Dear blog readers and South African education folk,
After more than a decade at RESEP I’m excited to announce that I’ve now moved to the Gates Foundation as Senior Program Officer within Global Education. Starting this week I’ll be based in Joburg and working with Ben Piper and the rest of the Global Ed team trying to move the needle on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in Africa. If there’s one thing I am absolutely convinced about, it’s that children need to learn how to read, write and calculate if they are to live dignified lives in the 21st century. It’s difficult to think how we reach a more equitable, prosperous and sustainable world without ensuring everyone accesses the foundation on which everything else builds. I’m very happy to keep cracking away at that nut.
When I think back on the last ten years in Cape Town it’s been a fantastic whirlwind with so many more highs than lows. My friends and colleagues at RESEP are some of the smartest and most committed people I know. When I arrived in Stellenbosch not knowing anyone, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to land in the Goldilocks Zone of academia. Surrounded by smart people working on important projects who care about policy and implementation, not just impact factors and petty politics. They were collegial and kind and willing to put up with the hubris of youth as my hard edges got knocked off over time. Now mostly gone 😉 Chief among them was Servaas van der Berg (my M and PhD supervisor) who really is like Grandfather Time, mentoring a small village of researchers out of a seemingly inexhaustible supply of optimism, insight and patience.
Soon after that I moved part-time to the Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropic ecosystem. A neighborhood of cool programs and thoughtful leaders who prioritize trust, integrity and impact above almost everything else. Ant, Rob and Zim I’m really grateful you all agreed to come along for the ride on Funda Wande, NIDS-CRAM and a host of other projects that those with weaker stomachs would’ve balked at. With help from friends and funders we started Funda Wande which morphed and grew in fits and starts, becoming an incredible and impactful organization that I’m still proud to be associated with.
Am I sad to be “leaving” RESEP, the only academic home I’ve ever known? Yes and no. You can’t really ‘leave’ ongoing relationships of trust and respect. Besides that, there is now a whole new crop of bright RESEP PhD students and postdocs whose time it is to step up to the plate and become the next generation of researchers and lecturers.
I’m really excited to do more work on the continent and see what we can do to support organizations and individuals who see the challenges in their countries, correctly diagnose the underlying problems and are working in bold and innovative ways to solve them.
These are exciting times 🙂
Nic Spaull 