February. These times are chosen in an attempt to avoid the teaching terms at South African higher education institutions. Students are also required to perform work at other times and to submit it electronically, in order to ensure the integration of the learning they acquire in the diverse workshops they attend from time to time.

The curriculum
The curriculum had been evolving organically since 1999, but needed to be put on a more formal footing and at a CURRICULUM REVIEW WORKSHOP devoted to that purpose, which was held in Durban in October 2003, the following aspects of the curriculum evolved:

• The scope of the field
• Issues in the social sciences, theoretical frameworks and research traditions
• Qualitative inquiry: methodologies and data gathering
• Qualitative data analysis
• Participative action research
• Discourse analysis, focusing on gender and race politics
• Statistics for the social sciences
• Evaluation research and programme evaluation
• Research design (mixed methods)
• Research proposal and dissertation writing, and
• Academic and alternative dissemination of results

The learning programme ends with the students’ demonstrating their mastery of what they have learned by presenting their research protocols to an audience of their peers and of some of the presenters, acting as assessors of the students’ performance. This presentation takes the form of a viva, and is not unlike the traditional defence of a thesis. Students who are judged to have been successful in this are presented with a certificate endorsed by SANPAD and by CERES, the prestigious Dutch Research School for Resource Studies for Development, with which SANPAD has a close and productive relationship.

The RCI programme attempts not only to benefit the students as individuals but also to meld each cohort of students into a team, with different disciplines but like ideals, who will remain friends and colleagues in research during long and productive academic careers. Team-building is fostered not only through goal-directed group academic activities but also, as can be seen in the photographs reproduced here, through involving the students in hilarious and energetic recreational activities.

SANPAD is in the process of establishing mechanisms to ensure that the members of these teams remain in touch with one another and are involved with SANPAD after they have completed their learning programmes, and will continue to promote the sense in each of them that they belong to a SANPAD team, in the belief that this will be productive for the students and for SANPAD, and in the interests of research production in South Africa as a whole.


The presenters
The intention is that the academic staff who present the modules from time to time should where feasible be among the best and most experienced social science methodologists available in South Africa and the Netherlands, and that modules should be team taught by senior researchers from both countries. The Dutch presenters are identified by CERES, the Research School for Resource Studies for Development in the Netherlands. The South African presenters are selected by the South African National Board and the Secretariat. The South African National Board consists of representatives of universities and technikons, SAUVCA, the CTP, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, the SA Academy of Science, and the NGO sector.

Assessment
At the conclusion of the programme the student is required to design a detailed PhD proposal demonstrating mastery of the material covered in the curriculum. This proposal is submitted in advance of the concluding (February) workshop to a task team representing the presenters of the modules, which team assesses the work against clearly articulated criteria and comments on it. During the workshop proper the student presents the proposal to an audience consisting of her peers, the team of assessors, and the new RCI candidates. The student also acts as a peer referee for another student presenting a related proposal, chairs a presentation, and assesses a presentation session.

How to Apply
Applications may be initiated by project leaders in SANPAD projects, who would approach the junior researchers in their teams, establish their interest in participating in the RCI, and forward their applications and CVs, with a covering letter, to the SA Secretariat, for the attention of the RCI Manager. Or junior researchers may initiate the application process by asking their project leaders to forward their applications and CVs to the SA Secretariat. And candidates who wish to be considered for the few places available to non-project students may approach their heads of department and ask them to motivate their applications to the SA Secretariat.