eBusiness Weekly
Taking Stock Kudzanai Sharara
The Global Social Mobility Index 2020 report is out and it shows most economies are failing to provide the conditions in which their citizens can thrive, often by a large margin.
The Global Social Mobility Index benchmarks 82 global economies and provides policymakers with a means to identify areas for improving social mobility and promoting equally shared opportunities in their economies, regardless of their development.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe is not one of the 82 economies that were covered. But that does not mean we cannot make use of this report and see how we would have scored had we been considered.
But first what is social mobility?
According to the World Economic Forum, Social mobility can be understood as the movement in personal circumstances either “upwards” or “downwards” of an individual in relation to those of their parents or the ability of a child to experience a better life than their parents.
Social mobility can be measured against a number of outcomes ranging from health to educational achievement and income. The Global Social Mobility Index also focuses on drivers of relative social mobility instead of outcomes. It looks at policies, practices and institutions.
These are the parameters we need to look at and see whether Zimbabwe has the right conditions to foster social mobility.
How big is Zimbabwe’s
social mobility gap?
While globalisation and the 4th Industrial Revolution have exacerbated inequalities in other countries, in Zimbabwe we could point to poor policy making and governance, corruption and misallocation of resources, weak institutions as the major drivers of inequality. In my view, the policies, practices and institutions we have had in Zimbabwe for a long time now, do not give individuals a fair chance to fulfil their potential, regardless of their socio-economic background. For most Zimbabwean their chances in life remain disproportionately influenced by their starting point — their socio-economic status at birth. This obviously exacerbates inequality in the country.
When we look at access, quality and equity in education, how would Zimbabwe rank as a country on a scale of 100? How many of its primary school age group children are out of the education system? As the WEF says, education is a powerful “equaliser” of chances. Ensuring that individuals have equal opportunities to access the best schools is essential to reviving social mobility.
How does Zimbabwe fare?
Despite a protracted economic crisis, Zimbabwe’s education might not be that bad in terms of access and quality. While Zimbabwe might not be in a perfect condition yet to close the social mobility gap, it has made strides in making sure that its children are enrolled in schools. Enrolment in primary schools rose from nearly 620 000 in 1980 to 2,7 million pupils by 2014 while the number of primary schools more than doubled from just 2 401 in 1979 to 5 863 in 2014. The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Information Technology Report ranks Zimbabwe fourth in Africa, in terms of the quality of maths and science education, subjects that are key in a world that is leaning towards 4th Industrials Revolution and or Artificial Intelligence.
But has all this helped close the social mobility gap?
There is talk that there is a disconnect between what is being taught in our education system and what is now required by industry. As a result, we have many graduates that are still unemployed or underemployed years after acquiring their qualifications. This speaks to a widening social mobility gap. We have children that have acquired masters’ degrees but still face challenges in achieving even the basic things that were achieved by their parents. Not many parents experienced the hyperinflationary environment that is prevailing now. As a result, the children are buying little less than their parents did. There are many other aspects that can be considered which clearly points to the widening social mobility gap in the area of education and employment. For example, the pupil-to-teacher ratio is still very high, across the education system.
What would Zimbabwe
score on the health
access and quality index?
According to the UN in Zimbabwe in 2008, 65 percent of health care services were provided by the public sector. However, the severe social and economic challenges since that time have resulted in an unprecedented deterioration of health care infrastructure, loss of experienced health sector personnel, and a drastic decline in the quality of health services available for the population.
Right now, key issues surrounding the health sector include failure to contain and manage the loss of health sector personnel due to unattractive retention incentives (we are even firing them); poor and unequal distribution of health workers within the sector (in 2010 there were 1,6 physicians and 7,2 nurses for every 10 000 people).
The health sector is not just a function of a building with nurses and doctors – but equipment, medicines and technology and this is a big challenge holding back Zimbabweans from doing better on the social mobility scale.
What needs to be done?
According to the Global Social Mobility Index 2020 report, the response must include a concerted effort to create new pathways to socioeconomic mobility, ensuring everyone has fair opportunities for success.
To improve the country’s social mobility score, the World Economic Forum suggests concerted action, political will and time by governments.
In terms of education, the WEF suggests more support targeted at improvements in the availability, quality and distribution of education programmes as well as a new agenda for promoting skills development throughout an individual’s working life. This includes a new approach to jointly financing such efforts between the public and private sector.
For the employed, the WEF speaks of developing a new social protection contract that would offer holistic protection to all workers irrespective of their employment status, particularly in a context of technological change and industry transitions, requiring greater support for job transitions in the coming decade.
