Transnational science and technology co-operation in Africa : an evaluation of selected institutions and programmes

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In the aftermath of the Second World War, the development challenges facing Third Worldcountries - those that were independent, those emerging from colonialism and those stillunder colonialism - led to the proliferation of bilateral and multilateral developmentinstitutions. These institutions were intended to assist the developing countries in terms of theprovision of both human (technical) skills and material resources as well as to formulateprogrammes that would promote co-operation for socio-economic development andtransformation. If the enormous development problems facing Africa including poverty,hunger, disease can be alleviated, then multilateral institutions have a major role to play in itsscientific and technological development as well as in helping to create the appropriateinstitutional mechanisms for regional and sub-regional co-operation in science andtechnology (S&T) in Africa.The United Nations system, including UN-affiliated institutions, has therefore come torepresent the best hope of realising the dream of most developing countries in their quest fordevelopment, due to its institutional capacity to provide development assistance as well asinfluence the international development agenda which affects Africa. For example, amongthe institutions in this study, the World Bank Group remains the biggest donor organisation interms of the funding of development projects and programmes. UNESCO has a leading roleas the UN agency whose mandate relates directly to S&T development and peace. The ECAis the representative body of the UN in Africa and therefore able to influence the direction ofdevelopment policy and programmes. Similarly, the need to develop also led Africancountries to establish their own regional and sub-regional institutions for co-operation todraw together both human and material resources.However, the development issues discussed and promoted in the developing world over theyears have focused more on national income, terms of trade, market access and in recenttimes on structural adjustment and poverty reduction strategy programmes. But the mostimportant aspect of the development process - the knowledge capability gap (in terms ofS&T) - has been much neglected especially at the regional and sub-regional levels.Therefore, in using regional and sub-regional levels of analyses, the research project looks atthe programmes supported by the following institutions: the United Nations Education,Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the AfricanDevelopment Bank (AIDB), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and theEconomic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Thus the study uses a theorydrivenevaluation based on INEXSK (INfrastructure, EXperience and Skills, and Knowledge)approach broadly, to investigate the extent to which these multilateral institutions live up totheir stated goals of improving the knowledge base for development in the African continent.An important aspect of the study also entails a historical review of science, technology andinstitutional co-operation in Africa.Furthermore, an important outcome of the study reveals the lack of functional regional andsub-regional organisational frameworks to promote rigorous scientific and technologicalresearch and development in the African continent, except for a few centres and programmessupported by some multilateral and bilateral institutions including NGOs. In spite of manyyears of structural adjustment the World Bank's lending for S&T has marginalised Africancountries; while the AIDB support for S&T and regional programmes is woefully inadequate.This is a momentous task it has to address if the NEP AD Initiative is to be successful in theyears ahead. To guide future initiatives the study draws on the lessons and experiences of theEuropean Union's and the Association of South East Asian Nations' (ASEAN) regionalscientific and technology co-operation programmes. The study advocates a knowledge-baseddevelopment paradigm, which is transnational in approach, and it makes specificrecommendations for regional and sub-regional programmes and strategies to promote thesocio-economic development and transformation of Africa.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University