African Academy Development: Strengthening Southern African Development Community (SADC) Science Academies for better service to society workshop

Abstract

The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), SADC Secretariat, and Lesotho Academy for Science and Technology (LAST) jointly hosted a SADC Academies Workshop on 5 December 2022 on the sidelines of the World Science Forum 2022. The Workshop was hosted in Cape Town, South Africa at the Park Inn Hotel. The workshop objective was to facilitate the strengthening of Academies’ role in the development and utilization of the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem, as well as policy formulation and implementation. Academies from eleven SADC Member States, DSI, SADC Secretariat, and United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (UNTB LDC) participated in the workshop. The UNTB LDC and the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) have been instrumental partners in establishing science Academies in Angola, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi. The Angola Academy of Science (AAS), LAST, and Botswana Academy of Science as some of the recently established academies presented on respective progress to date. Progress by the newly established Academies was appreciated as successful and it was agreed that more needs to be done collaboratively to support these Academies, including joint fund raising and science advisory activities with older Academies. Additionally, it was agreed that the African Academy has to establish and strategically maintain partnerships with policy makers (government), business, civil society, and STI ecosystem if the role and value of Academies is to be strengthened. As a workshop outcome, a SADC Academies Working Group was established to steer the crafting of guidelines; the group consists of ASSAf, LAST, Academy of Sciences in Malawi, Kingdom of Eswatini Academy of Sciences, Academie Congolaise du Sciences, Zimbabwe Academy of Science, and SADC Secretariat. Additionally, UNESCO, NASAC, and UNTB LDC will be invited into the Working Group as they are key partners in operationalization of the African Academy.