ECOWAS Policy on Science and Technology: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:15, 27 March 2019

Revision as of 01:42, 22 May 2019

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== A framework for national policies ==

ECOPOST provides a framework for member states wishing to improve – or elaborate for the first time – their own national policies and action plans for science, technology and innovation. Importantly, ECOPOST includes a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the policy’spolicy's implementation, an aspect often overlooked.<ref name=":0" />

Nor does it neglect funding. It proposes creating a solidarity fund which would be managed by a directorate within ECOWAS to help countries fund investment in key institutions and improve education and training; the fund would also be used to attract foreign direct investment. As of early 2015, the fund had not yet been established.<ref name=":0" />

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=== Investment in research and development ===

ECOWAS countries still have a long way to go to reach the [[African Union|African Union’sUnion's]] target of devoting 1% of GDP to gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD). Mali comes closest (0.66% in 2010), followed by Senegal (0.54% in 2010), according to the [[UNESCO Science Report]] (2015). They are trailed by Ghana (0.38% in 2010), Nigeria and Togo (0.22% in 2007 and 2012 respectively), Burkina Faso (0.20% in 2009), Gambia (0.13% in 2011) and Cabo Verde (0.07% in 2007). The strong economic growth experienced by the subregion in recent years owing to the commodity boom does, of course, make it harder to improve the GERD/GDP ratio, since GDP keeps rising. Several countries have increased their commitment to research in recent years. Mali devoted just 0.25% of GDP to research and development in 2009, for instance, and Senegal has increased its own research intensity from 0.37% in 2008.<ref name=":0" />

Although the government is the main source of GERD, foreign sources contribute a sizeable chunk in Ghana (31%), Senegal (41%) and Burkina Faso (60%). Gambia receives nearly half of its GERD from private non-profit sources.<ref name=":0" />

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It would be hazardous to extrapolate to the entire subregion without recent data for more than seven countries but the available data do suggest a shortage of qualified personnel. Only Senegal stands out, with 361 full-time equivalent researchers per million inhabitants in 2010, according to the [[UNESCO Institute for Statistics]]. Next come Cabo Verde (51), Burkina Faso (48), Ghana and Nigeria (39), Togo (36) and Mali (32). The data for Nigeria date from 2007, for Cabo Verde from 2011 and, for Togo, from 2012. The world average in 2014 was 176 per million inhabitants.<ref name=":0" />

Despite policies promoting gender equality, women’swomen's participation in research remains low. Cabo Verde, Senegal and Nigeria have some of the best ratios: around one in three (Cabo Verde) and one in four researchers. Concerning the sector of employment, the surprise comes from Mali, where half (49%) of researchers were working in the business enterprise sector in 2010, according to the [[UNESCO Institute for Statistics]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Impact of science and technology in West Africa ===

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The low impact of science and technology in West Africa has also resulted from the differences in education systems, the lack of convergence among research programmes and the low level of exchanges and collaboration between universities and research institutions. The centres of excellence established since 2012 by the [[West African Economic and Monetary Union]] (WAEMU) and within a [[World Bank]] project should help to foster collaboration and the dissemination of research results, as well as a greater convergence among research programmes.<ref name=":0" />

In education, the three-tiered degree system (bachelor’sbachelor's –master’s–PhD–master's–PhD) has now been generalized to most West African countries. In the case of WAEMU countries, this is largely thanks to the Support to Higher Education, Science and Technology Project, funded by a grant from the [[African Development Bank]]. Between 2008 and 2014, WAEMU invested US$36 million in this reform.<ref name=":0" />

=== Moves to improve data collection ===

Countries are being encouraged to work with the ECOWAS Commission to improve data collection. Of the 13 countries which participated in the first phase of the African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Initiative (ASTII), just four from ECOWAS countries contributed to ASTII’sASTII's first collection of data on research for publication in the ''African Innovation Outlook'' (2011): Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. ASTII was launched in 2007 by the African Union’sUnion's New Partnership for Africa’sAfrica's Development (NEPAD), in order to improve data collection and analysis in the field of research.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.nepad.org/resource/african-innovation-outlook-2010|title=African Innovation Outlook 2010|last=Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa's Development|first=|publisher=|year=2011|isbn=|___location=Pretoria|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref>

ECOWAS was barely more visible in the second ''African Innovation Outlook'', with just six countries contributing data on research and development out of 19 across the continent: Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Togo. Nigeria was totally absent and only Ghana and Senegal provided a full set of data for all four performance sectors.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.nepad.org/resource/african-innovation-outlook-ii-0|title=African Innovation Outlook 2014|last=Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa's Development|first=|publisher=|year=2014|isbn=|___location=Pretoria|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref>