Master of Development Policy and Practice

Purpose

The Master of Development Policy and Practice will offer a structured and sustained learning opportunity and at the cutting edge of global knowledge and experience. It will also enable learners to build on their considerable practical experience to develop applied research related to effective approaches and practices of public policy design and implementation in developing countries. The fact that learners are drawn from a range of African countries in addition to South Africa facilitates a rich exchange and the development of a supportive peer network. Learners will draw on this background to plan the appropriate mix of methodologies for their individual research projects, and complete an approved research proposal.

In the first year of the qualification, students take a module in Research and Policy Numeracy, which deals with statistical tools and techniques to enhance their analysis, use and manage quantitative data in their respective policy and planning processes. In the second year, the research project is preceded by a module on Research Design and Proposal Development, which consolidates the quantitative research methodologies, explored in the first year and expands on a range of qualitative research methodologies and reporting conventions.

Rationale

South Africa and the rest of Africa are on the cusp of change. Improvements in governance and accountability in economic policy, and international economic circumstances, have led to higher, more consistent and broader based growth than at any previous time in modern African history. The reforms completed so far have been mostly the relatively easy ones that can be undertaken through political will at the top and a few highly competent officials.

Going forward, there is a need for a larger number and wider range of skilled officials and political leaders. This qualification is designed to provide significant specialised training to senior public servants. This qualification seeks to build an esprit de corps and communities of practice amongst government leaders in South Africa and in Africa to promote links between leaders in government and leaders in other fields of human endeavour such as science, business and the arts. It is more appropriate for the target audience, predominantly mid-career public service professionals, who have no intention of switching to research careers, but wish to improve their strategic skills so as to operate more effectively within their current employment.

There is a significant need for specialised training for senior public servants. It is for this purpose that the Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice (GSDPP) was established.

The rationale of the qualification is to enhance the capabilities of a carefully selected group of South African and other African professionals with high leadership potential (and at least an Honours Degree) who are employed in and committed to a career in the public service. This qualification will advance their knowledge and capabilities for their current work and facilitate possible future career progression into more specialised roles in the domain of development policy and practice. This qualification is intended for middle and senior managers in the public service or non-profit sector, who face significant challenges in policy development and, more especially, implementation in their working lives.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

It is not possible to enter into the Master of Development Policy and Practice via RPL. The programme is geared to support senior-level public officials (and related) to align their prior academic learning to the practical realities of policy, strategy and implementation. As such, some prior exposure to the rigorous thinking required to complete, an NQF level 8 qualifications is a necessary pre-condition for our adding value.

By its nature, the Master's degree broadens access to higher education for a group of graduates actively engaged in public policy development and implementation in South Africa and other African countries.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for access to this qualification is

• A four-year cognate Bachelor's Degree, Level 8.

This qualification comprises compulsory modules at level 9 totalling 180 Credits.

Modules

• Strategic Policy-Making, 25 Credits.
• Policy Implementation, 25 Credits.
• Research Project, 45 Credits.
• Issues in Economic Development for Africa, 10 Credits.
• Research and Policy Numeracy, 10 Credits.
• Analysing Development Policymaking: Selected Topics, 20 Credits.
• Public Leadership I, 20 Credits.
• Public Leadership II, 10 Credits.
• Research Design and Proposal Development, 15 Credits.

Exit Level Outcomes

• Demonstrate an enhanced professional and leadership capability, underpinned by an integrated, well-rounded understanding of the challenges of development policy and practice, and of the need for evidence-based research to inform policy design and implementation, grounded in applied research methodologies.
• Demonstrate leadership potential and effectiveness through an integrated understanding of study and experiential learning, with an applied research component, which, drawing on comparative experiences across the developing world.
• Demonstrate mastery of the technical (economic and other) material relevant to the problem on which they are focusing, as well as ability to diagnose the political, social and institutional environment within which the problem is embedded and assess how this environment influences what might be feasible options for addressing the problem, including a set of feasible technical and process proposals to address the problem.

The following Associated Assessment Criteria will be assessed in an integrated manner across the Exit Level Outcomes

• Take a holistic view of development challenges, especially in the African context, based on specialist knowledge to address these complex challenges both systematically and creatively and understand the consequences of problem solving.
• Demonstrate a command of relevant methods, techniques, processes and technologies which facilitate enquiry and make sound judgements in specialised contexts.
• Understand comparative global knowledge and experience, as well as exploring African continental knowledge and experience to critically evaluate current and historical knowledge and identify appropriate methodologies for enquiry and action.
• Recognise the difficult 'balancing acts' associated with development policy formulation and implementation (e.g. difficult technical and ethical choices, and balancing the need and demands of competing stakeholders in particular contexts) and directly address these in policy formulation and implementation, and develops significant insights.
• Design, implement and manage policy processes with a strong focus on communication with a range of audiences and engage with the relevant stakeholders.
• Develop competencies as motivated, self-regulated, lifelong learners in today's technological age, to devise learning strategies for sustained, independent learning, in both formal and informal learning contexts, for academic or professional development.
• Demonstrate policy formulation capabilities, mastery of specialised knowledge and appropriate and creative tools to help critique, identify, design and build support for priority development policies.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the African economic and development context within which public officials and others in the development sector operate.
• Demonstrate a mastery of a range of specialised knowledge and tools to help bridge the gap between broad policy goals and strategies and the details of design and implementation that are the key to development effectiveness.
• Demonstrate leadership capabilities - via mastery of skills, personal insight, and inter-personal capabilities to manage change within individual public agencies, across government, and at the interfaces between government, citizens, the private sector and civil society.
• Demonstrate technical capabilities via in-depth mastery of knowledge and tools in specialised, priority areas of development policy.
• Demonstrate analytical capabilities in a series of assignments related to policy challenges (usually in own workplaces), self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems; use data and information at their disposal and generae additional data where necessary and communicate the conclusions clearly.
• Demonstrate integrative capabilities via the demonstrated completion in the applied research project of an assessment of a development problem from a multi-dimensional (technical, political, social and institutional) perspective, and identification of a way forward that incorporates effectively these multiple dimensions.

Integrated Assessment

Assessments will include written assignments and a research project. For some courses, there will also be a written examination. Assessment will include application of analytical policy skills to workplace challenges. In core module, assignments are individually tailored to the students' workplace situations, by agreement between the student and the course convenor.