Consultative Seminar on the Role of Parliament
And Provincial Legislatures
In the Achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals
The Role And Possible Partnerships
With Institutions Of Higher Learning
Donald Gwambe
Research and Project Manager
Centre for African Heritage Studies (CAHS)
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
The Institutions of Higher Learning
Need Own Introspection First
Articulate Clear Vision and Policies
Dispel traditional political and ideological
alignment and find a new ethos anchored
in the overall country’s agenda to achieve
the MDGs
Common Challenges
Limited resources: Government Funding
and fees are nor enough
Poor Managerial Skills
The Brain Drain Myth: Unable to retain
home grown talent
Appointment of Managers: Political
correctness vs. professional proficiency
MDGs: Possible Strategies for
Higher Learning Institutions
What Contribution???
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty
And Hunger
Social Mobility Through Higher Education
 Recognize educational levels of subaltern social
groups and poor communities
 Removal of hurdles in order to facilitate entry of
subaltern and disadvantaged groups into the
more competitory ambits of education
 Retention strategies: Deliberately design
programmes that will make academic career
attractively rewarding, especially for people from
subaltern social groups and communities;
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty
And Hunger
 Making experiential learning and
internship economically relevant:
 Making research laboriously intensive,
employing both traditional and modern ICT
techniques in order to cover both classical
and mediated techniques
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary
education
 Challenge conventional and orthodox systems
 Contextualize education: Customise curriculum to actual
needs on the ground
 Development of contextualized and relevant textual
materials
 Review of inspection policy and advisory services: Who
should be the inspector at schools: Local man or outside
jetted?
 Improve teacher’s training: Are our teachers redundant
or updated?
 Train School Managers and Administrators: Are they
versed with the issues and legislation?
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and
empower women
Deliberately design policies that allow
women’s inclusion in teaching, research,
management and leadership of
institutions
Promote academic programmes at school
levels, which are prelude to university
standards
Promote gender-focussed academic
courses
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Provide health education on child survival
in relation to the mother’s reproductive
health;
Provide sexual reproductive education,
which help prevent teen pregnancy;
Collaborate with state departments,
international and UN
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Establish research centres and units that
focus on reducing maternal morbidity
Outreach programmes to bring awareness
of Sexual Reproductive Health to poor
communities;
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases
Diversify research programmes that focus
on specific diseases and infirmities
Research into alternative treatments
including African indigenous medicines to
treat HIV and AIDS;
Design courses on infectious diseases
prevention and management for poor
communities
Goal 7: Ensure environmental
sustainability
 Academic researchers should join hand with
state agencies to address environmental issues
and impact
 Design educational awareness programmes for
subaltern communities and leaders
 Develop relevant literature training tools in
vernacular languages in order to make the
subject matter
 Offer refreshing and upgrading courses on
environment issues for current environmental
workers
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership
for development
 Graduate exchange programmes and joint
research venture between universities, locally
and abroad
 Expand virtual university education system
through the use of ICT and satellite
technologies;
 Develop regional (SADC) graduate training
programmes customized to the needs of each
country and sector;
 Develop graduate retentions strategies to
minimize “Brain Drain”
Traits of Progressive Institutions
Improved Administration & Accountability
Community-driven Institutions: deideologized and de-politicized universities
University decision bodies should include
reps from subaltern social groups,
traditional leadership, NGOs, CBOs,
community representatives, etc.
Promoting Progressive Institutions
Inter-multi-disciplinary approach to
research
Community oriented
Customer oriented research outputs
The Questions of the Sceptic
MDGs are mirrors of the already failed
global resolutions;
Are MDG indicators reliable? Are they
entirely inclusive of all poor communities?
Is there any universal “measuring rod” to
monitor progress? Countries are different.
Why are MDGs pre-conditions for Africa’s
monetary support?
“African governments, state departments,
parastatals, academic and research bodies, civil
society organisations and private sector leaders
have to be made aware of the evolution of the
MDGs, their significance for the attraction of
external development fund…”
Thank You!
Siyalbonga