Address by Naledi Pandor MP, Minister of Science and Technology, at the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and TWAS Regional Office for sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA) Young Scientists’ Conference, Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre, JohannesburgProf Daya Reddy,
Prof Roseanne Diab,
Prof Robin Crewe,
Dr Aldo Stroebel and
Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng
"Inspiring change post-2015: the role of science, technology and innovation in empowering women in Africa"
Leading innovation nations invest significantly in developing international science partnerships. We do as well. We are keenly expanding our diverse portfolio of international partnerships in science, technology and innovation - especially with African countries.
South African policy is to put science, technology and innovation at the heart of Africa’s development agenda and South Africa is committed to playing a leadership role in this regard. For example, over the past year we concluded new cooperation agreements with Sudan and Ethiopia, and implemented ambitious cooperation programmes with Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Ghana and many more. We have played a leadership role in finalising the African Union’s space policy and strategy due to be adopted later this year by Heads of State. And this year, our efforts are being guided by a new African engagement strategy, which will more effectively coordinate the activities of all South African science, technology and innovation actors engaged in partnerships with the rest of the continent.
The African Union is currently developing its 50-year vision for 2063 and it is putting science, technology and innovation at the heart of Africa’s development agenda. During the African Union Summit held in January 2015, the African Heads of State declared the year 2015 as the “Year of women empowerment and development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”. This is an important milestone in recognising the role of women in Africa’s development. Similarly, the post 2015 development agenda of the United Nations recognises the importance of science, technology and innovation in addressing global challenges.
South African policy is to invest in the skill and talent of our young people - especially in girls and young women. We are expanding our international training opportunities programme for South African students, especially for PhD candidates. For example, over the past year, my Department secured opportunities for more than 1,500 South African researchers and students to participate in various international training and exchange programmes. We are also working to attract to South Africa a large number of young international researchers, who have recently completed their PhDs and who are looking for a post-doctoral project. The goal will be for these “post-docs”to spend time in South Africa, to further their research careers, and to assist with undergraduate training, especially in critical areas in which we lack capacity. And the SARCHi 42 have altered the gender imbalance in our prestigious research professors programme. Nearly half of our 200 research professors are now women.
The African Union is also focusing more and more on women in science. At the 2007 African Union (AU) Summit, Heads of AU Member States passed a resolution which called for the increase of women’s participation in science, technology and innovation. A number of programmes have since been initiated in various African countries to address the challenges faced by women and girls within science systems. Despite these efforts, there are gender gaps and challenges, which hamper the access of women to educational and professional opportunities within the science sector.
Nonetheless, there has been progress in southern Africa. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has recognised the need to address such gender-based issues. The SADC WISET initiative, endorsed by southern African Ministers of Science and Technology in 2008, has emerged as the primary platform to promote access to science education and professional networks. This initiative has also emerged as the means to ensure greater participation of women researchers, scientists and technologists in decision and policy-making institutions within the region.
South Africa has been at the forefront of the formation of a SADC WISET Regional Charter, having served as a member of a Working Group comprising of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The Charter was recently tabled at a joint sitting of SADC Ministers of Science and Technology and Ministers of Higher Education in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2014. The Ministers commended the work that has been produced by SADC Member States to address issues of gender inequality in the region.
Our international science, technology and innovation partnerships play an important role in South Africa’s participation in global affairs. In 2014 for example, two eminent South African science leaders, Prof Daya Reddy, President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and Prof Cheryl de la Rey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Pretoria, were respectively elected as President and Executive Committee member of the renowned International Council of Science (ICSU.) We signed the first BRICS Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation. South Africa’s voice in the international governance of science, technology and innovation matters, and we will in 2015 continue to exert our influence strategically in support of national but also African regional objectives.
South Africa has worked actively to ensure that the vital contribution of science, technology and innovation to eradicate poverty, and reinforce international solidarity, was recognised in the United Nations’formulation and adoption of the new Sustainable Development Goals. We also continue to contribute strategically to defending our and Africa’s interests in international climate change negotiations that will conclude at the CoP-21 meeting in Paris at the end of the year. Climate change is a prime example of a policy domain dependent on sound scientific advice for decision-making and the renowned expertise of South African of our climate and other scientists will be valuable resources for our negotiators.
South Africa puts its science diplomacy to work, in support of multilateralism, as well as equitable and sustainable global development. In this regard there are two international partnerships that are driving forces for Africa's future growth.
The first is the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), the second programme of which I was honoured to launch in Cape Town in December last year. Over the past few years the ECDTP has contributed immensely to accelerating the development of new interventions to fight HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis and to enhance Africa’s research capacities in relation to these diseases.
Ebola broke out in West Africa in December 2013, and there was no vaccine or drug to combat the epidemic. The crisis signalled the need for the continent to take decisive steps to address inadequacy in research and innovation capacity. While Ebola indicated that health challenges are global, the fact that we did not have a treatment or prevention response generated in Africa by African scientists and institutions should cause all policy makers sleepless nights. Surely we are still colonised, if we must still look to the West for innovative science-based solutions to our problems.
As it turned out just 20 months later, a vaccine appears to have been found. The Public Health Agency of Canada researched it, the pharmaceutical company Merck was licensed to develop it, and an international collaboration of funders, scientists, companies, and organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) tested it in Guinea. Of course, we are thankful for the speed at which a vaccine was developed and tested, but Africa has to do more than simply help outsiders to conduct tests.
That said, I welcome the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), an initiative of the African Academy of Sciences and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. The AESA platform was established with initial funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the United Kingdom Department for International Development. It will run two new research initiatives, announced in Nairobi earlier this month - a US$70 million grant to support seven African scientists; and Grand Challenges Africa, which supports researchers to find solutions to health and development problems.
I would like to congratulate the two south-African based awardees of the seven chosen - Professor Tobias F Chirwa for the Sub-Saharan Africa Advanced Training Programme for Leadership and Excellence in Biostatistics, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (Award: £3.5 million), and Professor Thumbi Ndung'u for the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB-HIV Research Excellence, K RITH, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Award: £7.3 million). The Gates Foundation "Grand Challenges Africa" currently focuses on supporting the 400 or so existing Grand Challenges grantees in Africa, but it will soon develop and manage Africa-specific Grand Challenges aimed at solving problems preventing African countries from reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.
The second international partnership that is driving Africa's future growth is SKA. In March 2015 the Board of the international SKA Organisation agreed on the design of SKA1, the first phase of the SKA, and €650 million is budgeted for its construction. The detailed design is now proceeding. Construction of SKA1 is expected to start in 2018. SKA SA is constructing 64 MeerKAT dishes in the Karoo. Early science with 32 dishes will start in 2016 and science with the full array by the middle of 2017.
In closing, the challenge for Africa is to ensure that the gender imbalance in the practice of science, technology and innovation activities is addressed. None of us here underestimates the importance of science, technology, and innovation for socio-economic development in Africa. The involvement of women in science activities is thus critical in contributing to African development. Young women scientists gathered here today: you have an important role to play in placing Africa firmly in the global conversation about science. I would like to encourage you to take critical responsibility for shaping the future of the science sector in African countries.
