Annual Report 2017

On behalf of the Directors of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), I am pleased to present the ATPS’s Annual Report for 2017. The report presents a summary of ATPS’s efforts in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) research, policy and practice as well as the financial position of the organization for the period 01 January 2017 to 31 December 2017. Read more

Annual Report 2015

On behalf of the Directors of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), I am pleased to present the ATPS’s Annual Report for 2013. The report presents a summary of ATPS’s efforts in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) research, policy and practice as well as the financial position of the organization for the period 01 January 2015 to 31 December 2015. Read more

Annual Report 2014

On behalf of the Directors of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), I am pleased to present the ATPS’s Annual Report for 2013. The report presents a summary of ATPS’s efforts in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) research, policy and practice as well as the financial position of the organization for the period 01 January 2014 to 31 December 2014. Read more

Annual Report 2013

On behalf of the Directors of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), I am pleased to present the ATPS’s Annual Report for 2013. The report presents a summary of ATPS’s efforts in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) research, policy and practice as well as the financial position of the organization for the period 01 January 2013 to 31 December 2013. Read more

Annual Report 2012

On behalf of the directors of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), I am pleased to introduce the ATPS’s Annual Report for 2012. The report presents a summary of ATPS’s efforts in Science Technology and Innovation capacity building as well as the financial position of the organisation for the period 01 January 2012 to 31 December 2012. The report has been organised according to the strategic priority focus areas and the objectives contained int he ATPS Phase VI Strategic Plan and the Annual Work plan of the year.  Read More

2011

The Chairman’s Statement

It gives me pleasure to introduce the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) Annual Report for the year 2011.

This report presents a summary update of the STI capacity building activities and financial position of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) Secretariat for the period 01 January 2011 to 31 December 2011. The report is organized under the strategic objectives outlined in the ATPS Annual Work plan for the period 01 January – 31 December 2011.

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2010

Message from the Executive Director

The year 2010 marked 10 years since the birth of a new and autonomous African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS). In 2000, ATPS embarked on a new mission as an independent African Network focused on Science Technology and Innovation for sustainable development. It is therefore a critical juncture in the ATPS Network’s evolution as we reflect on the gains made so far and strategize on how to capitalize on these gains and overcome our challenges in order to fulfill our key mandate of knowledge brokerage and generation of new and innovative policies that are action-oriented towards poverty reduction and Africa’s global inclusion.

This report presents a summary of the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) capacity building activities and fundraising activities and financial position of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) for the period 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2010. The report also highlights the key achievements and challenges faced by the ATPS Secretariat during the reporting period.  Full Report

2009 Annual Report

Message from the Executive Director

This report presents a summary of the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) capacity building activities of ATPS for the period 01 January 2009 to 31 December 2009. In line with its vision, ATPS has continued to act as an STI knowledge broker amongst key actors from the quadruple helix (experts in academic institutions and other knowledge communities, policy makers, the private sector actors and the civil society) in the continent to deliberate on and prioritize Africa’s response to global challenges. 

Through the STI capacity building activities carried out in the year 2009, the ATPS network members and stake holders had the opportunity to share their experiences and knowledge whilst raising Africa’s perspectives on STI capacity development needs (knowledge basis and infrastructure; knowledge circulation and networks; knowledge conditions and policies) to ensure effective valorization of science and technology into innovations for African development. This report is organized under the topics of thematic and non-thematic (facilitative) priorities of the ATPS Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012.These include:

   1. Thematic Research and Research Capacity Building;

   2. International Cooperation and Partnerships;

   3. Youth and Gender Empowerment;

   4. STI Training and Sensitisation;

   5. STI Communication and Stakeholder Dialogue; and;

   6. STI Outreach, Knowledge Brokerage, Knowledge Circulation and Policy Dialogue.

The report also presents a brief summary of the continued governance reforms undertaken by ATPS to strengthen its capacity to achieve the strategic objectives of its Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012.

The report also presents a brief summary of the continued governance reforms undertaken by ATPS to strengthen its capacity to achieve the strategic objectives of its Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012. The ATPS launched several new thematic and facilitative programs in 2009. They include: The Climate Sense Program (CSP);the Women Innovation Challenge (WE CAN) Program and an interim steering committee for the Phase VI program – African Women Forum for Science and Technology (AWFST); The Youth Innovation Challenge (Y I CAN) Program under the auspices of the ATPS African Youth Forum for Science and Technology (AYFST); anew regional program on Strengthening National Intellectual Property Rights Policy and Legal Frameworks in Eastern and Southern Africa – Traditional knowledge (TK) Access and benefit Sharing for effective IP systems;Agricultural Innovations for Climate Change Adaptation; Indigenous and Emerging Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation, etc.

A number of small grants and regional studies on selected STI policy priorities of member country chapters were also commissioned during the period. These include: two regional grants on Agricultural Innovations for Climate Change Adaptation; ten small grants case studies on Indigenous and Emerging Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation;and four national case studies on intellectual property rights. In 2009, the ATPS strengthened her role as a knowledge broker and policy advocate on several subjects, providing training and policy support services to several stakeholders including Parliamentarians, and heads of relevant State institutions, researchers and university networks, as well as private sector networks in the continent.

Notable amongst the training andpolicy support services provided in 2009, are a sensitisation workshop for Parliamentarians of the Republic of Kenya and the training of relevant ministries and state agencies in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, leading tothe launch of the National System of Innovation (NSI) Steering Committee to foster innovation through inter-ministerial and inter-agency collaboration inthe Federal Republic of Nigeria. These activities were amongst the strategic policy engagements of the ATPS in 2009 with significant impacts on policy direction on the related subjects. ATPS also forged strategic partnerships with several state institutions and international organisations with global mandates in STI related subjects including, the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP), UNESCO, British Council (BC), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-EARPO),and other key national state institutions such as National Councils for S&T; University Commissions; regional University Networks and Private Sector Networks. Most of these partnerships are guided by Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and have enhanced ATPS’s capacity for effective knowledge brokerage, knowledge valorisation and policy advocacy both in Africa and globally.

The period also saw the ATPS expand its donor base with ten grants received during the period from previous and new donor partners. In addition to the support towards the implementation of the ATPS Phase VI Plan received from the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Royal Dutch Government in April, 2009;the Rockefeller Foundation, Welcome Trust, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the United Nations Environment Program, and UNESCO are amongst key supporters of ATPS activities during the year.

Through the support of donor partners, ATPS was able to implement most of its planned STI capacity building activities during the period. The period saw the demand for ATPS’s STI capacity building and knowledge-sharing activities expand both in terms of scale and geographic coverage as African countries strove to respond to the triple challenges of the global financial crisis, global poverty and global climate change.Therefore, much remains to be done in 2010 and onwards as demand increases and bilateral interests on the continent by developed and emerging economies such as China and India grows. ATPS therefore welcomes more support from the long-standing international partners and other partners who have an interest in“building Africa’s STI capacity today for sustainable development tomorrow”.

STI is much needed now, more than ever. The triple challenges of climate change, global financial crisis and persistent global poverty are interlinked and mutually exacerbating. It is time that we act collectively and do things differently to address this elusive challenge. The shape and form of the “goal post for sustainable development” is ever changing. We can no longer pride ourselves in specialization and division of labour which shaped disciplinary research over the past decades, or even pretend that good science alone can achieve development. The increase in the number of Nobel Prize awards in Economics and the proliferation of Wall Street Experts in globalization and free market principles could not prevent the global financial crisis, neither has the proliferation of special science expertise in poverty alleviation reduced the population of world citizens living in absolute poverty, especially in Africa. While good science and disciplinary specialization remain important for in-depth understanding of phenomena, and in fact, are indispensable in evidence based policy-making, the systemic and dynamic nature of the challenges we face means that trans-disciplinary approaches, systems thinking and innovation must be taken more seriously than before. Recent work by the ATPS and European and Indian partners on socialization of science and technology in Africa, Europe and India points to evidence that “Innovation does not happen in the mainstream but through the interaction amongst key actors in the innovation system, including policy-makers, science experts, private sector actors and the civil society(including rural communities). We have branded this relationship as the“quadruple helix” and the DNA for development. “Multi-lateral collaboration breeds innovation, while binomial relationships lead to knowledge dependence”.

The period also saw the consolidation and strengthening of the ATPS secretariat staff base and the rotation/renewal and strengthening of ATPS’s Board. Prof Samuel Wangwe tookover as the Chair of the Board and new Board Committees were formed. New board members representing relevant state institutions, the academia and the private sector were also appointed.

Finally, I want to express my deepest appreciation to the ATPS Board, ATPS secretariat staff, National Coordinators, the network membership, our donors and all our stakeholders for all their efforts. We look forward to receiving your continued support in 2010.

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2008 Annual Report

Science & Technology and Innovations for African Development

Message from the Executive Director

My first full year as Executive Director of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) has been both busy and exciting. If I had to sum up the year in one word, it would be “eventful.” New challenges have come our way in at both global and continental scales. The year saw phenomenal rise in food and energy prices, exacerbation of climate change impacts on many African countries and the deepening of the global financial crisis. Together these deepened the incidences of poverty, poor health conditions, water scarcity, depletion of biodiversity and natural ecosystem resources on the continent. Invariably, these increased Africa’s challenge of attaining the UN Millennium Development Goals and national development targets set by many countries for the reporting period. Despite these and other institutional challenges, ATPS has continued to make positive changes in the lives of communities through building science technology and innovation (STI) capacity today for sustainable development tomorrow. The significant reform of the ATPS institutional governance procedures carried out during the year has also further positioned the ATPS as the Pan-African Centre of Excellence and reference for STI policy research and policy practice on the continent. The core approaches of trans-disciplinarity, systems thinking and innovation through collaboration espoused by the ATPS during the period has led to significant strengthening of the existing STI knowledge clusters in Africa and beyond. There is an air of optimism that Africa will adapt to increasing climatic changes and weather the global financial storm through Science, technology and Innovation.

The year 2008 saw the launch of the ATPS Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012. The five year Strategic Plan which was commenced on January 2008, has adopted a forward looking and ambitious agenda. During the implementation of the ATPS Phase VI Plan, ATPS will continue to close the loop through four interrelated functions:

1. Knowledge Generation (Research & Training);
2. Knowledge Brokerage (Stakeholder Dialogue, Knowledge Circulation and Networking);
3. Knowledge Dissemination & Outreach (Publications, STI Journalism, Policy Advocacy);
4. Knowledge Valorization – (Innovation Incubation and Challenge Programs, etc).

ED’s Message:
“We understand that what Africa needs is not charity, but a chance to develop its own entrepreneurial and industrial capacity through science technology and innovation. Our comparative advantage stems from the recognition that the way out poverty in Africa lies in creating opportunities for people to reap the socioeconomic benefit of STI.”

The achievements in this annual report illustrate the first steps taken by the ATPS to bridge the science, technology and innovation policy gaps in Africa during the Phase Vi implementation period. The stories paint a vivid picture of how ATPS builds effective bridges between the quadruple helix: the research communities, the governance sectors, the private sectors and the civil society to enhance innovation capacities and cultures for African development. It is our firm belief that Africa can address its development challenges in a changing global knowledge economy through home grown STI capacities in Africa, by Africans for African development. The requisite skills, knowledge structures and natural resources required to leapfrog development in Africa abounds, but the continent is still mired in poverty due to lack of capacity in science, technology and innovation on the one hand, and lack of coordination, cooperation and collaboration amongst the different actors in the quadruple helix. The ATPS has therefore worked with its partners to build innovation through collaboration during the year ended and will continue to do so in the coming years.

ATPS is continuously evolving its programs to take advantage of emerging challenges of climate change, global economic meltdown and poverty as new opportunities for mainstreaming STI in the fabrics of development policy planning in Africa. These challenges are mutually exacerbating and ad hoc measures to address them unilaterally, through, for instance, economic incentives will lead to unsustainable solutions, and hence cause further shocks in the global system of innovation. The ATPS has therefore continued to respond to these challenges through trans-disciplinary and systems approaches to STI policy planning and advocacy. The year therefore saw the commencement of the initial consultations for the launch of the initiative to develop a manifesto for science, technology and innovation for Africans, by Africa, in Africans by the ATPS and its partners in Africa, Europe and India. The manifesto would document the African voice regarding the core principles and procedures for STI in Africa that will be fully embedded in African histories, its cultures and socio-ecological realities.

In other words, it will create a vision for full democratic governance and socialization of STI for Africa, in Africa, by Africans.  As scientific and technological research and research ethics continue to undergo various forms of socialization in the growing global knowledge economy, the ATPS believes that the only way to develop Africa is to help African countries build robust institutions and governance structures, and also build a critical mass of expertise in STI. African countries must wake up to the challenge of advancing their own context specific research and policy agenda while taking into cognizance the fast growing global knowledge economy. We must learn to learn from the experiences of those who have gone the way of development before us, and learn to share and celebrate the many good practice and achievements recorded on the continent in the past decade. As the saying goes, “he, who started cooking before you, will have more broken pots”. We must therefore learn not to re-invent the wheels of development and at the same time, build sustainable platforms for innovation on the continent. We must learn to upscale tacit knowledge held by our communities and add value to them through proper codification and establishment of relevant knowledge appropriation strategies.

Our work through national chapters in 23 countries has helped define and prioritize local research and policy priorities, and in liaison with relevant stakeholders, build dynamic response strategies. With an expansion plan in place to cover the entire sub-Saharan Africa by 2012, the ATPS Phase VI Strategy places emphasis on measures to build on the capacities of the existing National Chapters to inform and influence STI policy in the respective countries and at the continental level. The reforms carried out in 2008 have identified specific measures to strengthen the linkages with and involvement of key STI regional institutions and national government agencies in the work of the ATPS. Measures to strengthen collaboration with and support to the African Union’s New Partnership for African Development (AU/NEPAD) initiatives on science, technology and innovation as well as other regional and pan-African initiatives have been mapped out.

We understand that what Africa needs is not charity, but  support to develop its own governance, entrepreneurial and industrial capacity through science technology and innovation. Our comparative advantage stems from the recognition that the way out poverty in Africa lies in creating opportunities for people to reap the socioeconomic benefits of STI. We also understand that in Africa’s complex realities, unidirectional efforts to address Africa’s multi-faceted development challenges without building a critical mass in STI for development may be unsuccessful. I therefore call on African Governments and our Development Partners to kindly support our efforts to build STI Capacity today for sustainable African development tomorrow.

As countries grapple with the effects of the global financial crisis, there is an unprecedented need for renewed commitment to strengthening STI capacities in Africa. The effects of the financial crisis will no doubt continue to exert pressure on African Governments in 2009 and in the short and medium terms. ActionAid predicts that African economies will lose up to 49 billion dollars by the end of 2009. This shock to the already fragile economies and ecosystems in African countries may have significant domino effects on global sustainability through deforestation, biodiversity loss, increased poverty and resource wars, insecurity etc. With the financial crisis expected to reduce Development Aid and grants for STI programs, there is a real risk that the few advances already made in some African counties through STI capacity building over the recent years, might be jeopardized. I would therefore like to call upon our donors and friends not to waver in their support for our STI capacity building programs especially during this time of financial stagnation. There is still a lot of ground to be covered and if we continue working together we can contribute to sustainable development in Africa for the collective good of our ailing planet.

This report presents a summary of the STI capacity building activities and financial statements of the ATPS Secretariat for the period January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. It highlights some of the successes stories and also some of the inevitable challenges we shared during the year ended, 2008. It is also a means of presenting a consolidated brief report and account statements to our many donors, members and stakeholders on how we raised and spent the funds that were entrusted to ATPS in the year 2008. In 2009/10, I look forward to working with you to build on the foundations laid in the past year to deliver on our core strategic goal: “building Africa’s STI capacity today for sustainable development tomorrow”

YES WE CAN.

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Dr. Kevin Urama,
Executive Director , ATPS

2007 Annual Report

Science & Technology and Innovations for African Development

Message from the Chair Person

In our 2006 Annual Report, I reminded you that historians will remember this century for its commitment to a global partnership and a series of time-bound targets, commonly known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at improving the socio-economic well-being of humanity by 2015. I reiterated that the UNDP/UNICEF progress report of 2002 on the MDGs showed that progress had been achieved but the Africa’s record was poor with little impact to poor people.

We have come to the end of 2007 and I am still convinced that science, technology and innovation (STI) accompanied by appropriate policy is still the answer to help African countries attain the MDGs and achieve sustainable development. We, in Africa, are clearly not on track to meet the MDGs. New global challenges such as climate change and high food prices further threaten food security, economic growth and environmental sustainability in unprecedented proportions. I still believe that Science Technology and Innovation policy and practice remain the missing link in global Development effort. We must rededicate our skills, with proper support, to bridge the Science, Technology and Innovation gap and attain these goals.

The United Nations believes the global economic slowdown will diminish the incomes of the poor; climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the already disadvantaged, high food prices will push millions into poverty especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Innovation processes including concrete and practical steps that governments and international agencies can undertake to bring STI to bear on achieving the MDGs in Africa are therefore necessary at this stage. Because of the cross-cutting nature of STI it has helped to eliminate poverty and hunger and mitigate environmental problems in developed countries and has been credited as a driver for remarkable economic growth in most of the South-East Asia and Asian Pacific countries.

The African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) has continued to articulate its vision for Africa and its mission to contribute to poverty alleviation through science, technology and innovation (STI) policy research and advocacy. ATPS continues to seek ways to address Africa’s unique development challenges especially within the context of achieving specific social, economic and environmental development targets by 2015. As in previous years, ATPS has attempted to close the loop through outreach, knowledge brokerage, science communication and policy advocacy with the aim of creating a culture of STI policy making in Africa.

As we come to the end of 2007 and look forward to 2008, ATPS has developed its Phase VI Strategic Plan 2008-2011 taking into cognizance the issues discussed above. The ATPS took a participatory approach to strategic goal setting with ATPS National Chapters, ATPS research Associates, relevant stakeholders and other international development partners that are representative of ATPS’ milieu.

ATPS will continue to play the role of “the STI knowledge broker” until the (S&T) knowledge and policy gaps in Africa have been bridged and African nation states have become rich in policies that generate substantial investments in science, technology and innovations (STI) for sustainable development. The planned strengthening of ATPS convening power in Africa and beyond through the phenomenal growth in institutional partnerships in Europe, India and America are factors that will enhance the organization’s ability to promote STI for Africa’s development. This task becomes easier as more citizens of the region become aware of, utilize and master relevant science technologies to improve their livelihoods and sustain the environment for the foreseeable future.

In this regard, one challenge from ATPS’ perspective is how to build new STI capacity in Africa amongst African development stakeholders including, relevant government institutions, ministries and parastatals, S&T institutions of learning, as well as individual development actors and partners. On the other hand, ATPS faces the challenge of becoming an effective knowledge broker to help access and translate existing knowledge in Africa and elsewhere into useable formats for STI development in Africa.

As we conclude our Phase V Strategic Plan 2004 – 2007 implementation and move into the implementation of the Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2011, let us face these challenges, find out how to properly blend traditional knowledge with orthodox knowledge especially through Collaborative learning processes that are critical to the success of STI as a catalyst to Africa’s development.

Let us leave a legacy of an STI knowledge based economy for Africa to enhance food security, accessible and quality healthcare, sustainable use of ecosystem resources and suitable governance institutions for African development. Let our science, technology and innovations Policy studies today secure a sustainable social, economic and environmental development tomorrow.

NIS is the technology and information flow crucial for the development and diffusion of new technologies within a nation and is facilitated by a network of intricate relationships amongst actors in the system including enterprises, universities, policy makers and government research institutions.

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), in line with its vision to act as a knowledge broker between the various actors in the S&T technology policy process, brings together top academicians, policy makers, researchers and scientists in the continent to deliberate on the relevance and implications of the to Africa’s socio-economic development. During meetings and conferences, the network members get the opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas while raising African perspectives on using innovation systems to attain national and international development goals.

I trust that the ATPS Network can identify institutional knowledge and policy gaps that hinder the efficiency of science and innovation policy in Africa and identify training needs for African innovation actors to better apply S&T innovation systems to meet the MDGs. ATPS is wholly committed to improving the quality of technology policy making in SSA and to strengthen the region’s, institutional capacity for the management of technological development.

I urge you to apply science, innovation and technology (STI) accompanied by appropriate policy to comfortably meet the MDGs and achieve economic growth. Read more

Prof. Norah Olembo
Chairperson, ATPS

2006 Annual Report

Innovation Systems

Message from the Executive Director

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is lagging behind and is off target in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the set deadline of 2015.The sluggish achievement of these goals, however, is not due to lack of commitment, as most SSA countries have integrated the MDGs into their national development frameworks. The tardiness, however, is due to inadequate capacity and poor institutional support systems within the continent.

The President of the African Academy of Sciences, Mohamed H. A. Hassan, in an editorial published in Science Magazine, the world’s leading journal of original scientific research and global news, stated that in the early 1960s and the early 1970s, science departments in many African universities, including the University of Lagos in Nigeria, Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, Accra in Ghana, and Khartoum in Sudan, were among the finest and regarded as beacons of progress in the developing world. However, he explained that presently these departments face a myriad of problems such that they are unable to meet even minimal departmental responsibilities, a situation that has had a grave impact on Africa’s socio-economic development.

I have no doubt that we all appreciate the fundamental role science innovation and technology can play, particularly through the National Systems of Innovation (NIS), in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ultimately Africa’s socio-economic development.

The 2003 NEPAD Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology endorsed the role of science, technology and innovation (ST&I) for development by stressing that all African countries should introduce comprehensive national STI policies that emphasize NIS.

NIS is the technology and information flow crucial for the development and diffusion of new technologies within a nation and is facilitated by a network of intricate relationships amongst actors in the system including enterprises, universities, policy makers and government research institutions.

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), in line with its vision to act as a knowledge broker between the various actors in the S&T technology policy process, brings together top academicians, policy makers, researchers and scientists in the continent to deliberate on the relevance and implications of the to Africa’s socio-economic development. During meetings and conferences, the network members get the opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas while raising African perspectives on using innovation systems to attain national and international development goals.

I trust that the ATPS Network can identify institutional knowledge and policy gaps that hinder the efficiency of science and innovation policy in Africa and identify training needs for African innovation actors to better apply S&T innovation systems to meet the MDGs. ATPS is wholly committed to improving the quality of technology policy making in SSA and to strengthen the region’s, institutional capacity for the management of technological development.

I urge you to apply science, innovation and technology (STI) accompanied by appropriate policy to comfortably meet the MDGs and achieve economic growth.  Read more

Dr Osita Ogbu
Former Executive Director, ATPS

2005 Annual Report

Science & Technology and Health Innovation Systems in Africa

Message from the Executive Director

We are acutely aware that Africa faces myriads of health challenges ranging from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to unaffordable, inaccessible and dilapidated health services. This health burden not only causes unnecessary deaths and untold suffering, but also continues to block economic development as it damages the continent’s social fabric.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) indicates that provision of adequate health services is a major challenge to most African economies. The NEPAD health strategy acknowledges that poverty cannot be alleviated or eradicated in the continent as long as disease burden, disability and death continue to plague the continent.

It is, however, noteworthy that most sub-Saharan governments have risen beyond the initial denial and apathy of the persistent health crisis and recognized that efficient health services and facilities are essential to combat poverty in the continent. African countries are committed to the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seek to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases in the agreed time frame of 2015.

Regrettably, the 2005 World Health Organization (WHO) report, the Millennium Development Goals indicates that many countries are behind in achieving the set goals. Some developing countries, unlike sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made progress. More specifically, Millennium Goal Number Four calls for reduction in child mortality and yet, levels of under-five mortality are higher presently than they were sixteen years ago in Africa. Millennium Goal Number Five calls for improved maternal health and yet, despite increases in the rate of attended deliveries, more than 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year with the number rising to 1000 times higher in SSA countries. Millennium Goal Number Six aims at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and despite pockets of successes in some countries in reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, the story is bleak for most African countries with millions of deaths, reduced life expectancy and reversed economic gains.

It has never been so urgent for African leaders to understand the subtleties of implementing sound policies for guiding the science, technology and innovation system. The continent is faced with several challenges. These include vulnerability to the extremes of climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss. In addition, the severe poverty and hunger that most Africans endure, worsens.

Science, technology, and innovation have a vital role to play in solving these problems. In 2006, ACTS worked closely with African governments and regional bodies to sensitize them, from our perspective, on options for addressing these challenges. Our involvement in policy formulation and outreach included collaborating with ASARECA and PBS to provide technical support to COMESA in implementing the Regional Approach to Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy in Eastern and Southern Africa (RABESA). Furthermore, the Centre provided training and capacity building in science and technology policy analysis through the ACTS Institute.

The good news is that African leaders have now acknowledged HIV/AIDS and malaria as health and development disasters and are putting in place policies and institutions to coordinate national efforts to address these diseases and their ramifications. Today, our challenge as stakeholders in the health sector is to ensure that Africa meets the health related MDGs within the set time frame. We must have an African perspective towards achieving the millennium health goals in terms of richer and more inclusive policy choices, strengthened and more focused programmes and a solid negotiated plan of action.

This is possible with a radical shift of focus from offering just curative medicine to incorporating other crucial aspects, such as behavior change, research collaborations and linkages to practitioners in the health sector.

I believe that the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) in its knowledge brokerage function, and in collaboration with other like minded institutions can bring a new perspective to health delivery systems in Africa since it is concerned not only with health policy, but also with health innovations systems. Read more

Dr Osita Ogbu
Former Executive Director, ATPS

2004 Annual Report

Science & Technology, Water and Environment

Message from the Chair

People often raise a glass together in greeting during cocktail parties, probably with orange juice, some perhaps with wine. Water, tends to be spurned in such occasions, even though these delicious drinks could not be prepared without water neither wine, cognac, coffee nor tea. Yet we place little value on water. We act as if it costs nothing.

In 2002, South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), a follow-up conference to the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The agenda of the conference was organized around five issues: Water and Sanitation; Energy; Health; Agriculture; and Biodiversity.

Today, in 2004, we are concerned with issues of science, technology, water and environment.

Why water? One would ask.

The simple answer is that water is undeniably vital to life. Without it, food production declines, human health fails, the natural environment suffers and economic development is limited. Yet not only is this life-giving source being rapidly depleted and increasingly polluted — but far too many people lack access to it. Some experts even predict that the next wars will be fought over water because a major share of the continent’s water resources are in a few large basins such as the Congo, Niger, Nile and Zambezi River systems.

It is difficult to talk about water without raising some environmental concerns. Africa is the world’s second largest continent with a land area of nearly 30 million Km². The continent has a wealth of natural resources, including minerals, forests, wildlife and rich biological diversity. The continent also includes some of the driest deserts, largest tropical rain forests and highest equatorial mountains in the world.

Since the 1970s, the environment and key natural resources in most African countries have been increasingly threatened by escalating and unsustainable pressures from fast growing populations and cities as well as expanding agricultural and industrial activities.

The 47 countries comprising sub-Saharan Africa depend more on their natural resource base for economic and social needs than any other region in the world. Two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa’s people live in rural areas and rely on agriculture and other natural resources for income. However, the environmental resource base is rapidly shrinking as a result of water pollution, deforestation, loss of soil fertility and a dramatic decline in biodiversity in the region.

In Africa, long-term poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth are being undermined by the increasing scarcity of freshwater, the over-exploitation of coastal ecosystems and fisheries, the loss of forest cover, the loss of biological diversity. Other consequences are loss of genetic species and long-term changes in the earth’s climate.

On the one hand, as people learn more about water and environmental degradation, they could begin to demand that their governments address these issues more forcefully through legislation.

On the other hand public awareness and concern for water and the environment is becoming an increasingly important factor among decision-makers in Africa as they seek to expand the development of their economies.

The water sector requires significant attention as it has a close relationship to the environment and natural resource base of Africa. However, the institutional, economic, legal capacities, and most importantly, the governance of science and technology of most governments in the region remain ill equipped and under-funded in dealing with environmental problems.

While strategies have been drawn, policies formulated and constraints identified, at various forums on water, more effort needs to be put on management and co-ordination. International and inter-sectoral approaches that recognize inter-linkages between nations, and between such sectors as land and water, agriculture and water, technology and water, health and water, gender and water need to be consolidated.

No single mechanism or fragmented approach will be enough. Policy packages using a mutually reinforcing matrix of institutional and policy reform and legal and economic management instruments are required.

ATPS, through its new programme on water and environment intends to bridge the knowledge and technological gap between Africa and the rest of the world by “closing the loop through generation of new knowledge, outreach, knowledge brokerage, dissemination and advocacy in key thematic areas”. We want to discuss how new knowledge can improve the situation in Africa.

We at ATPS have the capacity, and increasingly, the will to make a positive contribution to policies related to water and environment.

Prof Norah Olembo
Chair, ATPS Board

2003 Annual Report

Science & Technology and Food Security in Africa

Message from the Executive Director

ATPS has been at the forefront of reminding and agitating African national governments and her development partners for the recognition of the critical role of science and technology on all aspects of her development agenda. We have been prying-open strategic initiatives, such as the poverty reduction strategic papers and other such recovery and strategic plans to reveal the futility of such plans without adequate roles assigned to knowledge generation and use, and science and technology (S&T) more generally in meeting the objectives of these plans.

At ATPS we do not simply remind those in authority, we insist and sometimes lobby. The role of S&T in economic and social reconstruction of Africa should be self evident, but not so for some of our leaders and those who help in drafting these plans give it a peripheral role. We have now raised the pitch of our message and we can safely say that the message is beginning to hit home. Even though we still have a long way to go, there are incremental signs that African leaders may not be hard of hearing after all. Many of Africa’s new leaders are paying increasing attention to S&T. But more importantly, they are beginning to pay attention to what African scientists say.

It is against the backdrop of sense of optimism and heightened awareness of the many options, which science and technology presents to us that we can discuss how science and technology can be deployed to tackle Africa’s food insecurity.

In the dawn of the 21st Century, Africa is blaming Mother Nature, drought, and desertification, among other calamities for food insecurity. It is extremely distressful to see African leaders, year after year, on international television and radio pleading for food aid without internalizing the lessons of the previous cycles of food insecurity in their various countries. It is sad that in the age when S&T is allowing man to reach new frontiers; to explore other planets; to conquer most diseases; to use same telephone number any where in the world; and to produce new forms of life, Africans are dying because of drought. From the Horn of Africa, to southern Africa and parts of West Africa, the prediction is gloomy: without massive food aid, Africa’s women and children will die of hunger. Yet, the real desert countries of this world, outside sub-Saharan Africa, are producing food and Africa is importing them, with only a limited number of our people able to afford imported food. Farmers in Europe and America are paid not to produce in order not to depress prices. Some of the excess production finds its way to Africa in form of food aid. India has revolutionized its Agriculture and is able to feed her billion people. There is no doubt that pockets of food insecurity exist all over the world. But there is no other continent where a significant proportion of its people suffers with frequent regularity massive nutritional and caloric deficiency as in Africa with huge implications for the HIV/AIDS pandemic, high child and infant mortality, maternal deprivation and stress, and low productivity.

ATPS is conscious of the fact that there are many other international institutions and knowledge networks that are addressing this issue. People have asked us why we are getting involved in an issue as big and complex as this when there are many other institutions with huge resources trying to deal with it. ATPS is fully aware of this but notes with concern that the locus of effort is often far removed from the locus of the problem. The universality of science and hence technology is often exaggerated. Knowledge is transferable but the investments in institutions including norms and practices, and capabilities required for effective transfer are often underestimated. The science of production of wheat, sorghum or millet in the Americas is quite different from that required in the Horn of Africa. Even where applicable knowledge is available, tough intellectual property rights regimes are limiting access. New institutions are now being created to deal with this obvious impediment to the deployment of science for public good. But more importantly, it has to be understood that science must have a context. That science and technology must be integrated in a people’s way of life, their culture and should be used to solve their problems as they have defined them. That good science must first understand the people for which it is intended. Certain ‘good science’ might offend the sensibilities and moral mores of African people leading to its rejection or ineffective adoption. It is, therefore, imperative that science and technology should be used to improve the knowledge base of a society not to replace it; to improve its production processes not to discard them.

In short, as late Professor Claude Ake used to say, “People must be developed in the indigenous. It is not their way of life that is the impediment but our lack of understanding of this way and applying science and technology inappropriately that is the problem.” As in many of these issues, ATPS’ role is to raise this consciousness among scientists, African leaders and development partners and to ‘force’ the African perspectives into the international discourse on ways of combating food insecurity in Africa.

Intellectual dependence and commercialization of knowledge have often forced African governments to neglect the views of their own institutions and scientists, as if one part of the world was a locus of generation of knowledge and another of its use. Given the right environment, Africans have the capacity to “think ourselves out of our problems” . In the true spirit of the New Partnership for Africa’s Economic Development (NEPAD), we would want to encourage new forms of partnerships, one that recognizes the centrality of African institutions in Africa’s developmental discourse and accords preference to the use of African experts where ever they may be in tackling Africa’s problems. This much was agreed by the African Ministers of science and technology in a declaration issued at the end of the first NEPAD ministerial conference on science and technology in Johannesburg, South Africa.

May God bless you all!

Dr. Osita Ogbu
Executive Director

2002 Annual Report

Science & Technology and Africa’s Global Inclusion

Message from the Chair …. Produce Knowledge that will help!

That science and technology policy has a principal role to play in sustainable development is not a matter of debate and I salute the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) on its vision and initiatives to popularize science and technology policy in Africa.

The novelty of the programs of ATPS and its numerous contributions to science and technology policy are not easy to measure. As a network, the ultimate impact of ATPS is the influencing of policy making in the region; developing of capacity in Africa; and creating, disseminating and exchanging information on science and technology policy issues in useful and accessible formats.

While it is important that researchers have easy and regular access to policy makers and that policy makers are regularly and meaningfully involved in the research process, researchers, in turn, should produce knowledge that will help policy makers better address the policy issues of the day.

However, we know that there is a gap between the worlds of policy makers and researchers. There are different cultures. At times, the difference takes on an adversarial aspect, us vs. them attitude. Bridging the gap requires knowing the terrain on either side. Researchers must come to understand the context in which policy makers operate and the pressures they face. On the other hand, policy makers should be more aware of the support researchers require to carry out their work satisfactorily. Knowing the needs of each group contributes to developing effective interaction.

ATPS has a distinction of being one of the first African research networks to bring together multidisciplinary science technology policy practitioners for the purpose of analyzing science and technology for development. Indeed, the success of ATPS is probably best symbolized by the continued increase in demand for its services, thus attesting to the network’s credibility.

My first message is to policy makers. Policy formulation in science and technology remains a top-down rather than bottom-up process that does not allow for the involvement of researchers and other stakeholders. Indeed, the promotion of dialogue between researchers and policy makers during this meeting will significantly improve our understanding of the role of science and technology policy in sustainable development.

I urge policy makers to allow science and technology to be the foundation of whatever we do in Africa. Make use of the capacity that ATPS and other institutions are creating to progress towards a common policy research agenda. We want to respond to your needs.

To researchers, I say that networks are some of the most important ways to tackle capacity building. Centres of excellence, like ATPS, are catalysts of research; they offer capacity building opportunities and peer revision. They provide the sharing of produced scientific knowledge, identification of common interests, understanding of impacts and information gathering and dissemination.

The scientific community should contribute by placing their knowledge into the network. You should undertake frequent policy evaluation as well as lobby for greater role in policy processes. The language of your research, be it in biotechnology; space science; new materials science; information communications technologies, among others, should be accessible to policy makers.

I ardently recommend that we develop strategies and mechanisms to strengthen partnerships between African policy makers and African researchers. Let us promote participatory research and teamwork comprising all stakeholders because science, technology and innovation policies are not only rewards of successful development, but critical tools for achieving it.

Prof Norah Olembo
Chair, ATPS Board