The Democratic Governance and Rights Unit (DGRU; http://www.dgru.uct.ac.za/ ) is a research unit in the Department of Public Law, University of Cape Town.  Our focus areas are judicial governance, strengthening judicial institutions in Africa, and the provision of free legal resources via the Internet.  We advance our mission by conducting applied and comparative research into our focus areas. We also develop and execute projects relating to our focus areas.

The DGRU was recently awarded as a co-applicant a multi-year EU grant aiming to enhance pan-African civil society participation and engagement with the African Governance Platform (AGP) https://au.int/aga/about in protection and promotion of democracy, governance, and human and people’s rights in Africa.  The following activities, among others, form the research component of this project:

• Prepare analyses of relevant new public opinion findings targeting multiple levels (general public, civil society, policy makers, media) in a variety of accessible formats (policy reports, infographics, videos, press releases, social media campaigns, etc.) to widely share survey findings as a tool to catalyze advocacy and collaboration.
• Systematically develop and adapt innovative tools and resources for citizens to track, document, assess and analyze implementation of Africa Agenda 2063 and African shared values instruments on democratic governance by AU Member States.
• Produce policy briefs on implementation of AGP policies and protocols, covering progress, impediments, key themes (e.g. democracy, human rights, governance, peace and security), and related issues, for publication on the pan-African AGP platform and sharing among AGP members, including the AU Peace and Security Council, the PRC Sub Committee on Human Rights, Democracy and Governance, as well as with CSO networks.
• Produce, publish, and widely disseminate an annual scorecard on the state of implementation of decisions, recommendations, and resolutions of the AGP, to be published on the pan-African AGP platform and shared widely.

The DGRU is looking for one or two post-graduate students, preferably enrolled in a PhD programme, to serve as part-time researchers for this project (20 hours per week). Preference is given to students of law and political science, but applications will be accepted from other disciplines in the humanities.

Overall supervision of the programme is provided by Faculty of Law Adjunct Professor George Mukundi.

Requirements:

• Knowledge of the African Union, RECs and the AGP and current affairs relating to these institutions.
• Excellent research, analytical, writing and presentation skills in English for academic, policy spaces and media purposes.
• Ability to simplify and repurpose complex information for non-academic audiences.
• Excellent social and interpersonal skills.
• Must be based in or around Cape Town, South Africa.

Advantageous:

• Knowledge of French, Arabic or Portuguese.
• Knowledge of data science research methods.
• Experience in designing and presenting research findings in visually appealing formats.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn new technologies and communication methods. 

Remuneration:

Competitive remuneration, plus tuition fee assistance offered as part of the package.  T1 contract appointment with a possibility of renewal.

Application:

Send your CV with a short cover letter to AGP-project@uct.ac.za to apply.  Applications are accepted until Thursday, 18 March 2021.