By Andanje Wakhungu
African scholars have met to discuss how they can shape the future of their continent as far as development is concerned.
Through the African Union Development Agency (AUDA NEPAD), African elites have convened in Johannesburg to discuss better ways of improving the status of the African continent.
Leading African think-tanks and research organizations have come together in bid to shape the future of African development systems.
According to Dr. Bitrina Diyamet, Founder and Executive Director, Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization (STIPRO), is one of the key priority areas the meeting will focus on.
“In Science, technology, and innovation there is very little policy research, we have to enhance relationship between African scholars and strengthen research on policy implementation for improved learning,” highlighted Diyamet.
During the meeting held between 28-29 March 2022, the, Chief Executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Elizabeth Sideropolous emphasized the need to avail African-generated knowledge to provide local and regional decision-makers with independent, evidence-based options for Africa’s future development.
At the same time, the chair of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Board of Trustees and Head of the African Futures and Innovation Programme Jakkie Cilliers, stressed the importance of data and foresight modeling to support countries come up with their long-term vision for their development process.
The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting held under the auspices of the AUDA-NEPAD
policy bridge tank aimed to explore knowledge-driven policy-making, scenario planning, and innovative solutions to address pertinent developing issues in the areas of food systems, health systems as well as economic recovery and jobs.
The chief executive officer, (C.E.O) AUDA-NEPAD, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki said the policy bridge tank served as a crucial source of continental development intelligence on regional development concerns, thereby accelerating the regional integration process towards ‘The Africa We Want’.
AUDA-NEPAD has established the policy bridge tank as one of its strategic initiatives aimed at engaging African think tanks to identify and address continental and regional shortcomings through evidence-based policy and knowledge services.
Its main objective is to help translate research output and connect knowledge to decision-making to build a strong and interlinked African-driven science, research, and policy space.
Members of the technical advisory group also include Dr. Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, executive Vice-President, the African center for economic transformation; Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, executive director of the African economic research consortium (AERC); and Prof Neissan Besharati, Director, development advisory Pan-African investment and research services (PAIRS).
The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD is the technical body of the African Union. The mandate of AUDA-NEPAD is to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of regional and continental priority programmes and projects and to push for partnerships, resource mobilization, research and knowledge management.
Through AUDA-NEPAD, African countries are provided unique opportunities to take full control of their development agenda, to work more closely together and to cooperate more effectively with international partners.
