Science and technology crucial for poverty reduction

Lazarus Sauti

Like it or not, science and technology are part and parcel of almost every aspect of human lives. They make extraordinary things possible – when people are ill, science and technology help them to get better.

Further, science and technology tell people about the past, help them with the present, on top of creating avenues to advance their future.

The place of science and technology in society, therefore, is of vital importance as it is crucial for sustainable socio-economic development, and now more than ever, African countries should engage with science and technology if the continent is to transform economically and compete globally.

“African countries should use science and technology to research on new sources of food and resolve the socio-economic and environmental challenges that hinder sustainable development,” Zimbabwe’s Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Oppah Muchinguri, told delegates at the recently two-day United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Asia-Africa consultation on sustainability science to support the post-2015 agenda.

Muchinguri added that science and technology are crucial for poverty reduction, clean water and new energy forms to support the sustainable development agenda.

Speaking during the same meeting, the regional director and representative of UNESCO for Southern Africa, Professor Hubert Gijzen, said that embracing science and technology is vital for the continent of Africa to meet its sustainable development goals.

“Although Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) do not take account of science, nine of the 17 goals are actually based on science and technology and these are crucial components in the 21^st century,” he said.

Supporting Muchinguri and Gijzen, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet in Zimbabwe, Dr Misheck Sibanda, said African economies can fully derive maximum value from their resources only if they embrace science and technology.

Speaking during the launch of Twenty Third Century Systems’ Africa Graduate Trainee Programme in Harare, he added that science and technology have compressed space and time, causing countries on the right side of the technological divide to leapfrog in terms of development, over those that lag behind in the adoption of science and technology.

Science and technology can also help Africa to fight diseases, tackle population growth and urbanisation; the digital or information divide, coping with climate change, confronting the water crisis, defending the soil and preserving forests, fisheries and biodiversity.

For this to happen, Muchinguri said, policy decision makers, governments and scientists should join hands in harnessing science and technological innovations.”

Professor Gijzen, who is also an authority in the fields of water management, microbiology, environmental sciences, biotechnology, and in sanitary and environmental engineering, added that science and technology flourish through dialogue and co-operation hence the need for member states to incorporate them.

Whatever the cultural, geographical, socio-economic and environmental setting, Muchinguri and Gijzen believe strong partnership between science and technology communities, civil societies, governments as well as public and private sectors in Africa is a fundamental pre-requisite for social and economic sustainable growth.

Africa, therefore, needs to build gateways with the public if the continent is to effectively embrace science and technology. Opportunities must also be created for scientists and the general public to exchange views in a two-way dialogue of mutual respect and trust.

Dr Lazarus Dokora, Primary and Secondary Education minister in Zimbabwe, believes there is need to inspire the next era of scientists.

“With the pace that the world keeps and the speed with which technology advances, an understanding of science is a crucial part of a rounded education,” he said, adding that enhanced science teaching at both the primary and secondary levels is central to scientific and technological capacity building and to a better public understanding of sustainable development issues.

He is spot on because Africa needs more scientists and technologists as well as more people skilled in science and technology in order to compete in the global arena.

For this to happen, political leaders need to clear gender imbalance in science, engineering and technology. In most, if not all, African countries, women are sternly under-represented in science and technology.

African countries must also prioritise more policy relevant science.

A much greater share of research must integrate problem-oriented and interdisciplinary research that addresses the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable development.

Africa, without doubt, needs to innovate if the continent is to develop. Dr Sibanda sums it up: “The time is now for African countries to erase the stigma of being synonymous with socio-economic backwardness and perpetual poverty. We either innovate or be condemned to economic backwardness.”