Africa
Over the past decade, UNESCO has intensified its actions in Africa to strengthen national science, technology and innovation (STI) systems with the overall aim of improving STI systems and governance in the region.
Between 2008 and 2011, UNESCO ran a number of sub-regional workshops in Africa to build capacity in STI policy reviews.
These workshops were part of an assessment conducted by UNESCO on the status of STI policies in Africa, within the African Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Initiative (ASTIPI). The ultimate aim is to accompany countries in developing or revising their national STI policies. In this context, UNESCO has been accompanying a number of African countries in revising their STI policies, including Botswana, Congo and Tanzania.
From 2008 to 2010, a project for Capacity Building and support for STI policies in Central Africa supported key trainings in the sub-region. Enlarging the geographical and financial scope of this first initiative, a second project entitled "Capacity Building for STI policy in Africa", run from 2011 to December 2014 providing technical assistance in response to the official requests of 21 Sub-Saharan African countries: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Congo, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. For this project, UNESCO received financial support from the Spanish Government, through the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID). The follow-up project “Support to the development of legal frameworks, policy instruments and governing bodies for the effective implementation of national Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies in Africa”, has allowed UNESCO to further advance four important STI policy projects in Africa.
To continue to respond to requests by countries, extra outcomes non-planned in the original project proposal have been produced, the most important being the completion and validation of the Global Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Instruments (GO-SPIN) surveys in 11 African countries and the publication of the country profiles of Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
- Examples of UNESCO’s capacity-building projects in Africa
- Assessment of the Status of African Science and Technology Policy Formulation
- Development of Common African STI Indicators
- UN S&T Cluster in support of the African Union Consolidated Plan of Action for Science and Technology
- East/North Africa Regional Science, Technology & Innovation Policy Reviews Workshop
- West African Regional Capacity Building workshop in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and Statistics
- Regional workshop for STI policy review in Central Africa
Countries
News
- Green technologies a focus of innovation in Morocco, 10 November 2016
- Rwanda integrating environmental protection in its growth strategy, 07 November 2016
- Africa has begun the transition to sustainable development, 8 March 2016
- Opportunity beckons for Africa’s agricultural sector, 9 February 2016
- Rabat to host the Second African Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation, 2014
- Promoting Women in Science in Africa, 26 September 2013
- First Africa Forum on STI for Youth Employment, Human Capital Development and Inclusive Growth, 2012
- Ensuring African women scientists and engineers get the chance to contribute to growth, 21 July 2012
- A training course in science, technology and innovation policy, 9 February 2012
- Building capacity in STI policy in West and East Africa in 2010-2011, October 2011
- Creation of the African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation, 13 March 2009
- Southern African Development Community Workshop on STI Policy Review, 27 September 2008
- Creation of a pilot science park in Africa, 2008
- Launch of the African Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Initiative, October 2007
Articles and Publications on the Region
UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030 - West Africa (pdf)
(Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo)
UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030 - East and Central Africa (pdf)
(Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Republic of), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda)
UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030 - Southern Africa (pdf)
(Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
UNESCO Science Report, 2015
Africa lucid as to path ahead (pdf)
Experts from 40 countries trained in STI indicators (pdf)
A World of Science, Vol. 10, No. 3, July-September 2012
Africa commits to research (pdf)
A World of Science, Vol. 5, No. 2, April-June 2007
Ten years to develop centres of excellence in Africa (pdf)
A World of Science, Vol. 3, No. 4, October-December 2005
Africa vows to step up investment in R&D (pdf)
A World of Science, Vol. 2, No. 1, January-March 2004