UNESCO-SADC online training on science, technology and innovation for high-level officials continues

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Design in Design Innovation | 0 Comments

The virtual training started on September 13, 2021 and will cover seven modules over the next 3 months

PARIS, France, October 14, 2021 / APO Group / –

African governments increasingly recognize the need to invest in science, technology and innovation (STI) capacities in order to respond to the socio-economic challenges they face and achieve the goals of Sustainable Development (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. many African governments have STI strategies and plans in place to promote economic growth and eradicate poverty in their respective countries, but they have yet to align these policies with the global agenda.

It is in this context that UNESCO and SADC have developed a virtual training program to educate successive cohorts of senior officials in Southern Africa, on the nature and policy implications of the innovation systems approach to development. . The main consequence of this program would be to move STI policy and governance to the heart of national and regional development planning.

The virtual training started on September 13, 2021 and will cover seven modules over the next 3 months.

Module 3, which focuses on STI and inclusive development, continues on October 20, 2021. This module discusses the role of innovation in tackling inclusive and sustainable development, also emphasizing that achieving environmental sustainability is not separate from achieving social and economic inclusion.

Participating countries such as Zimbabwe and Namibia are in a unique position to correlate the results of this course with the ongoing Swedish-funded project on Strengthening STI Systems for Sustainable Development in Africa. Zimbabwe and Namibia are two of the six pilot countries for the first phase of the project which aims to strengthen their national and regional STI policies, STI governance and research and innovation institutions in line with the Recommendation of the UNESCO 2017 on Science and Scientific Researchers. (2017 RS | SR).