Alison Gillwald has worked for numerous research bodies in the information and communications technology (ICT) arena, as well as establishing her own. She oversees training for ICT researchers and regulators at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business. She flies around the world to influence policy-makers in numerous countries. She's served on the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and as a councillor with Satra, the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
Hang on a second; she's served the squabbling SABC and the much-derided Satra? Is this perhaps a woman with some history she doesn't care to brag about?
Gillwald admits that her spells with the SABC and Satra were not among life's finest hours. “The outcomes of my time at those institutions are not as I'd have wished them to be,” she says. “But the outcomes are collective. You only have so much influence.”
She points the finger at the political structure that allowed a political veto on regulatory decisions and appointments based on party loyalty.
Infringement
“In the early days, competent people with party credentials were appointed to those posts and even if they didn't have the technical expertise, they had enough gravitas to prevent infringement of the powers by the Ministry. I'm not being naive, but there have been weak appointments and an increasing 'juniorisation' of these critical sectoral institutions like the Regulator, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee and the Ministry.”
Many positive things came from her work within those bodies, she says, but the work required an institutional culture, capacity and mechanisms the bodies just didn't have. They still don't, because civil service posts need to be filled by people who strive to obtain the correct qualities and qualifications, she says, not by people who see it as the last resort when they can't get a job elsewhere.
Asked if she would go back, Gillwald says: “To put yourself back into something that is demonstrably dysfunctional seems a bit counter-productive when you can be more productive outside.”
Yet that leaves a cloud of frustration over her research work, since so many smart ideas are debated at colloquiums or in white papers, and then just ignored. Her voice is heard more outside the country than in the country, she says, but the successes abroad encourage her to believe she has a contribution to make here too. Then she smiles and says: “I'm very aware of being old and grumpy and cynical.”
Space in Gillwald's diary is a scarce commodity, and we have an hour to chat between back-to-back meetings scheduled on a brief visit to Johannesburg from her home in Cape Town. She warns me she speaks so quickly that interpreters have left their booths in exasperation because they can't keep up. Perhaps they were also confused by her beautiful but long and twisted sentences, as she tries to express all the different ideas formulating in her head.
Gillwald looks quite intimidating too, immaculately groomed and a fraction ferocious with her serious specs, but softened by dangly earrings, a chunky necklace and an easy laugh.
This is the outcome of a real lack of vision and lack of direction. We have a decade to make up for.
Alison Gillwald, Research ICT Africa
She is currently the executive director of Research ICT Africa, a think-tank that contributes to ICT policy and regulation development in many African countries. “All the projects we are doing are collecting data or conducting research and analysis to try to make governments and regulatory bodies more effective,” she says.
Research ICT Africa has been funded by Canada's International Development Research Council for years, but the recession is threatening that cash. Critical research will end if the funds dry up, inflicting sleepless nights. “I'm not a good sleeper. I don't have time to go to bed sometimes and I wake up a lot worrying about things. You wonder if this fabulous work that's been done for a decade stops now,” she says.
Ill-advised policies
Without accurate information about the market, policies can be made that are out of kilter with what people want or can afford or are doing already. “So you might be planning e-subsidies for schools that are already connected anyway through ordinary market mechanisms or through their mobile phones,” she explains.
The state is not fleet of foot to deal with this kind of stuff. Developmental stuff requires a very capable state.
Alison Gillwald, Research ICT Africa
South Africa is all too familiar with ill-advised policies that have allowed numerous other African countries to overtake it in the cost, availability and quality of ICT services.
“It's extremely frustrating to gather this evidence to demonstrate what is not working and why, only for things to be repeated. You do feel like you should just give up and go farming. It could be less risky and more productive,” she jokes. “But there have been a number of windows of opportunity that when you are about to throw up your hands in despair, you hope this might at last be the time to reap the rewards of the resources, time and energy that have gone into it.”
When Research ICT Africa was launched, SA was at the top of many ICT indicators, but has slid down steadily ever since. Her researchers recently completed a survey into prepaid mobile pricing in 47 countries, and SA ranked about 30th. “We know why this is the case. We know the market structure is flawed, and we know there's not been effective regulation. We can look at what's happened and conclude that ICT has fallen off the national agenda. This is the outcome of a real lack of vision and lack of direction. We have a decade to make up for.”
South Africa suffered a moribund period under communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, whose reign held up the market and hindered technology developments, Gillwald says. Since then, there have been three ministers for the sector, indicating the lack of importance the government places on it.
It's a shame Gillwald didn't go into politics so she could introduce the changes her research shows the need for, I suggest. She's never been in formal politics, she says, and hasn't been a card-carrying member of the ANC for years. “Like many people, it's very painful to see where we are now. I don't say that naively. I didn't think it was going to be easy, but there's no longer a national project. It's very sad. But, on the other hand, there's still this commitment to make things right.”
A central problem is the poor cadre deployment technique used by the ANC to fill political posts. Although cadre deployment happens worldwide, here there seems to be no attempt to find comrades with skills even vaguely suitable for their positions.
When cadre deployment trumps competency, it becomes a problem, she says. The ICT sector demands strong technocratic skills and policies that encourage large-scale, long-term investments in infrastructure. Yet it must also be dynamic, and that requires a well-regulated, competitive market. “The state is not fleet of foot to deal with this kind of stuff. Developmental stuff requires a very capable state.”
Privilege
Gillwald has had offers to join the private sector but her heart lies in the public domain. “I don't know if it's altruism, it's more a kind of public spiritedness. The work I do is very interesting. It's frustrating, but it's an incredible privilege to contribute to realising a lot of the dreams of a democratic, strongly growing developing country. I engage with some of the finest minds all over the world and some remarkable people on the continent, and through them I know this can be fixed.”
Her age and grumpiness are particularly evident when she is flying around the world in economy class, she says, and excessive travel leaves little time for her hobbies of reading and watching movies. She tries to spend as much time as she can with her daughters, one in Cape Town and one currently teaching in Hong Kong to fund her studies at the London School of Economics.
Gillwald says she likes to think she was a devoted mother despite her hectic work schedule, but jokes that her daughters grew into the most remarkable women in spite of her, rather than because of her.
She is too reserved to talk much more about her private life. “I like to do public interest work but I don't like to be in the public eye. Actually, the person is quite boring,” she laughs.
Gillwald says she can't possibly afford to retire, and with her children grown up, that would be unthinkable anyway. “There is still a lot of work to be done,” she says. “We have a terrible dearth of PhD graduates and there's a real contribution to be made in developing a high-level research capacity. We certainly need to grow policy intellectuals to improve the rigor and quality of our policies.”
And yes, she adds, it would be wonderful if the policy-makers actually listened to the research being produced.
First published in the September 2012 issue of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine.
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