UNESCO Initiatives on Biotechnology Indicators in Africaris.org.in/images/RIS_images/pdf/asianbio09_ahmed.pdf · • To increase the number of countries regularly producing quality

UNESCO Initiatives on Biotechnology Indicators in

Africa

Dr. Ahmed FahmiDr. Ahmed FahmiProgramme Specialist in S & TProgramme Specialist in S & TUNESCO south Asia officeUNESCO south Asia officeNew Delhi New Delhi -- INDIAINDIA

UNESCO contribution to Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action for 2006 – 2010

African Science & Technology Indicators and the role of UNESCO’s PSD and Institute of Statistics

UNESCO’s activities on Biotechnology in Africa: Capacity Building

UNESCO

Established in 1946. The Organization currently has 194 Member States. The main objective is to contribute to peace and security in the world. To fulfill its mandate, UNESCO performs four principal functions:

1) prospective studies on education, science, culture and communication

2) advancement, transfer and sharing of knowledge through research, training and teaching activities;

3) standard-setting actions;

4) technical co-operation to Member States for policies and projects


African Science & Technology Indicators and the role of UNESCO’s PSD & Institute of Statistics



Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action 2006-2010 was first elaborated in 2005 by the African Union and its New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

UNESCO has accompanied this initiative, first by assisting in the initial elaboration of Africa’s strategy for science and technology, then by co-organizing the First African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology in Nairobi in 2003


The Addis Ababa declarations of 2007 which was adopted by Heads of State and Government of the African Union “call on UNESCO and other bilateral and multilateral organizations to support the Member States, Regional Economic Communities and the African Union to implement Africa’s Science and Technology CPA

UNESCO adopted 3 flagship projects:

i) capacity building in S&T and innovation policy; ii) enhancing science and technology education andiii) the African Virtual Campus.

http://www.iisd.ca/africa/amcost/images/photos/PICT0329.jpg


CPA objective: creation of institutional and policy frameworks to conduct and generate STI

Using both national and international experts, UNESCO accompanied a number of African Member States in reviewing and re-formulating their national policies. These include:

Ethiopia, Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, and Nigeria.

Key features reviewed include the:• current pool of S&T personnel• investment in HR training & development• demand for knowledge by the private sector• institutional knowledge assets;• enabling environment;• functioning S&T infrastructures• challenges and opportunities;• socio-economic features of a nation

STI Policies formulated

STI Policy Reviews 2008-2010




African Science & Technology Indicators and the role of UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics

UIS is UN lead agency for S&T Statistics

Official S&T data source for:UN Statistical Year BookUNDP: Human Development ReportWorld Bank: World Development Ind.UNESCO Reports:

UNESCO Science ReportUNESCO World Report: KSInternational Report on S&T and Gender


Global Survey on Statistics of Science & Technology: Biennially – 3rd round has been launched in June 2008

Data collected:• R&D personnel by occupation & gender• R&D personnel by sector of employment & occupation• R&D personnel by sector of employment & gender• Researchers by formal qualification & sector of employment• Researchers by formal qualification & gender• Researchers by fields of science & sector of employment• Researchers by fields of science & gender• Total expenditure in R&D by sector of performance• Total expenditure in R&D by source of funds• Researchers by age • Researchers by: country of birth; citizenship/resident status • Researchers by fields of science • R&D expenditure by field of science • R&D expenditure by type of expenditure (Current / Capital): • R&D expenditure by type of R&D activity (Basic research; applied research;

experimental development): Total; Only current costs • R&D Expenditure by major socio-economic objective • Government budget appropriations or outlays for R&D • Business enterprise researchers by industry / branch of eco act • Business enterprise R&D expenditure by industry / branch of economic activity


How many researchers are there?Researchers per million inhabitants, 2005 or latest

available year

Source: UIS, September 2007


Shares of world researchers by regions, 2000

Source: UIS estimates 2003

Asia, Europe and North America = 95%

Latin America & Caribbean, Oceania and Africa = 5%


GERD as a percentage of GDP, 2005 or latest available year - Africa

Source: UIS S&T Database, 2007


S&T Statistics Workshops

The problem: • Production of S&T statistics in many developing regions (including, but not

only, in the Arab States) remains low. Capacity building is needed.

UIS Response: Regional workshops• To increase the number of countries regularly producing quality S&T

indicators.• To create local capacities for the production of such indicators, with the final

aim of establishing sustainable local S&T statistics systems • To promote the use of S&T indicators, seeking comprehension for

evidence-based S&T policy making.• To share experiences with other developing countries in the field of S&T

indicators, and to address the problems that countries may have encountered in collecting S&T statistics.

• To gain knowledge about the particular characteristics of S&T statistics data collection and use in the context of countries in the same region.

• To generate initiatives that could be used as a demonstration for good practices in other countries of the region.


Countries and Territories that have Countries and Territories that have participated in UNESCO S&T Statistics participated in UNESCO S&T Statistics

workshops 2005workshops 2005--20082008


Standard setting/Methodological developments:

Careers of Doctoral Holders – CDH• Response to ‘brain drain’ data demands from policy makers and

analysts.• Joint UIS/OECD/ EU project, funded by NSF• Agreed output (OECD), method (EU), and questionnaire (UIS)• OECD Frascati Manual is widely accepted International standard

practice for surveys on R&D• However, application of Frascati Manual concepts are not straight

forward in developing countries. • UIS is engaged in developing new guidelines on measuring R&D in

developing countries, compatible with Frascati Manual .


Expected Achievments for CPA 2010:African STI Observatoy

UNESCO, through UIS and the SC/PSD, in cooperation with the AUC and NEPAD, envisages a feasibility study for the establishment and operation of an African STI observatory.

The main mission of an African STI Observatory would consist of mapping Africa wide STI capacity, producing basic indicators on:human resources, funding of R&D activities, publications, patents, and research institutions.




UNESCO’s activities on Biotechnology in Africa: Policy and Capacity Building

STATUS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA

Sorghum farmer in Burkina Faso. Improvements in crops adapted todrylands like millet and sorghum began to produce results in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s.

Two of the key issues:Two of the key issues:

--The development of the The development of the African Model Law and African Model Law and Strategy on BiosafetyStrategy on Biosafety

--The establishment of the The establishment of the High Level African Panel High Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology

© UNESCO; biologistin the lab © Laurence Gough

on Modern Biotechnology


STATUS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA“at policy level”

Biosafety:

Most countries in Africa (about 38) have ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) and have received UNEP-GEF assistance to formulate their biosafety frameworks.

Only a few (about a dozen) have functioning biosafety legislation that allows the conduct of field trials on GM products (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania).

Only Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa have legislation that will allow the commercialization of GM crops.

AU-NEPAD Established recently (2008) the Africa Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) to aggressively support capacity building in biosafety in Africa -This will be based in Burkina Faso in West Africa with nodes in other sub-regions of the continent.



High Level African Panel on BiotechnologyRecommendations of the Panel involve the establishment of the following ‘Regional Innovation Communities’:

-Southern Africa: Health Biotechnology-Central Africa: Forest Biotechnology-East Africa: Animal Biotechnology-West Africa: Crop Biotechnology-North Africa: Bio-pharmaceuticals

Africa’s Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) for Science, Technology and Innovation (2006-2010) has biotech., biodiversity and indigenous knowledge cluster as one of its 13 programmes. These 3 make up the African Biosciences Initiative (ABI)



ABI has created 4 bioscience network centers to drive the development of biotechnology and other biosciences in Africa. These centers are:

-BecaNet (Biosciences East and Central Africa Network) in Nairobi, Kenya

-SanBio (South Africa Biosciences Network) in Pretoria, South Africa

- WABNet (West African Biosciences Network) in Dakar, Senegal

- NABNet (North African Biosciences Network) in Cairo, Egypt


STATUS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA“at R&D level”

Tissue culture techniques are in use in many countries for rapid multiplication of vegetatively propagated plant material.

successful private companies use the tool routinely to produce bananas, pineapples, and root crops.

Fewer countries use biotechnology tools as one moves the ladder from tissue culture to more advanced molecular techniques such as transformation.


STATUS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA“at R&D level”

REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONSFARAThe Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)

AATFAATF promote public/private partnerships for the access and delivery of proprietary agricultural technologies for use by resource-poor smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

PBSPBS (Program for Biosafety Systems) is a USAID initiative coordinated by IFPRI to build capacity for science-based decisions on GMO’s.

ABSPIIThe Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII),


“UNESCO and Biotechnology”

MIRCEN (Microbial Resource Centers)MIRCEN (Microbial Resource Centers)

UNESCO Chairs in BiotechnologyUNESCO Chairs in BiotechnologyBURKINA FASO UNESCO Chair in Biotechnology, 1997 University of OuagadougouSOUTH AFRICA UNESCO Chair in Biotechnology, 1999 University of Western CapeKENYA UNESCO Chair in Biotechnology, 2001 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture



The First Lady of Cameroon, Chantal Biya, cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony of the newly constructed sub-regional AIDS centre near Yaoundé in February 06. Also seen is Luc Montainier, Nobel 2008

Together with the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention UNESCO is helping to develop subregional AIDS centresin sub-Saharan Africa grouping education on prevention, training and scientific research under one roof.

Within the cluster of UN agencies active in the field of biotechnology (UNIDO, FAO, WHO, IAEA, UNCTAD, etc.), UNESCO can coordinate the United Nations’ contribution to the African Union’s Biosciences Initiative within NEPAD.

UNESCO also has considerable experience in setting up centres of excellence, starting with (CERN) in the 1950s. A more recent example is the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Training and Education set up in India in 2006.

Active learning workshop in Advanced Microscopy for university Biology instructors in Morocco in 2005



"ICGEB"ICGEB--TWASTWAS--UNESCO/IBSP UNESCO/IBSP Project in Basic Molecular Biology". Project in Basic Molecular Biology".

The specific objectives of the project are as follows:The specific objectives of the project are as follows:1) to train young scientists from scientifically lagging 1) to train young scientists from scientifically lagging countries in cuttingcountries in cutting--edge research in molecular biology edge research in molecular biology and genomics on a problem of general relevance to and genomics on a problem of general relevance to the developing countries; the developing countries;

2) to use well2) to use well--established laboratories in scientifically proficient countries established laboratories in scientifically proficient countries of the South of the South and in and in industrialisedindustrialised countries to collaborate in research on topics of relevance; countries to collaborate in research on topics of relevance;

3) to promote bidirectional interactions between the developing 3) to promote bidirectional interactions between the developing countries and the countries and the developed countries in areas of capacity building and research odeveloped countries in areas of capacity building and research on topics of interest n topics of interest to the developing world.to the developing world.

African Conference on Biotechnology22-24 June 2008, Libya

Tripoli Declaration

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UNESCO Initiatives on Biotechnology Indicators in Africaris.org.in/images/RIS_images/pdf/asianbio09_ahmed.pdf · • To increase the number of countries regularly producing quality