ECOWAS Policy on Science and Technology: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:42, 22 May 2019

Revision as of 04:43, 25 December 2020

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== An integral part of Vision 2020 ==

ECOPOST is an integral part of the subregion's development blueprint to 2020, entitled ''Vision 2020''. ''Vision 2020'' proposes a road map for improving governance, accelerating economic and monetary integration and fostering public–private partnerships. It endorses the planned harmonization of investment laws in West Africa and suggests pursuing ‘with vigour’ the creation of a regional investment promotion agency. Countries are urged to promote efficient, viable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to expose traditional agriculture to modern technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, in order to improve productivity.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf|title=West Africa. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030|last=Essegbey|first=George|last2=Diaby|first2=Nouhou|last3=Konte|first3=Almamy|publisher=UNESCO Publishing|year=2015|isbn=978-92-3-100129-1|___location=Paris|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=ECOWAS Policy for Science and Technology|last=ECOWAS|first=|publisher=Economic Community of West African States|year=2011|isbn=|___location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Vision 2020: towards a Democratic and Prosperous Society.|last=ECOWAS|first=|publisher=Economic Community of West African States|year=2011|isbn=|___location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref>

== A framework for national policies ==

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

The agriculture sector suffers from chronic underinvestment in West Africa. By 2010, only Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal had raised public expenditure to 10% of GDP, the target fixed by the ''Maputo Declaration'' (2003). Gambia, Ghana and Togo were on the threshold of reaching this target. Nigeria devoted 6% of GDP to agriculture and the remaining West African countries less than 5%.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/one.org/images/131008_ONE_Maputo_FINAL.pdf|title=The Maputo Commitments and the 2014 African Union Year of Agriculture|last=ONE.org|first=|publisher=|year=2013|isbn=|___location=|pages=|quote=|via=}}</ref>

Other underdeveloped areas are the water, sanitation and electricity sectors, which hold potential for public–private partnerships. The situation is most urgent in Benin, Ghana, Guinea and Niger, where less than 10% of the population enjoyed improved sanitation in 2011. Although people have greater access to clean water than to sanitation, this basic commodity still eludes more than half of the population in most countries. Access to electricity varies widely, from 13% in Burkina Faso to 72% in Ghana (2011 figures).<ref name=":0" />

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=== 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'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's New Partnership for Africa'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>

Subregional training workshops were organized for countries by ECOWAS in 2013 and 2014 on science, technology and innovation indicators and how to draft research proposals. ECOWAS has taken other steps recently to tackle the lack of technological impact of the research sector. For instance, in 2012, the ministers in charge of research adopted the ''ECOWAS Research Policy'' while meeting in Cotonou, in Benin.<ref name=":0" />