New KAS-research assistant Jördis Bunse introduces herself
Hereby, I would like to introduce myself as the new research assistant at the office of the KonradAdenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in Cape Town. I am currently studying at the University of Munich,
Germany where I graduated in English and Spanish (M.A.) this spring. During the upcoming term I
will finalize my supplementary subject, namely social sciences. I am delighted about the
opportunity to gain practical experience and an insight into the ways in which the KonradAdenauer-Stiftung (KAS) contributes to the promotion of democracy here in South Africa.
Following the close results of South Africa’s recent municipal elections in August, the country is currently facing
dramatic changes in its political landscape. The one-party dominant system with the African National Congress
(ANC) taking the lead seems to crumble. Therefore, it interests me to see how the transformation towards more
coalition governments will be achieved. Besides this highly topical issue, I am very much interested in the support
and education of young people. Numerous KAS projects, such as the Discourse Café series, the “White Rose”
project or the Youth Employment Enterprise & Skills Summit (YESS) are specifically designed to target young
South African’s and aim to engage them in discussions around socio-political issues and make their voices
heard.
According to the national statistical service „Statistics SA“, almost 30% of the South African people are younger
than fifteen years. In contrast to industrialized countries such as Germany where low birth rates and a rising life
expectancy poses the challenge of an “old population”, South Africa enjoys a great demographical potential, often
referred to as a “demographic dividend”. In order for the country to make full use of this potential, the education
sector needs to be enhanced. In the course of the past two decades, the ANC-government did not manage to
keep its election promise in terms of better education for all. The distribution of pass rates as well as tertiary
qualifications still mirror the social inequalities between the country’s black and white population. The fact that the
schooling system is in a crisis is further underlined by global rakings in which South Africa is regularly among the
1
worst performers. This situation may also be attributed to the poor training of teachers.
In 2014 my attention was drawn to the KAS during an internship in the German Bundestag in Berlin. Last year I
already had the opportunity to carry out a research project in the KAS office in Mexico City, where I gained some
first valuable insights into the work of the foundation. Therefore, it is now very interesting for me to see on the
one hand in how far the work of the KAS is similar on the different continents and on the other in how far it adapts
to the specific conditions of each place. I am happy to take the chance at KAS to make a personal contribution to
the enhancement of democracy in South Africa by assisting in organising socio-political events and by conducting
political research.
1
cf. school performance studies such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) or
the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), URL: http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/ (Accessed:
23.08.2016)