Care Work and Economy Africa: toward transformative care systems and economies to harness Africa’s demographic transition
Funder
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Scope and partners
- African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) (lead), University of Toronto,
- Regional Consortium for Research on the Generational Economy (CREG) (Senegal);
- UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA);
- Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) (South Africa);
- Nawi: Afrifem Macroecoomics Collective
Length of award: 3 years
This grant will support the Care Work and the Economy Africa project to generate and foster the use of evidence and gender-aware macroeconomic tools that contribute to increased public investment in care provisioning and infrastructures for young children and older adults. The African Population and Health Research Center and a team of global and regional partners will assess the economic and social impacts of existing care arrangements in Kenya and Senegal and develop innovative tools to inform national economic policies and budgets. The team will support regional partners in using new evidence to influence governments’ post-COVID-19 policies to address the demand for unpaid care work and support women’s economic agency. Bristol’s participation comprises PARC PhD student Hilda Owii, PARC Resarch Associate Francis Naab, and PARC Director Isabella Aboderin, as well as the School for Policy Studies’ Vicky Sharley.
We have begun to explore a possible replication of this project in Namibia, as findings and perspectives from a Southern African country would add immensely to the strength of the body of evidence generated. In initial discussions, HE institutions as well as the Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services have expressed their enthusiasm for such an initiative. We will now pursue this, beginning with the co-development of a concept for the project and the identification and exploratory engagement of potentially interested funders.