Concept Paper
AFRICAN SOCIAL RESEARCH INITIATIVE (ASRI)
2011 ACCRA SYMPOSUIM
University of Ghana, 22-23 July 2011
Conference Theme:
ACCESS, ACCOUNTABILITY & EQUALITY
Over the last few decades, African countries have undergone monumental changes across political, economic, and social dimensions. Many countries have democratized and adopted market principles. Many have made enormous strides in reducing infant mortality, combating malaria, recognizing the rights of women, and improving educational opportunities. Yet many challenges remain. Few African countries are on target to meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations. Significant populations lack access to health services, quality education, or gainful employment, and socio-economic inequalities have risen in many countries. Opportunities for African citizens to hold governments accountable for their actions, or to participate meaningfully in politics, remain elusive.
This conference will critically evaluate development targets and investigate the abiding inter-sectoral challenges of democratic accountability, equality, and access to health and other social services in Ghana, South Africa, and neighboring countries in the region. The conference panels will highlight data-driven papers, providing original research based on the analyses of recent surveys, as well as reflection on the quality and comprehensiveness of data sources in the region.
The conference papers will address the following thematic areas:
1. Income dynamics and poverty: Issues at the aggregate level, within and between groups, and changes over time. One of the challenges is the extent to which national/aggregate data mask spatial and socio-economic variations in wealth creation/poverty; issues of exclusion and pro-poor polices/safety net mechanisms.
2. Gender, health and development: Sex differentials with respect to health outcomes, and access to health and welfare; measurements of change; interface with health, poverty, and governance.
3. Democratic governance: Implications of democratic governance, participation and contestation; balancing accountability against efficiency; decentralization in action and its interface with aspects of national agenda and development.
4. Human capital: human capital in the health sector in Ghana; migration and its implications for health, education and development.
Special Session: Round Table on the Millennium Development Goals
A special session will be devoted to candid review and discussion on Africa’s progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, with special focus on Ghana and South Africa. The round table will include academics, practitioners, social commentators and policy makers. The aim is to bring multiple voices on board to develop policy directions.
Early Career Scholars
A feature of the 2011 meeting will be the opportunity for early career researchers from the participating countries to present their research; each panel of three to four participants will include at least one early career scholar.
Host Institute
The host institute for the conference is ISSER, the Institute for Social Science and Economics Research, a leading demographic and economic think-tank at the University of Ghana-Legon.
Sponsor
The conference sponsor is the African Social Research Initiative (ASRI), a partnership formed in 2008 by universities and research centers in South Africa and Ghana, and the University of Michigan. ASRI’s primary objective is to foster collaborative research and promote intellectual engagements among scholars from participating institutions. ASRI institutional partners include: the INDEPTH Network, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast, University of Cape Town, University of Fort Hare, University of Ghana, University of Johannesburg, University of Kwazulu-Natal, University of Michigan, and Witwatersrand University. Funding for ASRI is provided by the President’s Africa Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Participation in this conference is by invitation only, and invitations are extended by members of the ASRI International Steering Committee.