GCRO researchers Yashena Naidoo and Thembani Mkhize attend third WESAF Sustainability School in Accra

From the 20th of April 2026 to the 27th of April 2026, Yashena Naidoo and Thembani Mkhize partook in the 2026 WESAF Sustainability School in Accra. The third WESAF Sustainability School revolved around equipping WESAF PhD Fellows with essential research skills and knowledge for their respective doctoral studies beyond the proposal phase as they finalised their ethics applications and readied themselves for fieldwork. The 2026 WESAF Sustainability School also aimed to provide more enlightenment to the Doctoral Fellows on Mastercard Foundation-funded work placements slated for late 2026. It also sought to afford the PhD Fellows some uninterrupted time to focus on the write-ups of their respective PhD chapters, including literature reviews.

WESAF PhD Fellows had the privilege of attending the Connected Futures Symposium: Digital Education for Sustainable Development, hosted at the University of Ghana (UG) in Legon, Accra, on the 21st of April 2026. Jointly hosted by The University of Edinburgh (UoE), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), and UG, the symposium brought together Mastercard Foundation Scholars and alumni, leaders, and partners. It offered its attendees a chance to reflect on and recognise online distance learning as more than just an alternative to in-person studying in higher education. Overall, the symposium underscored the fact that access to quality education at scale cannot be hindered by physical infrastructure and portrayed online students as an invaluable part of The University of Edinburgh’s global community, meaningfully impacting their own respective communities and beyond. Suffice it to say, the symposium also allowed the WESAF PhD Fellows to network with scholars from other Mastercard Foundation-funded online programmes.

^{WESAF PhD Fellows visit the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park}

Naidoo, Mkhize and other WESAF PhD Fellows also participated in many activities, including insightful scholarly excursions, academic communication, knowledge dissemination, and mutual learning. For one, scholarly trips to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and the Black Star (Independence) Square - both of which are located in the heart of Accra - gave the whole WESAF cohort powerful insights on history, colonisation, decolonisation, leadership, legacy, nation-building, and national(ist) heritage. Another standout moment was the WESAF PhD cohort’s visit to the UG’s Innovation and Incubation Hub, where they participated in an engaging session on key opportunities and challenges in academic innovation, particularly the commercialisation of research. The visit and the session also exposed the PhD Fellows to the Innovation Hub’s impactful work - several student-led entrepreneurial ventures that have emerged from there were presented, offering valuable insights on how universities can catalyse and support scholars’ entrepreneurship.

WESAF classroom sessions, which made up much of the 2026 Sustainability School’s programme, offered interactive spaces for engagement and meaningful discussion. At the said sessions, Fellows were able to ask questions around work placement, research methods, the Africa Charter vis-à-vis academia, decolonisation, and each other’s PhD projects. Additionally, some Fellows presented work on the social enterprises they have undertaken in their home countries and through their universities, thereby affording other Fellows opportunities to learn.

Needless to say, Naidoo and Mkhize benefited immensely from the WESAF 2026 Sustainability School. In addition to strengthening their research skills and enabling them to build networks, the experience granted them exposure to other scholars’ entrepreneurship. The lessons presented by the WESAF 2026 Sustainability School will go a long way in shaping - harnessing - their academic, entrepreneurial, and personal experiences going forward.

_{WESAF PhD Fellows and scholars from other Mastercard Foundation-funded digital programmes visit UG’s Innovation and Incubation Hub}