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14 October 2011

Higher education holds the key to sustainable development in Africa

Despite gains made under both the Millennium Development Goals (2015) and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2014), Africa continues to face deep-rooted and multifaceted challenges to achieving sustainable development. On 13 October 2011, United Nations Institute for Sustainability and Peace, (UNU-ISP) jointly with the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the University of Tokyo, and with support by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), hosted an International Symposium on the Role of Higher Education for Sustainable Development in Africa, at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo.

From left: Prof. Akihiko Tanaka, Vice President, International Affairs, University of Tokyo; Prof. Shaukat Abdulrazak, Secretary, National Science and Technology Council, Kenya; Prof. Olive Mugenda, Vice Chancellor, Kenyatta University. Photo: Sean Wood/UNU.

The symposium brought together over fifty leading experts in education and development practitioners from Africa and Japan, including four Vice-Chancellors from leading African universities. It aimed to report on and share lessons from UNU-ISP’s collaborative initiatives to help African universities develop postgraduate education programmes for sustainable development in Africa.

Since October 2008, UNU-ISP has worked with a number of leading African universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia to develop postgraduate education programmes on “integrated rural development”, “sustainable urban development” and “management of mineral resources”. Yesterday, these programmes came one step closer to implementation with the signing of memorandums of understanding with eight leading African universities.

In his welcome remarks, UNU Rector, Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, said:

“Education remains the key to sustainable development, and it is imperative that the youth of Africa are given the right skills to sustain a self-perpetuating paradigm of development and to respond to global issues.”

He also emphasized the characteristics of ESDA that make it unique. It is ‘owned’ by African universities rather than foreign universities, it focuses on expanding existing knowledge and integrating indigenous knowledge, it builds on the existing post-graduate structure and it places strong emphases on field programs.

Innovation in African higher education

Africa faces many challenges, but it also has many opportunities. “Africa is growing rapidly and many companies are recognizing this market as the place to grow. This investment is not CSR, it is part of their business strategy. African businesses need to play the role of corporate partner,” said Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa. Adding to this, a specific example was provided by South African Ambassdor Gert Grobler, “Africa has massive reserves of natural resources, so the mining and minerals programme of ESDA is particularly important. We need trained professionals and skilled workers who have been educated on the continent, who are from the continent, to manage these resources.”

This development also needs to be sustainable. Industrialization should be pursued without destroying the environment or compromising the future of the population. Africa has a rich culture and the traditions of living in harmony with nature should be incorporated. For this, education is key, and institutions must consider the ways to address these topics.

Initiatives should be supported to integrate sustainable development into higher education, and this requires an increase in funding towards education. There is also a need to reconciling the current discipline based educational structure with the transdisciplinary requirements of education for sustainable development. A new educational model needs to be developed. This will help develop the skills to innovate and respond to complex social, environmental and economic situations.

While there is an accelerated increase in the number of universities, there is very little collaboration of universities. There needs to be more collaboration within Africa, and not just with the West. This was stressed in Prof. Shaukat Abdulrazak’s keynote speech, “It is important that Africa takes the lead in its own development. ESDA aims to promote this by playing a supporting role, leaving ownership to the network of the African universities. Therefore, governments should support it.” This sentiment was echoed by Mr. Mahesh Pradhan of UNEP who said, “The hybrid model of collaboration among educational institutions across the world is developing. Africa is a diverse continent with various cultures, assets, and challenges and this type of hybrid partnership [ESDA] is an opportunity for African universities”.

The way forward

As demonstrated by the signing of the MOUs by the Vice-Chacellors, ownership of the ESDA programme has been committed to at the top levels. Support for this programme from within Africa was strong, with the African Development Bank, and both the Kenyan and South African governments expressing strong support for the programme. “Higher education is a key area of interest for the AfDB and the ESDA programmes are perfect for AfDB support,” said Dr. Boukary Savadogo of the AfDB. Support from outside of Africa was also positive with Bjarne Garden of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) expressing, “We would like to support research, capacity development, and sustainability. We want to support bachelors, masters, and PhD level programs. The development of this programme is very much underway – but ESDA seems to be an excellent fit.” Lina Linblom of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) mirrored this statement by saying, “The ESDA programme should provide an excellent roadmap forward for sustainable development.”

MOU signing ceremony between UNU and partner African universities. From left: Prof. George Magoha, Vice-Chancellor, University of Nairobi; Prof. Olive Mugenda, Vice Chancellor, Kenyatta University; Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, Rector, UNU; Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana; Prof. Steven Simukanga, Vice Chancellor, University of Zambia. Photo: Sean Wood/UNU.

ESDA is now moving from the project development phase to the programme implementation phase. With the positive comments and constructive discussions, the outlook for this programme is very promising. UNU is now on track to be well positioned to achieve the target implementation goal of 2013 for the programme. As Dr. Elias Ayuk said in his closing remarks, “Education is the key to unlocking the potential in people,” and yesterday UNU came one step closer to helping Africa develop the skills to forge that key.

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Thursday, 13 October 2011

Friday, 14 October 2011

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