Dear Prospective participant,
You are invited to participate in a research project titled Gender Analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa. This project was initiated by the African Network for Internationalisation of Education (ANIE), which submitted an Inception Report for the project Gender Analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa, which has just been granted by the British Council. The project will be carried out in four African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa). The aim of this research project is to produce a Sub-Saharan Africa regional analysis of gender inequality issues (focusing on barriers and challenges faced by students and graduates, particularly women and girls, in accessing and participating in employability and entrepreneurship related opportunities) as relevant to the Innovation for African Universities (IAU) programme. This study has obtained ethical clearance from the University of the Witwatersrand Human Research Ethics Committee. Protocol number: H24/04/02.
You have been invited to participate in this research as you are a registered student in a higher education institution in South Africa and you are considered a key stakeholder and actor within the university who could relate to the barriers and challenges facing students in higher institutions of learning. Therefore, as part of this project, if you agree to participate in this study, we would like to invite you to take part in completing an online questionnaire on gender analysis. This questionnaire will take around 20 to 30 minutes to complete. Completing and submitting the online questionnaire is considered consent to participate.
In addition, as part of this project, should you wish to further discuss your challenges and share your experience with us, we would like to invite you to take part in a focus group interview on gender analysis at a mutually convenient time (you can contact the researcher using the emails provided). This focus group interview will take around 30 to 45 minutes on Teams/Zoom.
We also invite institutional leaders (Deans, Head of schools, Heads of Departments and Registrars) to participate in an online interview on gender analysis in your institution at a mutually convenient time. The interview will take an hour (1 hour). Kindly contact the researchers using the emails provided should you be interested in sharing your insights on the topic. With your permission, we would also like to record the interview using an audio recording device for the purposes of data transcription and analysis.
There is no apparent risk involved in this study. The survey is designed to be anonymous, meaning that the information provided by you cannot be connected to you personally. We do not foresee that you will experience any negative consequences by completing the survey and participating in the focus group interview. The researchers undertake to keep any information provided herein confidential, not to let it out of our possession, and to report on the findings from the perspective of the participating group and not from the perspective of an individual.
The records will be kept for five years for audit purposes, after which they will be permanently destroyed. Hard copies will be shredded, and electronic versions will be permanently deleted from the hard drive of the computer. You will not be reimbursed or receive any incentives for your participation in the survey.
Should you consent to participate in the survey please click on the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/76RXYKT
Thanking you in advance for your participation.
Kind regards
Dr Beatice Akala
Email: Beatrice.akala@wits.ac.za
Dr Oluwakemi Ajayi
Email: Oluwakemi.ajayi@wits.ac.za
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
