Kazhila C. Chinsembu and Choshi D. Kasanda
This paper describes the dialogue around Science and Technology (S and T) policy in post-colonial African countries with a special emphasis on Southern Africa. It traces the evolution of S and T policy dialogue from several global and African conferences held in the 1960s. In post-colonial Africa, S and T policy dialogue was founded on the Monrovia declaration of 1979 and the Lagos Plan of Action of 1980. In the new millennium, African S and T policy dialogue has been driven by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). In Southern Africa, the S and T policy environment is guided by several treaties of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Although African S and T policies are well discussed and articulated, implementation of the S and T agenda has been poor, hence the authors recommend that NEPAD institutes an S and T peer-review mechanism to monitor performance of S and T indicators in member states.
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