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One of the obstacles to S&T growth is the absence of genuine communities of scientists and engineers. In much of sub-Saharan Africa the number of trained scientists and engineers is simply too small. A successful and inexpensive way to develop critical mass is through networks.  UNESCO established the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI) in 1980 to support co-operation between African scientific, engineering and technological institutions involved in postgraduate training and the promotion of R&D. ANSTI links over 50 scientific and engineering departments in 32 sub-Saharan African countries. Activities centre on fellowships, conferences, seminars and workshops, research promotion and publications (textbooks and journals). Professors from all over sub-Saharan Africa use desktop publishing programmes to write texts on basic engineering for undergraduates, illustrated with examples from local industry. International experts review the lessons before approving them. Recently, under the auspices of ANSTI, UNESCO convened an expert meeting on Quality Assurance and Relevance of Engineering Education in Africa (November 1997). UNESCO funds some 20 science-oriented UNESCO Chairs in Africa. In science and technology, the Chairs work by sponsoring visiting professorships for internationally renowned scientists to act as mentors to groups of advanced students. The scheme aims to provide a rapid transfer of knowledge through international programmes related to sustainable development. The programme helps minimize brain drain by establishing long-lasting relationships between universities in developed and developing countries. UNESCO's intergovernmental Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme is also serving as a vehicle for major capacity-building efforts in Africa. To date, 49 of the 356 MAB biosphere reserves are in Africa. Under the auspices of MAB, UNDP and UNESCO have recently committed US $1 million and US $200,000, respectively, to establish the Regional Postgraduate School of Integrated Management of Tropical Forests at the University of Kinshasa. Its aim will be to train highly qualified postgraduates (to Masters and Ph.D. level) who are able to find solutions to regional planning and development problems.African members of MAB launched a regional AfriMAB network in Dakar (Senegal) in October 1996 to make best use of limited human and financial resources. The network encourages synergy between research teams through the exchange of skills and data, as well as sharing common methodologies. MAB also launched a four-year US $200,000 project in 1996 to fight desertification and improve agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid regions of Africa. Apart from training, the project is planting multi-purpose, high yield crops that should be able to adapt to arid conditions, producing both revenue and a source of food for people living in these areas. UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has two regional subsidiary bodies in Africa, one covering West Africa and the other covering the Western Indian Ocean and East Africa. IOC is working with UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme and MAB on sustainable coastal development projects for the Western Indian Ocean and East Africa, as well as on small islands. IOC also co-organized the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (PACSICOM), held in Maputo, Mozambique in July 1998, during the International Year of the Ocean. UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP) started a special, four-year project on women and water resource supply and use in sub-Saharan Africa in 1996. The project aims to improve the quality of life of women by making their access to water easier in areas where it is scarce.With freshwater resources likely to become a potential source of conflict in the coming millennium, IHP is giving a high priority to its programme on integrated water resources management in arid and semi-arid areas. As part of a multidisciplinary programme on coastal regions and small islands, IHP is looking at the problems of coastal cities. In Africa this work is centred in Dakar (Senegal). The UNISPAR programme - Bringing universities and industry closer The UNESCO UNISPAR programme encourages co-operation between universities, research centres and industry to promote and apply engineering, science and technology for development. UNISPAR is currently focusing on innovation for development, producing a series of "toolkits" to provide information, learning and teaching materials.  UNESCO's UNISPAR-Africa programme, as part of the overall UNISPAR programme, supports the endogenous development of technologies that can readily be adopted in countries across the region. Industry in Africa consists mainly of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), so university-industry co-operation initiatives need to focus at this level. In order to finance initiatives geared towards building up R&D in Africa, UNESCO launched the International Fund for the Technological Development of Africa in Nairobi in February 1994. UNESCO contributed US $1 million as proof of its commitment. Over the past two years UNISPAR-Africa has been using interest from the Fund to support case studies in university-industry co-operation that develop sustainable technologies relevant to Africa's economic development. The results of the case studies are turned into learning materials that are shared throughout the region. Some recent UNISPAR-Africa projects include:
UNISPAR has developed an electronic experts directory. This database, which is now available on the Internet (http://www.unesco.org/unispar/experts/), helps university scientists and industry to create partnerships, while enabling experts to build regional working groups.Promoting centres of excellence S&T capacity in sub-Saharan Africa varies greatly from one country and subregion to another. A relatively small extra investment in some countries, like South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya and Zimbabwe, which already have a relatively sophisticated S&T base, spread across a wide range of disciplines, could establish world-class facilities that can help pull up the region as a whole.  The UNESCO-sponsored World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention has established a Research Centre for AIDS in Africa in Abidjan (C"te d'Ivoire). The centre will receive and treat patients, conduct basic research on the spread of HIV on the continent and train African scientists and practitioners.Building capacity in sustainable technologies relevant to Africa's economy A special project on Biotechnologies for Development in Africa has focused on providing advanced training in microbial and plant biotechnology to researchers, with particular emphasis on young scientists and women. In 1990 UNESCO set up the Biotechnology Action Council to promote education and training in plant molecular biology, plant biotechnology and aquatic biotechnology in developing countries. Between 1995 and 1998, the Biotechnology Education and Training Centre for Africa, based in Pretoria, South Africa, gave 17 courses for 163 scientists from 22 African countries. These courses, which usually last one or two weeks, provide basic training in the techniques used in, for example, tissue culture, or the use of molecular markers. UNESCO, in association with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the International Cell Research Organization (ICRO) and other non-governmental organizations, has set up a worldwide network of specialized research and training institutions called MIRCENs (Microbial Resources Centres) to promote the preparation and use of cheap biological fertilizers. Use of these products can increase crop yield dramatically, while reducing the costly and environmentally damaging use of chemical fertilizers.A University of Nairobi laboratory serves as the MIRCEN for East and West Africa. The laboratory prepares, tests and conserves 216 strains of bacterial cultures and manufactures a simple preparation to transfer nitrogen-fixing bacteria to plant seeds just before sowing. Promoting the use of renewable energy For millions of people in Africa, the only source of energy is traditional biomass, such as firewood. Outside the major cities, few are connected to the electricity grid. On the one hand, using firewood only worsens already serious deforestation and desertification. At the same time, the availability of electricity is a major factor in development, whether it be to power production facilities, refrigerate vaccines and medical supplies, run computers, or supply lighting.  UNESCO's African Solar Programme 1996-2005 is implementing a range of low-cost solar energy initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa. Within its special Solar Villages in Africa project, UNESCO has set up a demonstration solar village in N'Gaoundere (Cameroon) with US $143,000 from its regular budget. Apart from introducing low-cost eco-technology for power generation, the project is involving schoolchildren, women and community leaders in information and training activities. With extrabudgetary financing, UNESCO is currently carrying out a study on the feasibility of converting Ganvi‚, in Benin, into a lakeside solar village, with public lighting, transport, tools and light manufacturing facilities all based on solar energy. UNESCO held the first World Solar Summit in Harare in September 1996 and nominated Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, as Chairman of the World Solar Commission. The World Solar Summit signalled the start of the World Solar Programme (1996-2005) to implement an initial list of 300 priority projects in more than 60 countries. At the Summit, Zimbabwe announced a US $38 million investment in three new projects, including one to revamp curricula ranging from primary to higher education to include the use and manufacture of solar technologies. UNESCO is producing a wide range of educational and training materials, including a Renewable Energy postgraduate learning package made up of texts, videos, software and CD-ROMs designed by leading experts. Strengthening the access of women and girls to science education If Africa is to redress its shortfall in human resources in the area of science and technology, it can no longer afford to leave 50 per cent of its population i.e. women out of the process. But, at present, only an estimated one in four girls of school age is actually in school. As UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor has said, "It is vital to improve scientific and technological literacy among women and girls, whose unique educational function within the family makes them such a major determinant of the attitude of present and future generations". In its current medium-term strategy, UNESCO has also designated women as a priority target group for action. In this context, UNESCO has provided US $250,000 for a special project on "Scientific, technical and vocational education of girls in Africa". The six-year project aims to increase girls' access to technical education and to promote policies favouring their inclusion. The project has already carried out a survey in 21 of the 30 countries targeted in order to draw up a picture of the current access of girls and women to S&T and vocational education. The project is now using the country reports to produce guidelines and materials for teacher training, setting up science camps for girls and designing hands-on science experiments for girls. The emphasis is very much on grass-roots activities, like booklets for children to demystify science, a comic strip for adolescents, posters and videos. On recommendations from Audience Africa, UNESCO has funded two Chairs on Women in Science and Technology in co-operation with the Association of African Universities. One Chair is at the University of Ghana, the other at the University of Swaziland. In 1997 UNESCO supported the creation of the Helena Rubinstein Awards for Women in Science to reward women scientists who have made their mark in medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, botany, agro-food and environmental research. The four prizes, worth $20,000 each, are to be awarded every two years by an international jury of 13 scientists, chaired by the Nobel laureate for medicine, Christian de Duve. The latest laureate for Africa was Grace Oludanni L. Taylor of the University of Ibadan in Nigeria for her work on the metabolism of lipids. UNESCO organized a Regional Forum on Women, Science and Technology in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in January 1999. Over 60 specialists from 42 African countries, many of them women, attended the meeting. Delegates drafted an Action Plan emphasizing the promotion of women in S&T professions and the importance of their gaining access to S&T education. The plan includes an effort to review textbooks so that they no longer present demeaning stereotypes of women. It also recommends measures scholarships, special regional funds, financial support to associations of women scientists and engineers, etc. in favour of girls opting for a science and technology education. This Conference was part of the preparatory phase in the lead-up to the joint UNESCO/ICSU World Conference on Science for the 21st Century, to be held in Budapest, Hungary, from 26 June to 1 July 1999. The Conference will have as its mission an increased commitment to science on the part of governments and all other science stakeholders, worldwide, along with a commitment by science towards meeting the aspirations of society. A number of meetings are being held on the African continent and the input of African ministers responsible for science will be all-important. The follow-up to the Conference will also be of vital importance, and extensive regional dialogue will ensure that African priorities are clearly identified and pursued. Organizing pan-African meetings on policy As part of its efforts to raise the profile of S&T in Africa, UNESCO has organized, or co-organized several high-level meetings in the region. For example, it took the initiative, in co-operation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to convene the first Congress of African Scientists in Brazzaville, Congo, in 1987. One concrete result was the setting-up of the Pan-African Union for Science and Technology.  In February 1994, UNESCO convened a Symposium on Science and Technology in Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. This was the first meeting of its kind, bringing together about 200 delegates from various African states, including ministers, rectors, vice-chancellors, professors, researchers, African Members of UNESCO's Executive Board and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. UNESCO used this meeting to launch its first ever World Science Report. At the request of the Member States concerned, UNESCO has provided advice on S&T policy and management issues to Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Organization is continuing to support projects on the creation of technopoles in C"te d'Ivoire and Senegal. UNESCO co-organized the first Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (PACSICOM) in Maputo, Mozambique, in July 1998, and will have a major role to play in ensuring appropriate follow-up. Nearly all the region's environment ministers attended the Conference. Over 84 per cent of Africa's population (777 million in 1995) live on or near the continent's 36,343 km of coast, while the economies of 38 of the 53 independent African states are closely linked to marine resources. But competing demands on the same resource between mining, tourism and fishing for example mean that sustainable, integrated coastal management is essential.
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In order to ask Africans to present their own priorities for sustainable development, including in the field of science and technology, UNESCO convened an international conference called Audience Africa in February 1995. This meeting brought together African Heads of State or their representatives, bilateral agencies, intergovernmental organizations, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and various NGOs, as well as specialists from civil society. The outcome of the meeting was a set of concrete recommendations for the future self-reliant development of the region.