Dialogue & Advocacy Fellowship

“As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom” – Nelson Mandela (1996)

The COVID-19 pandemic presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the kind of country we want to live and thrive in as well as the interventions, advocacy and discourse required to realise this. We need to believe that we are not too deep in the economic spell we have cast for ourselves to make the most of this unique moment, and that we can alter our economic and social trajectory.

This Fellowship is in its 2^nd year, with the inaugural year having a focus on urban land and housing. The Fellowship is transpiring within the Foundation’s broader framing of poverty and inequality reduction, with the Foundation engaging in thematic work in this area since 2018, arising from its involvement in the Mandela Initiative. The Mandela Initiative was a university-led national endeavour in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation that aimed to investigate key strategies to overcome South Africa's developmental challenges through research, workshops and public dialogue with a diverse range of stakeholders. As such, the Fellowship is aimed at seeing how patterns of intergenerational poverty can be tackled. 

The theme of this year’s fellowship is ‘Bridging the gap’ between education and labour. As highlighted by Baldry (2016), “There appears to be consensus that legacies of apartheid continue to influence individuals even after their attainment of a higher education qualification… It appears that those advantaged under apartheid have a greater ability to exercise choice when it comes to deciding where and what to study. Upon graduation, the previously advantaged continue to enjoy stronger connections to the labour market.” The circumstances these young people find themselves in “suppresses the concept of choice” for many of them. This however is not only a consequence of Apartheid and colonial legacies but also influenced by shortcomings in South African government policy making and implementation as well as macro-economic and global factors, amongst other things.

While scholars debate the extent of the graduate unemployment challenge, there is agreement that not all graduates enjoy the same labour market access. Interventions such as graduate programmes offered by the public, private and NGO sector provide an opportunity to link graduates to the workplace, to develop their skills and experience and enhance their employability – in the absence of which, their employment prospects may be compromised. These programmes however are not widespread and more needs to be done to encourage organisations and companies to implement programmes of this nature.  As highlighted by President Ramaphosa in the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA), many young graduates are unable to find employment owing to a lack of experience that forces many of them into jobs unrelated to their qualifications. He went on to encourage the private sector to also play their part, for instance by removing experience as a hiring requirement where possible.

When speaking about bridging the gap between education and labour, there are also matriculants that are unable to access tertiary institutions owing to not meeting entry requirements. Often, these students are from disadvantaged backgrounds, and not being able to access higher education or their desired programmes of choice has implications for their longer-term employment and economic prospects – which in turn has implications on their families. Not many options are available in the form of bridging programmes that offer opportunities to students to improve their marks, especially those offered by universities, to enable these students to apply or reapply to their desired or suitable programmes and educational institutions. In both these instances i.e. graduates being unable to find workplace employment and who lack connections to the labour market, and matriculants who struggle to get admission into higher education, the choices of these individuals are limited by their backgrounds, social networks and other socio-economic barriers. Labour market policies and other interventions are needed to assist them to bridge the education and labour gap.

To help realise what we believe the moment calls for, the Nelson Mandela Foundation is recruiting a Fellow that will be based at the Foundation until the end of 2022 within the Dialogue and Advocacy unit. We envision this person as being someone who not only contributes towards public discourse on this issue but who also sees research as a verb in that they are committed towards actualising their proposals into tangible outcomes. We are looking for someone who can take initiative, network and engage with stakeholders in a meaningful way. Where possible, they must use relevant empirical evidence from both South Africa and elsewhere in the world. Any interventions proposed must be possible in our local context. It is envisioned that the Fellow selected will contribute towards thought leadership through written outputs, public engagements and the convening of relevant stakeholders. While the Fellowship’s theme is ‘Bridging the gap’ between education and labour, owing to the broader framing of the Fellowship being poverty and inequality alleviation, the selected Fellow may also be called on to assist with lines of enquiry related to this broader framing.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is grateful to the Hanns Seidel Foundation for their generous support of this Fellowship.

To be considered for the Fellowship, the Fellow needs to:

• Have at least a Master’s degree or be studying towards one  
• Must be able to write for a popular audience and show proof of ability to do so
• Must be comfortable with public speaking and stakeholder engagement
• Must be able to take initiative, work with little supervision and be self-motivated
• Must be able to convene dialogues and develop advocacy initiatives, and be willing to support the Dialogue and Advocacy team in realising tangible outcomes related to this area of work
• Must be willing to meet deadlines and be hardworking
• Fellows must be based in South Africa, and preference may be given to candidates that are based in Gauteng

• Please use this form and upload your CV on the upload button provided
• The closing date for applications is the 11^th March 2022, and the expected start date is no later than 11^th April 2022

• This position is output based, until the end of 2022. As such, it can be held with other part-time commitments eg. Doing a part-time PhD, if the applicant can demonstrate ability to manage agreed upon outputs within agreed upon timeframes
• The position will be a combination of working remotely as well as on site at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices in Johannesburg
• The remuneration for this position is R30 000 a month, with a R1 000 data, airtime and travel allowance (tax compliance will be left to the individual). As such, the monthly gross income is R31 000.
• The Nelson Mandela Foundation reserves the right to terminate the Fellowship, at any point, if output does not meet agreed upon targets
• The Fellowship will incorporate a leadership development component