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PASGR Knowledge Repository
The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) Repository serves as a comprehensive platform for digital information and knowledge produced by PASGR in fulfilling our various mandates. This Repository was created to enhance the visibility, accessibility, and effective dissemination of PASGR's information and knowledge to all stakeholders, while also preserving institutional memory for posterity.
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Item type: Item , Gender Barriers Faced by African Women in Graduate Programmes and Research in the Social Sciences(PASGR, 2013-02) Partnership for African Social and Governance ResearchThis scoping study begins with a brief description of the state of universities in Africa, highlighting some current problems and challenges. Section II undertakes a review of literature about the role and status of female students and faculty members in African universities, especially in the social sciences and discusses issues of access. Section III provides an in-depth analysis of social sciences journals published in Africa and outside. Section IV explores the organisational culture of the social sciences in Africa, focussing specifically on governance structures and exploring the gender activities that have been carried out by social sciences organisations. Section V discusses measures that are underway to redress gender imbalance while Section VI makes some recommendations for potential activities to support the participation of women in social sciences research. The paper concludes with a brief review of some of the main findings.Item type: Item , Re-Imagining University Financing in Kenya(PASGR, 2025-05) Partnership for African Social and Governance ResearchDuring the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak in 2019, the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) conducted extensive research on the challenges of equitable access to higher education (HE) in Africa. The organisation also held numerous convenings, engaging higher education stakeholders including policymakers, university managers, researchers, and the media. The research and stakeholder engagements aligned with findings from various scholars, highlighting university financing as one of the major challenges affecting equitable access to higher education across Africa. Consequently, PASGR, in collaboration with key stakeholders, co-conceptualised and co-designed a new research project aimed at generating relevant evidence and stimulating policy dialogue around the newly adopted higher education financing model in Kenya. The objective was to identify effective, innovative, and sustainable practices to support continuous improvement as the model was being implemented, and to inform future policy and practice for enhanced equitable access to higher education. The project leveraged PASGR’s Utafiti Sera (evidence-policy) approach, which brings together key stakeholders through a co-creation process. This approach ensured that implementers of the new financing model and other stakeholders were actively involved from the conceptualisation stage through to project implementation, thereby enhancing the relevance, contextual alignment, and impact of the project outcomes.Item type: Item , Innovative, Inclusive, and Afrocentric Social Protection in Africa Leveraging Voices and Representation in the era of COVID-19 Pandemic(PASGR, 2021-08)COVID-19 provided a natural experiment for critically reviewing the place and purpose of social protection interventions in Africa and across the world. Emerging evidence shows that social protection can effectively address poverty and vulnerability on a global scale. Despite these positive outcomes, challenges such as limited coverage, inequity, and fragmentation persist, particularly within the African context. Addressing these issues requires continuous dialogue and engagement with all stakeholders, including beneficiaries, grassroots leaders, non-state actors, and policymakers. Such engagement is essential for reflecting on the design, delivery, sustainability, and accountability of social protection measures in ways that align with African indigenous knowledge, values, and aspirations. This conference aims to foster a constructive environment that leverages the voices and representation of all actors to progressively refine existing social protection frameworks in Africa and articulate a post-COVID-19 social protection agenda for the continent.Item type: Item , Demanding Power: Do Protests Empower Citizens to Hold Governments Accountable over Energy?(PASGR, 2021-09) Hossain, Naomi; Agbonifo, John; Atela, Martin; Gaventa, John; Gonçalves, Euclides; Javed, Umair; McCulloch, Neil; Natalini, Davide; Oosterom, Marjoke; Ojebode, Ayobami; Shankland, AlexEnergy protests have been recurrent and significant political events in the twenty-first century. Major episodes have occurred in both developed and developing countries; in contexts with strong and stable states (e.g., France, Chile), as well as in fragile and conflict-affected settings (e.g., Mozambique, Haiti); in energy-exporting countries, and those dependent on imports. These protests have ranged from localised demonstrations over electricity access to large-scale urban uprisings concerning fuel prices and transport fares. In some countries, multiple forms of protest have emerged, including those related to new energy deals, infrastructure projects, and transnational campaigns against fossil fuels. Why do people protest about energy, and what do these protests achieve? Despite their growing prominence, the analysis of energy protests remains relatively underdeveloped. This paper presents findings from research into this phenomenon. The interdisciplinary study synthesises detailed case studies of energy protests in Mozambique, Nigeria, and Pakistan, situating them within a broader global context through cross-country analysis. The research explores key questions: What political and economic conditions drive such protests? Do major protest episodes empower citizens to hold governments accountable for energy provision? How do external and transnational interests shape the conditions under which mass protests occur? The research is grounded in debates within contentious politics and social movement studies, particularly as they relate to governance and citizen participation in developing and fragile states. Energy protests provide a useful lens for understanding political opportunities for collective action in contexts where political and civic spaces are often constrained. They also offer insights into how public grievances influence policy and political processes in such environments. The findings contribute to ongoing discussions on energy justice, emphasising the importance of civic participation, transparency, and accountability in achieving equitable energy transitions. Furthermore, understanding energy protests is critical for informing research, policy, and practice related to fossil fuel subsidies and their reform. In many cases, large-scale protests against fuel price increases have delayed or blocked efforts to remove subsidies that are often considered regressive and fiscally unsustainable. Overall, these protests signal two key realities: first, that energy is a fundamental necessity for modern life; and second, that citizens often lack effective formal channels through which to express their grievances regarding energy access, pricing, and governance.Item type: Item , Utafiti Sera (Research-Policy Community): First Forum on Wage Employment Creation in Agriculture and Agro-Processing in the Context of Inclusive Growth(PASGR, 2016-06)On 7th June 2016, the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), with support from the Knowledge Platform for Inclusive Development Policies (INCLUDE), IDRC, and UKAID, organised a forum that brought together 38 participants to discuss current and pertinent issues on wage employment in agriculture and agro-processing in Kenya. Membership to the forum followed a stakeholder analysis conducted to identify institutions with the power, interest, motivation, and capacity to influence policies and programmes in agriculture and agro-processing in Kenya. Despite high levels of economic growth in many African countries, the continent’s wage employment figures remain low. This pattern of “jobless growth” undermines the notion of ‘Africa rising’, as growth has not been inclusive. Inclusive growth should generate substantial employment opportunities, increase wages, and enable citizens to influence the direction of the growth process. Amid this jobless growth, many researchers have examined the constraints to wage employment creation across different sectors. However, it remains unclear how much of this research has informed and influenced existing employment policies and programmes in African countries.