NxtGen | About

About

What is NextGen?

Although South Africa has made a number of important strides towards the realisation of the National Development Plan (NDP), it is clear that in the last two decades the country has not lived up to its potential. Basic education is plagued by the institutional challenges of a lack of capacity and a lack of accountability. There remain large unanswered questions including how to scale successful interventions, and bigger society-level questions like why boys do so much worse than girls in primary school and high school (Zuze & Reddy, 2015, Spaull & Makaluza, 2019). While there have been clear signs of progress in terms of learning outcomes since at least 2006 (Gustafsson & Van der Berg, 2019), even at this post-improvement level of performance only 22% of Grade 4 learners can read for meaning in any language, and less than 40% of Grade 5 learners can do basic arithmetic or simple word problems.

Broadly speaking there are two significant obstacles to the long term progress in education in South Africa: (1) undue political interference and (2) a lack of state capacity at the national and provincial level. It is this second constraint that the NextGen Programme will help address. Building the capacity of the state must start by increasing the quality of appointments in key positions within the DBE and provincial departments. South Africa’s civil service is the cornerstone of policy formulation to advance development, yet the candidates appointed to key positions in Basic Education may not always have the skills required to resolve the severe challenges that they face. At the same time, South Africa’s vibrant civil society is constantly working to hold the country’s leaders accountable to the appropriate courses of action, yet there too there is often a lack of appropriately skilled professionals with a deep understanding of how the system actually works.

The increasingly complex policy problems South Africa is facing - some historical and some contemporary - require a level of engagement and strategic thinking. More than ever, bold leadership and a diversity of ideas are needed within government, and that is only possible if a new generation of policy analysts and researchers are trained, mentored and deployed within government and civil society in strategic positions.

Mission & Vision

NextGen provides access to support structures, networks and resources that can strengthen the capacity of individuals to develop and achieve their professional goals. It is based on the principle that with appropriate and sustained support, building a diverse pool of researchers and policy makers is possible. Investing in these individuals will strengthen the country’s ability to formulate new and relevant solutions to the complex social issues that we are facing.

The South African government is committed to developing a more professional public service. The draft National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service is currently under review. We are contributing towards this goal.

Why now?

Talent is spread evenly among young South Africans but opportunity is not. South African children have greater access to education than ever before but its quality is so uneven that the majority find themselves catching up from the very beginning of their schooling careers. Many never do. So, while there are notable professional and academic accomplishments among young South Africans from disadvantaged backgrounds, the current pool of graduates who are trained in technical fields that are so crucial for policy and planning, is not representative of the country’s demographics. Black Africans make up about 80% of the population yet only 46% of masters students and 34% of doctoral students.

It is equally worrying that among South African universities that are producing doctoral graduates, African students are in the minority in all universities except UNISA. In fact, at two of the country’s most prestigious universities (UCT and Stellenbosch), less than 1 in 10 doctoral graduates is Black African. Increasing the diversity of the current pool of graduates will require addressing the personal and institutional challenges that these students currently face.

NextGen is designed to empower talented young South Africans by providing them with access to support structures, networks and resources that can strengthen their capacity to develop and achieve their professional goals. It is based on the principle that with appropriate and sustained support, building a diverse pool of researchers and policy makers is possible. Investing in these individuals will strengthen the country’s ability to formulate new and relevant solutions to the complex social issues that we are facing.