Staff Aging and Turnover in Agricultural R&D: Lessons from Five National

Agricultural Research Institutes in Africa

ASTI-IFPRI / FARA conference Accra, GhanaDecember 5–7, 2011

Louis Sène Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA), Dakar

Outline

Introduction Methodology Distribution of Scientists by age and degree Attrition of scientists

Reasons for leaving the NARI Number of scientists that retired or resigned as a % of total R&D capacity

Lessons learned and recommendations Reasons for dissatisfaction and areas for improvement General recommendations Country-specific recommendations

Methodology A study conducted in five countries focusing on human

resource challenges in agricultural R&D (aging, attrition and retention) : Burkina Faso Environment and Agricultural Research Institute (INERA) Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA) South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council (ARC) Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI)

A standardized questionnaire collecting HR info for 2001-2010 was disseminated to these 5 agencies.

The analysis of the ensuing data resulted in a series of recommendations

Distribution of Scientists by Age and Gender

ARC ISRA

KARI ZARI

23-2930-3435-3940-4445-4950-5455-5960-72

50 30 10 10 30 50

Female Male

Age

cat

-eg

orie

s

Number of re-searchers

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

140 105 70 35 0 35 70 105 140

Female Male

Age

cat

e-go

ries

Number of re-searchers

27-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40

Female Male

Age

cat

e-go

ries

Number of re-searchers

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

28 21 14 7 0 7 14 21 28

Female Male

Age

cat

e-go

ries

Number of re-searchers

Distribution of Scientists by Age and Degree

ARC ISRA

KARI ZARI

23-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-72

0

5

10

15

20

25

BSc MSc PhD

Shar

e of

res

earc

hers

(%

) (%

)

Age 25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

Total0

10

20

30

40

50

60

MSc PhD

Share of researchers (%)

(%)

Age

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

0

10

20

30

40

50

BSc MSc PhD

Shar

e of

res

earc

hers

(%

) (%

)

Age27-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

BSc MSc PhD

Shar

e of

res

earc

hers

(%

)

Age

Attrition of Scientists

ISRA KARI ZARI0

20

40

60

80

100

Retirement Death Resignation Transfer/leave

Shar

es o

f de

part

ed s

cien

tists

(%

)

Reasons for leaving the NARI, 2001-10 average

Number of retiring / resigning scientists as a % of total number of scientists

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100

2

4

6

8

10

12

ISRA KARI ZARI

Shar

e of

ret

ired

sci

entis

ts (

%)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100

2

4

6

8

10

12

ISRA KARI ZARI

Shar

e of

res

igne

d sc

ient

ists

(%

)

Retiring Resigning

Lessons learned and recommendations

Reasons for dissatisfaction and areas for improvement

■ ARC: low salary levels (38%) poor working conditions (16%) no clear reason given (29%)

■ INERA: lack of training opportunities limited career opportunities low salary levels (and allowances) poor working conditions

■ ISRA: limited career opportunities (55%) low salary levels (31%) lack of mentoring and poor working conditions (13%) lack of government recognition (1%)

Reasons for dissatisfaction and areas for improvement (cont’d)

■ KARI: low salary levels (23%) lack of career opportunities (13%) lack of training opportunities (11%) poor working conditions (8%)

■ ZARI: Incentives mentioned:- need for a personal loans policy (35%)

- better training opportunities (24%) - Accommodation, opportunities for promotion,

improved salary levels, provision of insurance (6% to 10% each)

General recommendations■ Increase the ratio scientists / other staff (by hiring qualified

scientists and by offering training opportunities to junior scientist)

■ Boost salary levels to maintain current capacity and attract

future capacity

■ Increase of the overall number of female scientists

■ Need for the establishment and the implementation of comprehensive training and rejuvenation plan for agricultural scientists

General recommendations (cont’d)

■ Maximize R&D capacity through enhanced national and international partnerships (e.g. WAAPP, EAAPP)

■ Improve scientists retention policies (salaries, training and performance assessment);

■ Extend case studies to other SSA countries to enable comparison between NARIs.

Country-specific recommendations

Topic ARC INERA ISRA KARI ZARI1. Gender equity

Reasonable Raise female share from 12 to 20 % by 2020

Raise female rate share from 20 to 40 % by 2020

Raise female share from 30 to 40 % by 2020

Raise female share from 19 to 29 % by 2020

2. Age distribution

Lower departure of those with 11 to 15 years of experience.

Lower average scientist age from 55 to 40 by 2020

Lower average scientist age from 50 to 40 by 2020

Lower average scientist age from 45 to 40 by 2020

Maintain current average scientist age of 39 by 2020

3. Retirement age

Good Good Extend it from 60 to 65 years by 2012

Good Extend it from 55 to 65 years by 2013

4. Attrition Reduce turnover rate of scientists from 17 to 8 % by 2015

Not available Reduce its turnover rate from 18 to 8 % by 2015

Maintain current turnover rate

Maintain current turnover rate

5. Recruitment Increase recruitment of PhD scientists

Increase recruitment of PhD scientists

Establish a 10-year recruitment plan

Enroll sufficient number young PhD-holderscientists

Increase recruitment of PhD scientists

Topic ARC INERA ISRA KARI ZARI6.Remuneration package

Sensitize government to improve salaries of scientists .

Increase salaries especially for scientists

Lobby the government for approving the new ISRA rules and regulations

Make the remuneration package more competitive

7. Performance appraisal and reward

Resume performance appraisal system, but include more effective rewards

Initiate an internal scientist performance evaluation, adapted to local research demand

Reward the best scientists resulting in the performance evaluation

Maintain current effective system example for other countries

Establish a performance appraisal system

8. Training policies

Extend the Professional Development Program to new young scientists

Establish a training plan based on a training need

Improve the process by sensitizing the research mangers

Maintain current efficient system; example for other countries

Detach ZARI’s training plan from the overall public service plan

Thank you for your attention