COMEDAF CONTRIBUTIONS

UNESCO provided financial and technical assistance in the organization of the OAU Conference of African Ministers of Education (COMEDAF I) held in Harare from 17 to 19 March 1999, at the conclusion of which the Plan of Action for the Decade was finalized. During discussion it was agreed to establish COMEDAF I and MINEDAF VII coordinating machinery for the Decade.

“… Africa will be unable to rise above its current level of poverty without pursuing manufacturing more purposefully. Doing that will necessarily require greater focus on industrial R&D.”
(UNESCO World Science Report 1998)

Bearing in mind the importance of the mastery of science and technology with a view to promoting endogenous development, on 14 February 1994, at the Nairobi Conference on Science and Technology in Africa, the Director-General launched the International Fund for Technological Development in Africa to finance R&D activities in science and technology. Audience Africa endorsed this position by making the development of science and technology in Africa one of its main recommendations.

At the Forum on Women, Science and Technology, held in Ouagadougou from 25 to 28 January 1999 , a Regional Plan of Action was adopted in the fields of science education, technological research and vocational training. This commitment by African women coincided with that expressed by the women of other continents, who together voiced in a joint press release their support for the Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge and the Agenda for Science - Action Framework, adopted at the World Conference on Science (Budapest, 26 June-1 July 1999) (go to unesco.org/science/wcs/index.htm), with the added comment that “women are not a minority”. Stress was also laid on the importance of taking into account the role of women in the scientific community in increasing scientific potential geared to economic development.

The Department also worked to secure the adoption by OAU, at the 35th session of the Summit of Heads of State and Government (Algiers, 12-14 July 1999) of a resolution recommending that the developing countries devote between 0.4% and 0.6% of their annual GNP to science between 2004 and 2007 and that 3% of the resources from the United Nations Development Programme be invested in scientific research and development.

The Director-General’s address to the United Nations was published under the title “Science and technology in Africa - A commitment for the twenty-first century”. This document summarizes the present situation and UNESCO’s fields of action .