 |
Africa has extremely uneven distribution of research and
innovative capacity, according to a recent report. Research is concentrated in
Egypt in the north, Nigeria in the middle and South Africa in the south. Africa
produces only some 27,000 papers a year - about the same volume of published
output as The Netherlands - but the continent has relatively high
representation, as a share of world publications, in fields related to natural
resources.The distribution of research is described in a report, titled Global Research Report: Africa, published last month by the UK-based Thomson Reuters research performance analysis and interpretation group Evidence.
It is the second study evaluating the state of science and technology across the continent using scientometrics (See "Researchers lag in science and technology", University World News, November 2008).
The study broke Africa down into three regions with six countries in North Africa, 34 in Central Africa, and the 14 countries that belong to the Southern African Development Community, SADC.
In the decade to 2008, the study revealed, the central region of Africa produced the smallest number of papers - some 7,100 a year, despite having the most countries.
North Africa accounted for the highest number of papers in recent years, with more than 10,500 produced in 2008, even though it has only six countries. The 14 countries of the south region also produced more than 10,000 papers that year.
"This immediately points to an uneven distribution of research and innovative capacity at both country and regional levels," according to the study.
More detailed analysis revealed that research in Africa is concentrated in just three countries - Egypt in the north, Nigeria in the middle, and South Africa in the south.
In the decade to 2008, South Africa produced the biggest volume of research, with nearly 47,000 papers compared to the region's next most prolific nation Tanzania, which fielded just over 3,000.
Egypt produced nearly 30,000 papers between 1999 and 2008, "which was about three times the total for Tunisia, its next-place and regional neighbour", the report revealed. Nigeria's total for the same period was over 10,000 papers, compared to around 6,500 produced by Kenya, which is the leading research economy in East Africa.
In west-central Africa, Nigeria's total for the same period was over 10,000, compared to roughly 6,500 for Kenya which is the leading research economy in the east of the continent.
The study also analysed the most prolific African countries in each of 21 main fields used for the Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators. It looked at the five years from 2004 to 2008. This showed that Africa had relatively high representation, as a share of world publications, in fields that are relevant to natural resources.
"The highest percentage of any field, for example, is South Africa's 1.55% share of Plant & Animal Science. Not far behind is the same country's 1.29% portion of Environment-Ecology," the study found. South Africa led in 15 out of the 21 fields, Egypt in five and Nigeria in one (agricultural sciences).
The report has also compared publication output with gross domestic product (GDP) for each country, "reasoning that proportionate investment in the knowledge economy is a good index of a government's commitment to maximise the longer term benefit of resource development and exploitation for the general wealth of its people". The leading countries by output were South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria and Kenya.
Indexing output against GDP provided further interesting information, said the report: "The real leaders are Tunisia and Malawi with very different economic bases but strong relative productivity in both cases. Zimbabwe was the most productive country, but only because it retained its legacy research base despite a collapsing economy and very low current GDP.
"South Africa, Kenya and Egypt all have significant relative productivity, as do a number of other countries in East Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania) and West Africa (Cameroon, Ghana," the report continued.
"It is clear, however, that despite Nigeria's high volume output it is not returning as much research as would be expected given the size of its economy. The value of its resources is not yet being felt in its knowledge base." This research productivity gap between resources and investment, also seen in several other countries, showed where Africa is not yet benefitting from the best use of its natural resources.
Analysing collaborations between countries, represented by co-authorships of publications, the study found a marked interaction between countries in North Africa which share both language and culture and are also relatively prolific across the fields analysed.
"Thus this network is probably the strongest group overall since it links countries which are individually research active across multiple fields. The group does little research with the rest of Africa, however, other than through the Egypt-South Africa link. The essential regional role of other countries, such as Cameroon and Tunisia, was also marked.
The historical legacy of past ties was reflected in collaborative networks associated with Francophone and Anglophone groups of nations, the report found.
The Francophone group had the benefit of proximity in West Africa, and this could prove an important regional focus and development opportunity. The Anglophone group had good links to the US and UK, and its common language base meant it already accessed and was exposed to the international community that used English for research publication.
"The test will be whether the research activity reflected in these links is maintained when economic constraints start to bite in Europe and North America."
Some countries showed the potential to play a transformational role. "This report has identified a pair of axes, running between Egypt and South Africa and between Nigeria and Kenya, which engage a high proportion of Africa's research and which link the rest of the continent in collaborative networks.
"The essential regional role of other countries, such as Cameroon and Tunisia, is also marked," the report argued. The future of the African research enterprise would depend significantly on the ability of active countries to help facilitate research growth through leadership, strong local investment and the creation and support of key facilities and centres to draw in and assist currently less well resourced partners.
"The volume of activity remains small, much smaller than is desirable if the potential contribution of Africa's researchers is to be realised for the benefit of its populations. The challenges that the continent faces are enormous and indigenous research could help provide both effective and focused responses," said the report.
Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 22nd May 2010
The Vigil was encouraged by visits
from widely different groups on the British political spectrum. On a glorious summer day, people from the
We are, of course, anxious that our
cause is taken up by the new coalition government. We are happy that Nicholas
Clegg of the Liberal Democrats is now Deputy Prime Minister. He has visited the
Vigil (
We welcome the statement by the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions calling for early elections. The acting
secretary-general, Japhet Moyo, said “The GNU has been characterised by
impasses, name calling and mistrust among the political parties while the
majority of Zimbabweans continue to suffer". He went on "The envisaged
constitutional making process has been fraught with anomalies and, as predicted
by ZCTU, has failed to take off as a result of squabbling. While it would have
been possible to have a new people driven constitution in place before
elections, this is not currently possible."
The Vigil believes that the ruling
elite in
The Vigil notes that, after nearly
two months, the three principals are apparently to meet at last to discuss the
mediators’ report on the failure to honour the global political agreement. At
the Vigil we are not holding our breath and urge President Zuma to call for a
SADC summit to end the bickering and arrange new elections.
If any further evidence was needed
of the failure of the MDC leadership there were the remarks of the MDC
co-Minister for Home Affairs, Giles Mutsekwa, announcing a ban on demonstrations
during the World Cup. We are not convinced by his embarrassed disowning of these
comments. It is clear that he has bought into ‘Dimwit’s empty rhetoric about
“rebranding” of
At the forefront of the campaign
against Mugabe is the Zimbabwean newspaper, which the Vigil buys in bulk for our
supporters who look to it to keep themselves in touch with
During the week, City and
There is a possibility that the
group known as London Citizens may launch a campaign on behalf of Zimbabweans
with disputed nationality (such as arriving in the
Some other
points
·
We were
pleased to welcome newcomer Brian Moyo who boarded a coach in
·
Vigil
supporter Try Mahachi asked us to publicise the launch of a new Zimbabwean
cultural group in
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
For the latest ZimVigil TV programme check the link at the top of the home page
of our website. For earlier ZimVigil TV
programmes check: http://www.zbnnews.com/home/firingline.
FOR THE RECORD: 175
signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
OTIENO by Trevor Michael
Georges. A
contemporary reworking of Shakespeare's Othello, set against the continuing
deprivation of present-day
·
ROHR
·
ROHR
·
·
ROHR Northampton General
Meeting. Saturday
5th June at 2 pm. Venue:
·
ROHR
·
ROHR South
·
·
Zimbabwe Association’s Women’s
Weekly Drop-in Centre. Fridays 10.30 am – 4 pm. Venue:
The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre,
·
Strategic Internship for Zimbabweans
organised by Citizens for Sanctuary which is trying to secure work
placements for qualified Zimbabweans with refugee status or asylum seekers. For
information: http://www.citizensforsanctuary.org.uk/pages/Strategic.html
or contact: zimbabweinternship@cof.org.uk.
·
For
Motherland ENT’s videos of the Vigil on
v=lvwikOhO3Fk
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7qqXJ7jfVY.
Vigil
Co-ordinators
The Vigil,
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429
Speak out for the elephants
Dear Family and Friends,
Anyone who has had the great privilege of
seeing elephants in the
wild will know of the very close bonds that exist in
their herds.
Mothers are extremely protective of their calves, always
shielding
them from danger, suckling them until they are four years old.
Other
females in the herd are equally watchful of the youngsters,
lifting
them up with a trunk when they get stuck, giving them a push
from
behind when needed, waiting for them if they trail behind the
herd.
If you've ever been fortunate enough to go on a game drive, you
will
know that one of the most dangerous things to do is to get between
a
mother elephant and her calf.
In the mid 1980's I witnessed the
splitting up of two young elephant
calves that had been orphaned as a result
of culling operations and
were being hand reared in an Harare game park.
Without notice or
warning a capture team arrived one morning. At government
level an
elephant calf had been promised to a zoo in Korea and there
was
nothing that could be done to stop the export. The young male
elephant
calf, less than a year old, was darted, loaded into a crate
and taken away
just one month after he and the young female had
arrived.
The female
elephant calf left behind was distraught, running
backwards and forwards
along the fence, trumpeting, screeching and
calling repeatedly for her
companion. Again and again she lifted her
trunk, scenting the air in all
directions trying to catch his smell,
rumbling and listening for his sound,
charging anyone that tried to
calm her. Some time later the sad news came
that the little male
elephant sent to Korea had not survived even a tenth of
his expected
60 year life span
With this memory still fresh in my mind
it has come as shocking news
that a pair of eighteen month old elephant
babies are about to be
sent to North Korea. The elephants are amongst a group
of animals
being captured in Hwange National Park and are to be taken to a
zoo
in Pyongyang. In an arrangement between Zimbabwe's President and
North
Korea, other wild animals being exported include zebra, warthog
and spotted
hyaenas. Zimbabwe's director of the Department of National
Parks has
described the export as a business arrangement.
As I write, protests and
international appeals are going on to try
and stop the export of the two baby
elephants. Amongst those totally
against the export is a new organization
that is starting to
revolutionize animal welfare in Zimbabwe. Known as VAWZ,
or
Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Zimbabwe, this private
Trust
organization can't have started up at a better time. Among
other
things so desperately needed in Zimbabwe they are going to
be
investigating wildlife poaching, leopard hunting with dogs,
animal
imports and exports. They are going to inspect abattoirs and
research
laboratories and check on conditions for guard dogs and Police
horses.
And perhaps most important of all VAWZ will be involved in
training
and education, working
with private and government
departments and with animal health
personnel in their endeavour to put animal
welfare back on Zimbabwe's
moral compass.It is long overdue and Zimbabwe's
bravest of the brave,
Meryl Harrison, has come home to lead investigations
for VAWZ. They
need as much help and support as they can get and can be
contacted at
kamvet@zol.co.zw <mailto:kamvet@zol.co.zw>
I end this
letter with an appeal to anyone who has a voice to speak
out for Zimbabwe's
elephants: let them stay where they belong, with
their family groups and
herds in our hot, dusty, African bush, not in
a zoo in North Korea. Until
next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.
� Copyright cathy buckle 22nd May
2010.
www.cathybuckle.com
Zimbabwe should adopt a responsible borrowing policy
Fifteen months after the formation of the inclusive government, Zimbabwe has
still not devised and adopted a strategic policy to deal with the debt
crisis in which the country finds itself trapped.It is particularly sad to
note that the country's debt obligation, to both bilateral and multi-lateral
financial institutions, is still hovering in the region of around USD7
billion.One doesnot have to be a financial genius to appreciate that
Zimbabwe is facing a debilitating debt crisis that urgently demands the
attention of the inclusive government.The authorities at the Ministry of
Finance are no doubt seized with this matter concerning the debt trap.Recent
pronouncements from the Finance Ministry have convinced some of us that the
debt problem is indeed a matter of grave concern to our
treasury.Indeed,every Zimbabwean should be seriously concerned with this
debt crisis because whether we like it or not, the debt problem negatively
impacts on the country's development trajectory.Put simply, the debt burden
of USD7 billion in an economy that is still battling to find its feet is
like the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of each and every
Zimbabwean.
More than 70% of Zimbabweans live in abject poverty.This
means that the
majority of Zimbabweans live on less than USD2 a day.Surely,
for a country
endowed with so many natural resources like Zimbabwe, all of
us should be
terribly ashamed of these startling statistics.All Zimbabweans,
without
exception, should enjoy basic rights such as the right to
food,housing,clothing,employment,education,health services and a healthy
environment.Indeed,the United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution
2000 of 1982 recognises that these rights cannot be surbodinated to the
implementation of structural adjustment programmes and economic reforms
arising from debt.How can the inclusive government dream of providing basic
services to the people when the country is sitting on a debt time bomb of
almost USD7 billion? Why is it taking so long for the government to
debate,design and adopt a strategic and progressive debt management policy
that will extricate Zimbabwe from this debt trap?
In previous
articles concerning the issue of debt,I have strongly advocated
for the
cancellation of all odious debts that Zimbabwe has incurred.I have
called
for the adoption of a rigorous debt audit mechanism that will enable
us to
determine which debts are legitimate and which ones are not.I still
associate myself with these sentiments.Odious debts should not be
honoured.It is as simple as that.Whilst I have no problems with activists
who agitate for the wholesale cancellation of all developing countries' debt
to enable these countries to jump start their moribund economies; I am
strongly convinced that there should be no blanket cancellation of
developing countries' debts before a holistic and comprehensive debt audit
has been undertaken.Firstly, we should locate the main reasons behind the
massive accumulation of the debt portfolio in most developing countries.We
should also interrogate the role of lending countries and the international
financial institutions( IFIs), such as the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund, in loan contraction in the developing world.More
particularly, we should seek to ascertain whether the IFIs have adopted
responsible lending practices or whether they are ,in fact, the catalyst to
the pauperisation of the developing world by promoting irresponsible and
inherently corrupt lending practices.Put simply, there should be no sacred
cows in this crucial exercise of liberating developing countries from this
enslaving cycle of debt and poverty.
The inclusive government is
hereby encouraged to design and urgently adopt
its own context-specific
standards,benchmarks and indicators to deal with
Zimbabwe's debt
crisis.There is no use in pontificating and somehow,
relegating the debt
crisis to less important items on the agenda of
government business.The debt
crisis is glaring us in the face and no amount
of political bravado can idly
relegate it to a non-issue unless and until we
tackle the crisis
head-on.There is no use in adopting a policy of
see-no-evil and hear-no-evil
inasfaras the debt crisis is concerned.We
cannot even talk about the rule of
law and the democratisation agenda as
long as we continue to fail to
effectively deal with the debt crisis in our
country.The government should
urgently highlight necessary steps towards
realising economic reforms and
foreign debt management, consistent with
human rights principles.Zimbabwe
needs a new debt sustainability framework
that should take into account the
impact of debt service on the country's
ability to fulfill its obligations
under international human rights law.We
cannot even talk of achieving the
millenium development goals( MDGs) if we
fail to adopt a new and effective
debt sustainability framework.This world
is globalising; whether we like it
or not.The objectives and conditionality
attached to granting debt relief
should be in line with human rights
objectives.Both the borrower and the
lender share a common responsibility on
illegitimate debt and its
cancellation.Going forward, Zimbabwe should ensure
that before new loan
agreements are signed,borrowers and creditors should
assess and consider the
economic and social impact of debt service
obligations.At all times, we
should make sure that obligations arising from
new loan agreements should
not impair the institutional and financial
capacity of Zimbabwe to fulfill
economic,social and cultural
rights,including response to any disasters or
crises.
In April 2004,the UN Commission on Human Rights sought to draft
general
guidelines to be followed by States and by private and
public,national and
international financial institutions in decision-making
and execution of
debt repayments and structural reform programs,to ensure
that compliance
with the commitments derived from foreign debt will not
undermine the
obligations for the realisation of fundamental economic,social
and cultural
rights.An independent expert, Dr.Cephas Lumina, has been
appointed by the UN
to work on these guidelines and the writer is
priviledged to be working as
one of Dr.Lumina's resource persons.I am of the
firm view that both the
negotiations and implementation of loan agreements
should be transparent and
open to public scrutiny.There is no need for
secretive loan
contraction.Indeed,Parliament should be allowed to play a
more meaningfull
role in loan contraction rather than to simply ratify loan
agreements that
would have been secretly negotiated by the executive arm of
the State.It is
only in this way that the phenomenon of odious and
illegitimate debts can be
eliminated.
Zimbabwe is too rich to be
poor.
Written by :
Senator Obert Gutu