Minister Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa
Excellencies Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Esteemed representatives from Governments here gathered,
Guests from Japan
The South Africa Science Forum representatives
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
I am pleased to be part of this important Science Forum, which is the first of its kind on the continent. In the short time I have been favoured with I wish to reflect on the potential “Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in Realizing Agenda 2063”.
Agenda 2063, as you may be aware, is a 50-year development framework for the continent, to build an Africa that is integrated, people-centered, peaceful and prosperous, and takes it rightful place in the world. Agenda 2063 does this by prioritizing investments in people including education and health.
We have now prioritized critical areas for delivery over the next ten years. I wish to briefly consider these priorities whilst linking them to the potential role science and technology.
Agenda 2063 draws from Africa’s aspirations and was extensively consultative
Firstly, Agenda 2063 was drawn from the aspirations of the people together with governments. But the starting point was to consult with the various sectors of our community. We asked them the question what is the Africa they want over the next 50 years and all of them gave us their views. Then we came back with seven aspirations. From those seven aspirations we then developed Agenda 2063. We then sent it to all our member states so as to enrich it. We further revisited our previous plans so that we could see which ones were still relevant in enhancing the framework. So Agenda 2063 encompasses everything we want to do as continent in order to develop the continent.
Agenda 2063 is Africa specific SDGs
Often the question is posed on the relationship between Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by the United Nations (UN) recently. Our answer is simple the SDGs are a global agenda, Africa Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want encompasses the SDGs but is Africa specific. There are no contradictions between the two.
I wish to highlight a few of the priorities.
- Africa has numerous comparative advantages
Because Agenda 2063 aims at developing an Africa that is prosperous, integrated, united, peaceful, driven by its own citizens and playing a dynamic role in the world, we identified a few priorities by exploring what Africa has. What is Africa’s comparative advantage? We realised that Africa has a lot to offer in order to ensure that Africa reaches her full potential.
- Investing in our people, our most precious resource
We also came to the conclusion that our most precious resource, which we have to invest the most in --- is our people. Africa is also unique in the sense that it’s a young continent in an aging world. It will continue to be young over the next 50 years.
Clearly investing in the young people is very critical. How do we invest in these young people?
Firstly, we have to invest in their health. Secondly we have to invest in their education, with a major focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills as well as innovation and research since these are the skills we will require to modernise Africa. These skills will also bring prosperity. This outlook is rooted in a firm belief on education as an equalizer, in the context of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment. Education focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is a definite equaliser as it’s the quickest way you can break intergenerational poverty in families and communities. We must ensure that young people are skilled in these areas. These skills a specifically important because:
- Firstly, if we are to ensure that our economies are knowledge based, it means we should have good science and maths teachers so that they can lay the foundation at primary and high school levels so that as we come to tertiary we have a good base;
- Secondly, we want to improve agriculture. Again Africa is unique due to the fact that it has 60% of the world’s unutilised arable land. But, its even more unique and scandalous that Africa spends about 80billion USD in food imports annually. We need to turn the tide on the situation where we have so much arable land and we import so much food. Those dollars could be invested in other priorities such as science. Science is critical in improving the agricultural productivity and activities in ensuring that we have better equipment, because African women who are 75% participants in the sector continue to use hand held hoes, so there is no chance of improving their productivity, with such equipment. Science and engineering is very critical in ensuring that we have modern equipment, that we understand the soil, the seeds, the climate so as to revolutionaries agriculture and to get into the full value chain up to and including agro processing and businesses. So science is critical.
- Africa’s unique industrial revolution
Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want also prioritises industrialisation because the youth bulge dividend is an asset only if it is fully invested in. If not they may become a liability. And so industrialisation in Africa will mean beneficiating and adding value to our natural and mineral resources. All these will require science. It doesn’t need science just for the sake of it. It must be directed at improving the quality of life of our people and lift them out of poverty. Science is critical for our envisaged industrial revolution.
This will have the effect of having young people who can create jobs, who can innovate, who are employable, and it all boils down to answering the question of whether we invest enough in STEM to be able to reap the necessary benefits.
To industrialise we need other things like infrastructure and energy. There is COP 21 taking place right now in Paris. Africa is going to industrialise in big way do we want to go back to where the classical industrial revolution started with high emissions, or do we want to use science to ensure that we leapfrog and industrialise in a way that doesn’t substantially add to the pollution and climate site2016 that we see.
We have to look at what Africa has in terms of energy beyond fossil fuels. We have solar, we have wind, we have geothermal, and we have hydro amongst other things. Again science is needed. Children who are trained in science and technical areas who will contribute. Because we also don’t want to be just recipients of all the equipment coming from elsewhere, we want to manufacture. We don’t want all our energy to be driven by solar panels that are manufactured elsewhere, for instance. We need science to drive that.
- Integrating Africa through an accessible transport network
We also need transport we cannot integrate through the spirit or politics. We need to be integrated physically. We need to be able to take a fast train and high-speed rail to Dakar, we can’t do it today but we can do it in the next decade. To achieve this we need science. We need science, we need technical people, we need innovators, and we need to establish those innovation paths here on the continent. We need to connect be it by rail, road, air or maritime.
All the AU priorities require science.
We are also exploring our oceans and the seas. Africa is a big island with six small island states. But we have not really fully invested in that resource, which is three times the amount of our landmass, the landmass being more than 30million square kilometres. The ocean space is more than three times that. It’s a huge resource, which needs scientists and science. Consequently in July we launched the Decade for the African Seas and Oceans because we want to encourage African countries to invest in this resource. At the same time a group of African women from across the continent established themselves as WIMA (Women in Maritime). They want to send young girls for training in the various maritime related areas. All of this is about science. Some countries are already talking about deep-sea mining, all of which requires science.
We have also decided that infrastructure will improve integration and the movement of goods and persons across the continent. As we move people across the continent we need to detect quickly when there are diseases and be able to deal with them, by establishing a Centre for Disease Control (CDC). That will also need scientists.
I can’t think of anything that we are doing that does not require science.
Something that may need less science but still requires some science is our plans around an African Passport. This has to be an e-Passport. This will require science.
We are about science.
We have to ensure that we improve our intra African trade, global trade, governance, infrastructure and security all of which require science.
But we have also said that none of this will go anywhere if women are not involved. Not only because their right but its an economic imperative, it makes sense that women get involved. Companies that have women at their top echelons of management are more competitive than those that do not have. OECD studies have proved that.
If we are looking at closing the gap between the rich and poor, if we ensure that women have the necessary resources that is also quicker way of closing the gap because women tend to spend 70% of their income on the household compared to 30% that men spend on the household. These are all the reasons that women must be involved.
The last reason is that they are actually more than 50% of the population so if you leave them out of your development agenda how do you think you will compete with those who are using all their potential and talent. So we cant leave more than half the talent outside our agenda. And so we cant leave them outside STEM as well as innovation and research. They must be an integral part of it.
To conclude, women also produce all of us!!
Thank you
