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AMCOST Bulletin
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IISD Reporting Services
web page <http://www.iisd.ca/africa/amcost/>
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Published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development
(IISD) <http://iisd.ca>
Vol. 3 No. 1
Thursday, 23 November 2006
INTER-MINISTERIAL DIALOGUE ON BUILDING AN AFRICAN NETWORK OF CENTERS OF
EXCELLENCE IN WATER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY:
22 NOVEMBER 2006
The Inter-Ministerial Dialogue on Building an African Network of Centers
of Excellence in Water Sciences and Technology was held jointly by the
Bureaus of African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology
(AMCOST) and the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW) on
Wednesday, 22 November 2006, in Cairo, Egypt. The dialogue was attended
by ministers from Lesotho, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe, senior
representatives from Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa, and
representatives from the Office of Science and Technology of the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU)
Commission. Throughout the day, delegates considered issues related to
criteria and guidelines, financial mechanisms and governance for the
network of centers of excellence in water science and technology (the
network), before agreeing to its establishment.
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chair of the dialogue and of AMCOST, Yaye Kene Gassama Dia, Senegal's
Minister of Science and Technology, highlighted the importance of
technology transfer and science and development in agriculture, health
and water resources, and welcomed progress in the establishment of a
network of centers dedicated to science and technology (S&T) in the
water sector. She called for a dynamic partnership between AMCOST and
AMCOW, and for enhanced coordination between the two bodies. She
stressed that the network would assist in the development of common
policies and the provision of research and data.
Lesotho's Minister of Natural Resources, Mamphono Khaketla, welcomed the
dialogue as an important opportunity for interaction between ministers
of water, and S&T. South Africa's Minister of Water Affairs and
Forestry, Lindiwe Hendricks, noted that Maria Mutagamba, Minister of
State for Water (Uganda) and AMCOW Chair, had stressed the importance of
water research being demand-driven, and that AMCOW should play a pivotal
role in setting Africa's water research agenda. She emphasized the
importance of AMCOW having direct access to Africa's water research
capacity. She also expressed concern regarding the proliferation of
water and S&T-related processes and called on the NEPAD Office of
Science and Technology to ensure coherence and coordination.
A representative for Egypt's Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation
said that water, like S&T, is a cross-cutting issue requiring
coordination between ministries and across sectors. He said the main
problem is not always scarcity of water resources, but often the
management of such resources, and urged a focus on applied research in
the water sector.
REPORT OF THE AFRICAN TASK TEAM ON WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT
Kevin Pietersen, Water Research Commission (South Africa), on behalf of
the Task Team, presented on the development of the flagship programme of
Africa's Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) on
water, science and technology development, and related criteria and
guidelines. He said the flagship programme is currently focusing on
stakeholder relationships, attracting financial resources, and learning
and innovation. He stressed the need to link the flagship programme with
international water programmes and global partnerships.
On resource mobilization, he said a target of US$2 million has been set.
On the way forward, he said there would be a process of assessing
institutional profiles, selecting institutions, promoting and supporting
funding proposals, and considering governance mechanisms. He noted that
a database of African water institutions and experts is being developed,
along with a comprehensive business plan for 2007-2012, and the
identification of potential nodes for the centers.
In the ensuing discussion, a representative for Egypt's Minister of
Water Resources and Irrigation stressed the need to learn from previous
experiences and to include applied research centers in the field of
water research in the network.
CRITERIA AND GUIDELINES FOR ESTABLISHING A NETWORK OF CENTERS OF
EXCELLENCE
John Mugabe, NEPAD Office of Science and Technology, introduced the
experts' recommendations for criteria, guidelines and indicators for
identifying centers of excellence. He said there has been an increasing
focus on the importance of centers of excellence, that no common
definition of centers exists, and that AMCOST had requested the AU and
NEPAD to develop criteria and guidelines to identify such centers. He
then outlined the generic criteria prepared by the AU and NEPAD.
In the ensuing discussion, Chair Gassama Dia stressed the need to have a
system for weighting indicators and a process for identifying experts
tasked with deciding on the designation of centers. South Africa
supported the idea of networks of institutions across borders. Lesotho
expressed concern that the current guidelines address S&T generally,
rather than water specifically. She proposed an indicator dealing with
teaching excellence, including a mechanism to review curricula, and an
indicator on mentoring, suggesting that designated centers could mentor
other institutions. She said the guidelines should not be limited to
government-run institutions.
Noting that Africa's five regions are not equally developed, a
representative from Algeria's Embassy in Egypt said there should be
unique criteria for each region. He also noted concern over the
indicative list of institutions and questioned how institutions would be
selected. Egypt proposed additional criteria on applied research and
training. Zimbabwe's Minister of Science and Technology Development,
Olivia Nyembezi Muchena, stressed the need for centers to exploit
Africa's academic resources and to focus on building a critical mass of
African scientists in the water sector.
John Mugabe clarified that the generic criteria could be amended to meet
the needs of each sector and welcomed the proposals on mentoring,
teaching excellence and the inclusion of private institutions. South
Africa underscored the need to address the definition of a water center
of excellence and said AMCOW could not endorse generic criteria, but
could only endorse specific criteria on water S&T. Chair Gassama Dia
said the criteria should reference the ability of centers to meet water
and sanitation objectives. Lesotho highlighted the need to have
water-specific guidelines and supported Chair Gassama Dia's comment on
criteria related to sanitation.
After informal discussions, John Mugabe presented revised guidelines,
highlighting that they now included objectives, indicative projects and
indicators for identifying water centers of excellence. He noted that
the indicative projects emerged from previous consultative sessions and
AMCOW's Strategic Plan, and that they were adopted by AMCOST in the CPA.
He also explained that the indicators were categorized as related to
scientific research and innovation, social and economic outputs, and
capacity-building and mentorship.
Several countries, including South Africa, said the revised guidelines
were a positive development. Egypt suggested referencing water
management in addition to scarcity. South Africa proposed explicit
reference to the Millennium Development Goals and, with Lesotho,
proposed comparing the listed indicators to the generic indicators.
Lesotho questioned whether diseases were included when referencing
"disasters," recommended discussing water for a broad array of uses,
stressed the importance of emphasizing droughts, and questioned the
relative weight given to the indicators.
In response, John Mugabe said the document would be revised to take
account of ministers' comments. Ministers then adopted the text as a
"living" document.
FINANCIAL MECHANISMS FOR THE NETWORK OF CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
John Mugabe presented the experts' recommendations on financing. He
highlighted recommendations on: establishing a special trust fund to
finance the network under the African Water Facility (AWF), and calling
on countries hosting nodes to make minimum annual contributions and on
all African countries to make non-voluntary GDP-based contributions;
establishing donor groups to contribute to the trust fund while ensuring
that donors do not "contribute to incoherence"; ensuring the network
becomes self-sustaining via, inter alia, public-private partnerships,
and considering the collection of water fees for this purpose;
developing guidelines for the allocation of funds; and establishing a
ministerial committee focused on funding the network.
Lesotho said the AWF is struggling to attain adequate funding and
questioned whether the trust fund would compete with the AWF for funds
and how funds generated by centers of excellence would be shared. She
suggested that the AWF's mandate would have to be modified by the
African Development Bank to incorporate the aims of the trust fund and,
with Egypt, supported the suggestion that countries hosting nodes in the
network be required to contribute funds. Lesotho and Egypt agreed that
the collection of water fees requires further consideration. South
Africa suggested that considering funding only within the AWF could be
limiting, that funding directed at research should also be sought, and
that guidelines for accessing funding be separated from guidelines for
recognizing centers.
In response, John Mugabe agreed on the need to explore whether the AWF
could accommodate such a trust fund and said other institutional
possibilities existed. Ministers deferred on the recommendations on
financing, given the need for refinement by the NEPAD Office of Science
and Technology.
GOVERNANCE OF THE NETWORK OF CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
John Mugabe presented the experts' recommendations on governance. He
stressed that the governance mechanisms need to reflect the
intergovernmental nature of AMCOW and AMCOST, and outlined a possible
three-tiered governance structure. He explained that the first tier
would be comprised of an inter-ministerial committee of AMCOW and AMCOST
as the governing council of the network, which would approve the
programme of work and make decisions on financing, including on resource
allocation. He said the second tier would consist of a technical
advisory committee that would report to the inter-ministerial committee,
which would ensure quality control, review proposals on a competitive
basis, and evaluate and monitor implementation, and that the third tier
would be comprised of a network coordination office to oversee daily
administrative and coordination initiatives.
In the ensuing discussion, South Africa noted the experts'
recommendation that the NEPAD Office of Science and Technology, in
collaboration with AMCOW, prepare a comprehensive proposal for the
governance of the network. She said that AMCOW needs to further discuss
the experts' recommendations and said it would be premature to adopt the
proposed governance structure. John Mugabe clarified that the task team
had proposed the governance structure for consideration by ministers,
but stressed that a decision is not immediately required. He said the
NEPAD and AMCOW Secretariats would further develop the governance
structure for consideration by AMCOST and AMCOW. Supporting South
Africa, Lesotho opposed the creation of new layers of administrative
bureaucracy and said existing structures such as the AMCOW Secretariat
could be used for governing the network. Chair Gassama Dia concluded the
session by noting that the NEPAD and AMCOW Secretariats would refine the
governance structure for future consideration by AMCOW and AMCOST.
CLOSING SESSION
John Mugabe presented a draft inter-ministerial declaration. Lesotho,
supported by South Africa, said the language on governance and finance
could not be approved, as these issues are still being deliberated.
Regarding ASIF, Lesotho said this was not a decision for AMCOW, but
noted that it may be appropriate for AMCOW to encourage AMCOST to
consider allocating a percentage of ASIF funds to the network. She
agreed with John Mugabe's recommendation that the NEPAD Office of
Science of Technology report to both AMCOW and AMCOST at their next
meetings. South Africa said the text should specifically reference the
water S&T criteria, and that the reference to the indicative list of
institutions should be deleted from the resolution. Lesotho and South
Africa also said it would be appropriate to adopt resolutions related to
the establishment of the network and to recognize the criteria and
guidelines as a "living" document that would be further refined and
improved. Ministers then adopted the inter-ministerial declaration as
revised, approving the establishment of the network, approving its
guidelines as a "living document," and requesting the AMCOW Secretariat
and the NEPAD Office of Science and Technology to work further on
governance and financing.
In closing the dialogue, Chair Gassama Dia welcomed the agreement on the
creation of the network and thanked dialogue participants, officials
involved in drafting documents for the dialogue, and the Government of
Egypt for its hospitality. A representative for Egypt's Minister of
Science and Higher Education said that Egypt considers the work of
AMCOST and AMCOW to be vital to all AU member states. Lesotho expressed
pleasure that the dialogue had ended in a constructive manner and, with
South Africa, noted that they would convey the outcomes of the dialogue
to AMCOW. South Africa also expressed hope that, as participants had
given their political stamp to the establishment of the network, they
would be able to receive documentation to take back to their capitals
for preparing institutions that might join the network. Chair Gassama
Dia closed the meeting at 4:25 pm.
This edition of the AMCOST Bulletin is a publication of the
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
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Prorgamme Manager of the African Regional Coverage Project is Richard
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