AARHub in UCT's Sustainability and the SDGs Report

We are delighted for the Centre for Social Science Research's Adolescent Accelerators Research Hub (AARHub) to be featured in the University of Cape Town's (UCT) Sustainability and the SDGs 2021 report, under the Advancing Afrika section (3). They invite you to enjoy a look back and celebrate UCT's  research achievements across fields and borders during the past year.

The Sustainability and the SDGs 2021 report covers a large swathe of the SDG-focused research, innovation and knowledge translation happening at UCT. It is by no means comprehensive. This report reaffirms how much of our work covers not just one but many SDGs, and the multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary work that has enabled us to achieve success in both new knowledge and its translation.

 

Accelerating healthy development of Africa’s adolescents

The United Kingdom Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI GCRF) Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents (Accelerate) Hub aims to generate evidence identifying development accelerators that – alone and in synergy with one another – can support adolescents in Africa to reach multiple SDGs. Including SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 2 Zero Hunger, SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing, SGD 4 Quality Education, SDG 5 Gender Equality, SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities, SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals.

In 2021 the hub provided evidence that shaped social protection policies affecting millions of young people and families. Their work, in close partnership with policymakers in South Africa and UN agencies – such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme –  is documented in the UNICEF Innocenti Beyond Masks report.

“When we started the hub in 2019, our five year goal was to reach 20 million children and adolescents in Africa with accelerator services. In the two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, our hub has reached over 210 million families in 198 countries and territories.” – Dr Elona Toska, UCT lead of the UKRI GCRF Accelerate Hub and Director of the Adolescent Accelerators Research Hub