UN S&T Cluster in support of the African Union Consolidated Plan of Action for Science and Technology

Context/Background

Since 1999, regional consultative meetings have been held to improve the coherence of the activities of the various UN agencies working in the five regions of the world. This reform agenda echoes the wishes of many UN Member States desirous to revitalize the role of the specialized agencies, in order to maximize efforts and to avoid duplication. These consultative meetings come in response to regional development efforts in Africa in particular, in the context of the UN Secretary-General’s reform agenda and as urged by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

For Africa, six thematic cluster areas were established to serve as an operational framework to support the African Union. These clusters involve various UN agencies and concern the priority areas for the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The Science and Technology (S&T) Cluster was established at the Fifth Regional Consultation in May 2003. It designated UNESCO as the Convener and the UN Commission for Africa (UNECA) as the Vice-Convener.

The inaugural meeting of the S&T Cluster took place in July 2004 during the Sixth Regional Consultation. The meeting adopted an initial programme of activities for active cooperation which included collaboration with the African Union (AU) within the framework of the forthcoming AU summit on the theme of science and technology in 2007. In addition to UNESCO and UNECA, agencies cited as being important for membership of the cluster included WIPO, UNIDO, UNCTAD, FAO, UNEP, World Bank, ILO and WHO. Since 2004, the cluster has been working informally, notably supporting and monitoring the process of the development of Africa’s S&T Consolidated Plan of Action approved by Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in January 2007, as well as the review, update and restructuring of S&T systems and policies in Africa. It has also been supporting the Inter-agency Network on Biotechnology.

However, the cluster still needs to coordinate more closely, working as a functioning team to strengthen its role as a significant partner of the AU in S&T. In order to coordinate UN S&T input into the AU Summit, improve functioning and maximize efforts, a meeting of the UN S&T Cluster in support of the AU was convened by UNESCO in Paris on 9 June 2006. Other relevant partners were invited to this meeting.

The cluster engages in a mix of two sets of activities:

• focus on the African Union Science and Technology Initiative aimed at the explicit application of S&T for industrialization and economic growth;
• mainstreaming S&T in other AU initiatives by defining issues which require S&T research, analysis and capacity-building.

UNESCO and UNECA organize fourth meeting of UN Science and Technology Cluster

1 September - UNESCO and UNECA organized a meeting of the UN Science and Technology Cluster in Geneva, Switzerland, on 4 September 2009, in collaboration with UNEP. This represents an important milestone, given the importance accorded to clusters for meeting regional priorities and for reporting on UN activities in Africa via the Regional Coordination Mechanism. (More).

Parliamentarians call for network to support S&T for development in Eastern Africa

April 2009 - Parliamentarians from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Egypt plan to establish a sub-regional network of parliamentarians in support of science and technology for development. This recommendation is outlined in the Mombasa Declaration adopted on 3 April at the end of a five-day capacity-building workshop in STI policy and scientific forum for parliamentarians organized by UNESCO’s Division for Science Policy and Sustainable Development, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, African Union/New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the Kenya Ministry for Higher Education, Science and Technology. (More)

Reform of Tanzanian science system gets under way

December 2008 - The reform of Tanzania’s science, technology and innovation (STI) system gets under way on 15-16 December with the first consultation of stakeholders at a workshop in Bagamoyo (Tanzania). UNESCO is heading a team of United Nations agencies and development partners which are accompanying Tanzania in this endeavour, within the One UN initiative. Under this umbrella, UNESCO and government departments and agencies have formulated a series of proposals for a total budget of US$10 million, to be financed from the One UN fund and other sources. (More)

For details: f.osotimehin@unesco.org - a.maduekwe@unesco.org

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