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Contributing to strengthening Ghana's Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) systems
Remarks by Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman (Director-General, CSIR) - on left, Dr Wilhemina Quaye (Director, CSIR-STEPRI) on right, Mrs Cynthia Asare-Bediako (Chief Director, MESTI)
Ghana is one of six countries benefiting from a UNESCO’s project sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) entitled "."
This initiative aims to strengthen fragile national and regional STI policies, as well as the governance of STI and institutions in research and innovation, in accordance with . The expected impact of the project is for African societies to create, curate, and use scientific knowledge to make inclusive and evidence-informed decisions; improve their citizens' quality of life and resilience, and contribute to the achievement of the and the .
As part of the project's implementation, UNESCO Accra office hosted a maiden Stakeholder Consultation Meeting on Wednesday, 24th March 2021. This was held at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) in Accra, Ghana.
The meeting was chaired by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Mrs Cynthia Asare-Bediako with the support of the Director-General of the CSIR, Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman. In their welcome remarks, they both expressed gratitude to UNESCO for including Ghana as one of the project's beneficiaries. They also stated that the government and the initiative's lead institution, CSIR-STEPRI, are committed to ensuring the project's success.
In his concluding remarks, Mr. Abdourahamane Diallo, Representative of UNESCO to Ghana, informed stakeholders that UNESCO expects Ghana to have an efficient implementation rate due to the country's involvement in the ongoing UN-IATT STI for SDGs initiative.
The project’s objectives, outputs, timelines and activities, as well as budget were shared with all participants by Ms. Melody Boateng, National Professional Officer, Natural Science Sector, UNESCO Ghana (to demonstrate transparency by UNESCO to its stakeholders).
All stakeholders were also guided through the ten key areas of , which emphasizes the importance of promoting science as a public good and science engaging meaningfully with society and vice versa to ensure international cooperation and national development.
Representatives from government ministries and policy-making agencies, research institutions, regulatory authorities, academic institutions, and the private sector were among the stakeholders.
The project is expected to run till the end of 2022 within the six (6) participating countries: Congo, Ghana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
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