study involved a stratified random sample of Alumni at 12-18 and 24-30 months following completion of their Award and recipients of the Australia Awards Small Grants Scheme. This summary presents the highlights of the study’s findings. Alumni are highly employable and excelling in their careers Over 97% of Alumni are currently employed and of these, over half have received a promotion since returning from Award. Those who have received a promotion overwhelmingly attribute this to the skills and knowledge they acquired on their Award. Virtually all Alumni report that the skills acquired on-award are relevant to their current job. Alumni are using their skills to make significant development contributions in their home countries Almost all Alumni are making contributions in their area of practice, while half are transferring skills and one-third are contributing in the area of policy. Development contributions are occurring principally within Alumni’s organisational but one-third are also making contributions with wider societal reach. Alumni who studied Education or Agriculture/Food Security are more likely to make a direct contribution at societal level. Two-thirds of Alumni report also making social contributions beyond their workplace. Contributions beyond the workplace tend to be through direct application of skills and knowledge or by transferring these skills to others in the community. Alumni are passing on skills to others in their workplaces Alumni are transferring skills to colleagues in the workplace through formal and informal training to a very high extent, although they are more likely to do so through informal training. Technical knowledge, and analytical and critical thinking skills are the most prevalent of skills/knowledge transferred. No difference in the propensity to pass on skills in the workplace was found between cohorts, indicating that Alumni remain committed to passing on their skills/knowledge over time. The overwhelming majority of Alumni are well-supported in the workplace, although most face constraints to applying their skills Over 90% of Alumni describe their workplace as supportive, however females were over four times as likely to describe receiving no or little support, probably reflecting gender barriers women face in the workplace. The most significant enablers in the workplace were a supportive environment, in particular from supervisors, more responsibility assigned and greater qualifications (i.e. skills/knowledge Alumni had gained on-award). Despite the generally supportive environment, Alumni also faced challenges. Over three-quarters of all survey respondents reported facing constraints in the workplace, the most prevalent of which were lack of resources and, to a lesser extent, resistance to change by co-workers. Alumni are maintaining and developing the links they established while on-award acquired
Over 90% reported maintaining links, the most frequent of which were links with other Australia Awards Alumni and international Alumni. Links with Australian students and professional links with Australia were the least frequently maintained, however rates were still high with over 70% of respondents maintaining such links. Only one in four Alumni indicated that their employer maintained business of professional links with Australia. However, half of these links had either been established or further developed as a result of the Alumni’s own engagement with the Australia Awards initiative. Five in six Alumni were members of at least one Alumni association, the most common being Africa-based Australia Awards associations. The majority of Alumni are implementing their Work Plan on Return Four in five Alumni stated that the initiatives they had described in the study formed part of their Work Plan on Return, indicating application of Award-acquired skills and knowledge to contribute to development outcomes through the implementation of these Plans. Funding Alumni’s development work can be a positive avenue for enhancing their contribution in Africa Overall, projects funded by the Small Grants Scheme are delivering on intended outputs and contributing to anticipated outcomes. While sustaining the benefits generated by grant-funded projects can be an issue, a number of them are catalysing initiatives started by or including Australia Awards Alumni and some laudable results have been recorded. Recommendations by Alumni Alumni made five main suggestions on how to improve the Alumni engagement program going forward. These were, in order of frequency: more mechanisms to interact with Alumni; changes to the Small Grants Scheme, in particular increased funding level; further study opportunities through Australia Awards; further strengthening of Alumni associations; and greater pathways to maintain contact with Australian institutions and organisations.
Type of Award ALAF / Australia Awards Leadership Fellowship 8 18 26 Masters 38 17 55 Short Course / Africa Fellowship 52 41 93 Sector of Study Agriculture/Food Security 23 20 43 Education 10 14 24 Health 11 3 14 NRM - Environmental related 7 4 11 NRM - Mining related 17 17 34 Other 5 4 9 Public Policy / Governance 21 10 31 Water and Sanitation 4 4 8 Type of Organisation Civil Society 3 1 4 Other 0 1 1 Private 2 4 6 Public 93 70 163 Disability No 95 76 171 Yes 3 0 3 Currently employed? No 2 2 4 Yes 96 74 170 Did respondent return to same employer No 3 5 8 Yes 93 69 162 Is respondent still employed with the same employer? No 8 14 22 Yes 88 60 148
Did respondent receive a promotion following their award? No 51 33 84 Yes 45 41 86 To what extent was respondent's promotion due to skills? Not at all 3 3 6 To a certain extent 14 10 24 To a great extent 28 28 56 How relevant are skills to respondents current job? Highly relevant 84 63 147 Little or no relevance 2 0 2 Some relevance 10 11 21 Development contribution was in area of policy No 55 41 96 Yes 20 22 42 Development contribution was in area of practice No 13 8 21 Yes 62 55 117 Development contribution was in area of skills transfer No 38 34 72 Yes 37 29 66 Number of development contribution types 1 1 1 2 2 37 25 62 2 29 30 59 3 8 7 15 Level of development contribution - organisational No 2 3 5 Yes 73 60 133 of development contribution - societal No 54 45 99 Yes 21 18 39
with Australian students Infrequently (a few times a year) 19 12 31 Never 18 13 31 Occasionally (monthly) 21 20 41 Regularly (daily or weekly) 14 14 28 with international students Infrequently (a few times a year) 17 20 37 Never 4 2 6 Occasionally (monthly) 35 25 60 Regularly (daily or weekly) 16 12 28 Links with other Australia Awards alumni from home country Infrequently (a few times a year) 11 7 18 Never 7 6 13 Occasionally (monthly) 22 22 44 Regularly (daily or weekly) 32 24 56 Membership of Australian University Alumni Association No 46 43 89 Yes 25 15 40 Membership of Australia Awards Africa-based Association No 20 21 41 Yes 51 37 88 Membership of other International Alumni Association No 62 49 111 Yes 9 9 Not a member of any Alumni Association No 61 49 110 Yes 10 9 19 0 10 9 19
Number of Alumni Associations respondent is a member of 1 40 39 79 2 18 8 26 3 3 2 5 Does employing organisation have any with Australia? No 56 43 99 Yes 15 15 30 Did respondent contribute to their employers’ links with Australia? No 10 6 16 Yes 5 9 14 Are any of the initiatives described in this study a part of respondents work plan on return? No 9 14 23 Yes 56 30 86
John (Mary View School for the Deaf) Clement Kaleso (Montfort School) 11 Kondwani Wilfred Jawadu (kondijawadu@yahoo.com) Patron of Environmental Club Likuni Schools for Girls Secondary School** 12 Joshua Titus B. Mkhata (nkhatajoshua@yahoo.com) Deputy Head Teacher Likuni Schools for Girls Secondary School Chief Maziro*** Chief Malili Chief Zabitha Chiefs in Likuni Area, Rural Lilongwe, Malawi Mercy Mwale (thawemercy@yahoo.co.uk) Wavisanga Munyenyembe (wavisa@yahoo.co.uk) Nini B Sulamoyo (ninisulamoyo@gmail.com) Ambonishe Mwalwimba (ambonishe@yahoo.com) Wiskies Nkombezi (wdgnkombezi@gmail.com) Priscilla Kandoole (pkandoole@gmail.com) Shupikai Nyirenda (shupikai2000@yahoo.com) Association board and one regular member (Wiskies) Malawi-Australia Alumni Association * At the College, the team also visited and observed two classes. ** At Likuni School, the team also engaged with the girls who are members of the Environmental Club in the context of a group meeting. *** The team also interacted with chiefs and community members during a site visit to the banks of the Lilongwe River and re-forestation site. A total of eight other grantees were interviewed by phone. They are listed below. Grantees interviewed by phone Name of Grantee Country Project 1 Abongha Maurice Chiabi Cameroon Micronutrients for Better Health 2 Devika Saddul Mauritius Decreasing mortality and enhancing productivity on goat farms in Mauritius for higher income 3 Eni Nigeria Enhancing independent living and of community women through economic empowerment for sustainable development in Osun State 4 Josphert Ngui Kimatu Kenya Research to identify the most aflatoxin-resistant local maize varieties reliance