Accelerating the implementation of the “Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024"
PROGRAM RATIONALE
It is axiomatic that science, technology and innovation (STI) are key drivers of economic change, social transformation and environmental sustainability. Indeed, the roles of STI in sustainable development are not in dispute. There is, now, a relatively large body of academic literature and policy reports on how STI contribute to the attainment of sustainable development, and ways and means of governing STI towards sustainability. At various institutional scales and levels of governance, major efforts are being made to harness sustainable development potentials (or benefits) of STI and minimize any risks associated with the introduction and deployment of technologies, particularly new ones.
African countries have instituted a wide range of national, regional and continental initiatives for promoting and governing STI for sustainable development1. Many of these initiatives are well documented in reports such as AAS (2018)2 and UNECA et al (2016)3. At national level, many African countries have formulated and adopted policy frameworks for STI and some have established agencies dedicated to funding STI projects and programmes. By 2020, at least 25 African countries have national STI policy frameworks, and several (including Namibia, Uganda and Swaziland) are in the process of reviewing and revising their old ones. In most countries, there are parliamentary portfolio committees for STI expected to ensure that national annual expenditure budgets have allocations for STI in general and R&D in particular. These committees are also responsible for providing oversight to the implementation of national STI policy frameworks.
Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have STI protocols and programmes, and some such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have agencies or offices dedicated to STI issues or matters4. SADC adopted a protocol for STI in 2008 and the EAC established the EAC Commission on STI in 2015. Mugabe (2011) reviews the STI content or provisions in treaties establishing African RECs. He concludes: “African regional economic and trade treaties recognize the importance of STI in promoting regional integration and development. The integration of these considerations into regional agreements is informed by the understanding that individual African countries’ economies are small and unable to marshal scientific and technological resources for development. Many countries are poorly endowed with the human, physical and financial resources necessary to develop and harness knowledge and innovation for economic change and growth. Cooperation in STI is thus necessary to enable the countries to pool and share their scarce resources such as R&D infrastructure and skilled human resources.”
At the continental level, measures for promoting STI are in the 2000 Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) and various initiatives of the AU, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the AU Agency for Development (AUDA)-NEPAD and other organizations. Article 13(i) of the Constitutive Act of the AU provides, inter alia, that the Executive Council of the AU shall coordinate and make decisions on policies in the areas of science and technology that are of common interest to the member states. Article 14(d) establishes a specialized committee (i.e. Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, Energy, Natural Resources and Environment) to deal with issues of science and technology among others. The Committee’s functions include preparing AU projects and programmes dedicated to STI.
In 2014, Member States of the AU adopted the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2024) that provides overall policy directions and priority areas for investment in STI. STISA-2024 is the overarching policy and programmatic framework with strategic measures for promoting STI to attain Africa’s aspiration in Agenda 2063 and the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Its mission is to “Accelerate Africa’s transition to an innovation-led, Knowledge-based Economy” by: (a) “[i]mproving STI readiness in Africa in terms of infrastructure, professional and technical competence, and entrepreneurial capacity”; and “[i]mplementing specific policies and programs in science, technology and innovation that address societal needs in a holistic and sustainable way.” The strategy articulates six priorities and interrelated specific objectives.
Progress in implementing STISA-2024 and related national STI policy frameworks is generally slow. This is manifested in the few programmatic initiatives dedicated to the strategy, low levels of investment in STI (most African countries have not attained the 1% of GDP Gross Expenditure on R&D), relatively slow progress in establishing the African Science, Technology and Innovation Fund and launching programmes such as the ones to implement pharmaceutical manufacturing for Africa plan. Africa’s contribution to the global pool of scientific knowledge and innovations is relatively low. Efforts to implement effectively implement the strategy are limited by low levels of knowledge of and information on STISA-2024, low levels of policy literacy, weak STI policy analysis capacity, insufficient monitoring, evaluation and accountability, and inadequate budgets for STISA-2024 implementation at national, regional and continental levels.
In response to AU Member States’ request to help build capacity for accelerating the implementation of STISA-2024, and spur efforts to leverage STI to address contemporary challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNECA and the AU Commission (AUC) are developing virtual training course on STI for Africa’s development. The course is being designed to build and mobilize skills to analyse, formulate, monitor, evaluate and implement policies, programmes and projects for implementing STISA-2024 and related national and regional priorities in Africa. The course on ‘Accelerating the implementation of the “Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024) in the COVID-19 pandemic’ will be offered to senior to middle level officials in governments and inter-governmental agencies. Representatives of national and regional science academies and funding agencies, and if possible representatives of carefully selected civil society and private sector groups may be included in or eligible to participate in the course.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The proposed training course is being designed on the premise (or informed by) that literacy in and analytical skills for STI policy are in low or very short supply in Africa. Decision-makers in many African countries do not have adequate understanding of STISA-2024 and lack skills (as well as informational resources) to design, analyse and implement STI policies and related programmes to achieve priorities articulated in the strategy. The training course’s specific objectives are to:
- a) Build decision-makers’ understanding of STISA-2024, its historical origins, rationale and objectives, and ways and means of implementing at national levels to stimulate and impact on socio-economic transformation;
- b) Enhance decision-makers’ knowledge of and skills in methodological approaches to developing, reviewing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating STI policies and impacts of STI for sustainable development at local, sectorial and national levels;
- c) Provide decision-makers with relevant conceptual tools or analytical frameworks for designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating STI policies and strategies.
- d) Expose African decision-makers to international best practices in STI policy design and governance.
The course will be designed and delivered in interactive and participatory ways. Using co-production approaches, participants will feed into and evaluate modules, themes and delivery modalities. For example, selected prospective participants will to requested to comment on themes and some may be asked specific questions (using emails or telephone calls) about their countries’ and/or institutional capacity needs in STI policy, and priorities and needs in implementing STISA-2024.
The course will be delivered through interactive online sessions including virtual lectures (e.g. Blackboard/BBC or Webinar), focused small group discussions and a final seminar on accelerating the implementation of STISA-2024. Prior to the online lectures, participants will be expected to read recommended literature (including STISA-2024 and related AU decisions and carefully selected papers on STI in Africa) and prepare a 1,000 words outline of emerging issues and questions.