Call for Policy Training for Senior Officials in the SADC Region

The SADC Secretariat invites all regional public institutions that have capabilities in science, technology and innovation (STI) policy training and willing to partner with Manchester Business School (MBS) to submit expression of interest to deliver STI training programme for SADC.

1.         Rationale

1.1Recent years have marked a new era of institutional stability in the SADC region. As a result, SADC Member States have begun collaborating on various initiatives pertaining to science and technology.  In keeping with the need to develop competitive capacity and capability as well as a long term view for the role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in industrial development, socio-economic growth, poverty eradication and wealth creation, SADC Ministers responsible for Science and Technology expressed an urgent need to develop STI policy capacity in the region. They therefore mandated the region to mobilise resources and expertise to assist in developing capacity to formulate and implement science policy to benefit the entire region.

1.2       The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has launched the Policy Training for Senior Officials programme with the support from the Australian Government, South African Government and United Nations Educational, Social and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO). The main purpose of the programme is to develop capacity in the area of STI policy in SADC.

1.3       The primary beneficiaries of the programme will be the ministries responsible for science, technology and innovation and their institutions in the SADC region.

1.4       This programme will be facilitated by UNESCO.  UNESCO has identified the Manchester Business School (MBS), United Kingdom which will be expected to partner with one of the regional universities to deliver the programme.

1.5       The proposed timeframe for this programme is two years and consists of three full time block release training sessions per year. The first three block release sessions will be solely conducted by MBS in collaboration with a selected regional university. The ultimate aim is to enable MBS to facilitate capacity building for the selected institution. It is envisaged that the selected regional institution will put in place mechanisms to sustain this programme beyond two years and that this programme will elevate into a formal postgraduate qualification with a full recognition in the region.

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