Africa’s Science & Technology Consolidated Plan of Action

This plan of action consolidates science and technology programmes of the African Union (AU) Commission and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). It is the instrument for the implementation of the decisions of the first African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology held in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2003. It gives practical meaning to the decision of Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU held in July 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique to integrate the NEPAD Programme into AU structures and processes. [Assembly/AU/Decl. 8(II)].

The plan of action has evolved from a series of continental and regional workshops. In February 2003 the Secretariat of NEPAD and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Republic of South Africa organized a regional workshop on “Developing a Shared
Platform for Science and Technology Development.” This workshop identified specific programmatic issues and areas that would form the focus of further dialogue. It recommended that a high-level African ministerial conference be convened and a forum—the NEPAD Science and Technology Forum—be established to promote further dialogue and build strong constituencies for science and technology. The NEPAD Science and Technology Forum was then created and focused on mobilizing experts, civic groups and policy-makers to prepare for the ministerial conference.

The November 2003 African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology, organized by the NEPAD Secretariat with the support of South African DST and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), adopted an ‘Outline of a Plan of
Action’ containing twelve flagship programme areas and specific policy issues. It also established the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) and its Steering Committee for Science and Technology as the overall governance structure for setting continental priorities and policies pertaining to the development and application of science and technology for Africa’s socio-economic transformation.  The Conference stressed the urgency of building the continent’s capacities to harness, apply and develop science and technology in order to eradicate poverty, fight diseases, stem environmental degradation, and enhance competitiveness
and economic development.

The ‘Outline of a Plan of Action’ has been developed to focus on specific projects and concrete actions. This has been done through workshops held in each of the five regions between November 2004 and March 2005. In addition to the regional workshops experts’ consultations and studies on key issues have been conducted to provide a rich contextual and technical base for the proposed programmes and projects. These efforts generated by NEPAD and the AU Commission’s 2004-2007 Strategic Plan for Human Resources, Science and Technology provide the basis for what is now known as Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action.

This ‘Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action’ articulates Africa’s common objective of socio-economic transformation and full intergration into the world economy. The Plan of Action reaffirms Africa’s commitment to collective action for developing and using science and technology for the purpose of meeting this objective. The Plan is conceptualised and developed on three interrelated metaphors namely; capacity building, knowledge production, and technological innovation.

The Plan of Action places emphasis on developing an African system of research and technological innovation by establishing networks of centers of excellence dedicated to specific R&D and capacity building programmes. It complements a series of other AU and NEPAD programmes for such areas as agriculture, environment, health, infrastructure, industrialization and education. The Plan of Action is organized as follows. The first two sections provide the overall socio-economic context, common goals and criteria for identifying and developing the programmes and their projects. The third section is details the proposed flagship R&D programmes
while the fourth describes programmes dedicated to improving policies and institutions. The last section deals with the nature of institutional arrangements and financial mechanisms for implementing the Consolidated Plan of Action.