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Africa needs more foreign aid - UN
2007-07-23 09:08:06
By Abu Muse, Nairobi
The United Nations has said there is still great need for foreign support for science, technology and innovation (STI) in Africa, which has the bulk of the world`s poorest countries, if the continent is to register reasonable economic growth.
A recent report by the world body says official foreign development aid has so far been much less effective than it should have been in helping reaching the desired goals.
It gave the reason for the problem as failure by the assistance to recognise the essential role technological developments can play in facilitating sustained economic growth.
The report, entitled `Knowledge, Technological Learning and Innovation for Development`, says the growth is as relevant to the world’s poorest countries as it is in the richest.
Technology acquisition in the least developed countries through international markets is currently weak, adds the report, released on Thursday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
It notes that in Africa, like in most other poor regions, the development of STI has been largely missing from the foreign assistance extended by high-income countries.
According to the 2007 report, whose focus is the world`s least developed countries, aid has a major role to play in spurring the transfer of technology and the development of the technological capabilities of domestic enterprises.
It shows donor priorities as not complying with these needs, with reported annual technical cooperation commitments for improving governance in the LDCs in 2003-2005 standing at $1.3 billion.
Out of this, reported aid commitments for agricultural extension were valued at only $12 million.
The report stresses that good governance matters, adding that it is difficult to see how that will be achieved `unless Africa has a vibrant economy which generates productive livelihoods for it citizens`.
It says aid for STI in Africa is an essential component of aid - not a handout, but a hand up – and shifting the focus could lead to a radical break with past aid failures.
The report observes that such aid is a very low priority for most donors, with annual disbursements for these categories worth $728 million during the period 2003-2005.
That is equivalent to only 3.6 per cent of overall aid to the LDCs, while 59 per cent of total STI-related aid went into boosting higher education.
The trend, notes the report, is particularly disturbing because agricultural research and extension are key priorities of Africa’s poverty reduction strategies in Africa.
Grinding rural poverty is mostly due to low levels of agricultural productivity as well as declining farm sizes, it says, adding: `This makes science-based agricultural development urgent, yet public investment in agricultural research is at its lowest level since 1971.`
The report calls for a rapid increase in foreign aid for agricultural research and development in Africa, especially supporting a `Green Revolution` in basic staple foods.
`Not only do donors need to strengthen national agricultural research and extension systems; they must also re-invest in the network of international agricultural research centres under the umbrella of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),` says the UN report.
It recommends that aid be increased to strengthen the technological capabilities of domestic firms engaged in industry and services.
Donor-supported physical infrastructure projects include components that use the construction process to develop domestic design and engineering capabilities.
The report says there is also a need for public support for enterprise-based skills development, particularly for design and engineering.
This could be in the form of grants or soft loans for large firms or local subsidiaries of transnational corporations and would support training activities within domestic small and medium-sized firms.
It calls for the inclusion of technological development in the `Aid for Trade` programme now being developed by a series of international agencies.
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