Until 2017, INTRAC (the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care) had no representation of any care-leaving researchers from Africa. Nor indeed from Latin America and Asia. Through a range of interventions, Adrian van Breda (South Africa) was invited to the INTRAC meeting in Olso, Norway in September 2017, where he made the case for the inclusion of Africa in INTRAC. The green countries in the graphic below, showed the extent to which INTRAC’s footprint could be expanded by including ANCR and an well-established care-leaving network in Latin America (who also attended the Oslo meeting).

As a result of this, INTRAC agreed in principle that it needed to become more globally inclusive, and a workgroup was established to develop a proposal for how to implement this. Adrian was elected as one of the members of the workgroup, together with Rawan Ibrahim from Jordan (also part of the Global South) and three others from the Global North.

At the following meeting of INTRAC in Porto, Portugal, in October 2018, the workgroup presented their proposal, which was workshopped over a period of two days. (At this meeting, there was representation also from Asia.) With some revisions, the proposal was unanimously adopted, and INTRAC became a global network of care-leaving researchers. As a result:

1. ANCR will be affiliated to INTRAC.
2. Every care-leaving researcher in Africa can become a full member of INTRAC and participate in the Global INTRAC meetings.
3. Each African country will be permitted to elect and send ONE INTRAC member to the INTRAC Steering Group (a smaller group within INTRAC charged with leading the network). All other countries in the world will also be permitted to send ONE INTRAC member to the Steering Group, giving African countries equal opportunity to participate in these smaller meetings.
4. Adrian was elected onto the Executive Committee of INTRAC, providing African representation within the smal group of INTRAC leaders.

This is all a huge step forward for African care-leaving scholarship, giving us great opportunity to network with care-leaving scholars throughout the world, and giving us a strong voice within this global network.

ANCR thus encourages all of its members to join INTRAC. Go to their website at http://www.globalintrac.com and:

1. Click the ‘Follow‘ button on the menu on the right of the page and type in your email address. This will add you to the mailing list.
2. Click ‘Membership‘ and complete the membership application form. This will make you a member of INTRAC and add you to the listserv.
3. Click on ‘Publications‘ and upload your care-leaving publications, so that they reach a Global North audience, increasing citations to your work.
4. Click on ‘Submit Post‘ to let all INTRAC members know what research you are doing on care-leaving in your country.

All of these activities will help raise the profile of African scholarship in the international community.