AFRICAN AGENDA CAN ONLY BE ARTICULATED BY AFRICANS

The African agenda is about charting a new strategic path in order to affect a turn-around in the continent’s economy, politics, governance and development orientation. One thing that we must consider is the role that the Africa’s new vision to position itself so that it becomes the critical player in shaping the development agenda of the entire continent.

Africa’s potential is significant and if harnessed will drastically transform the destiny of its people. The African agenda is critical to ensuring the benefits of transformation are mutually shared across the different countries on the continent.

The land mass of Africa  is larger than the US, China, India, UK, Eastern Europe, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Japan combined. It accounts for 60% of the world’s uncultivated land.

According to the McKinsey “Lions on the Move” report, Africa’s GDP is expected to reach $2.6tr in 2020 which is equivalent to the current size of the UK; consumer spending is expected to increase to $1.4tr in 2020 from $860m in 2008 and the average life expectancy in Africa is projected to reach 64 years, compared to 57 years in 2010.

The African agenda should stress on good neighbourliness and good governance relations with fellow African states. It should also stress on the progressive articulation of modes of economic relations and the exchange of knowledge to offset the economic disintegration of the continent, but shuns the articulation of economic dominance based on exploitation and manipulation.

Through the African agenda Kenya has positioned itself as a special middle ranked power state and exemplar in Africa and the rest of the developing world. The manner in which Kenya’s democracy was born, the trajectory of its economic development and governance, as well as its commitment to peaceful co-existence with neighbours, has given distinguished clout and status to the country.

Mutual Benefit

A key aspect of Kenya’s foreign policy over the past years has been to assume the role of peacemaker and mediator in Africa, and a supporter of Africa’s interests abroad. Under the banner of the African agenda, the country will be a progressive agent for change in Africa.

Indeed, the values to which the country aspires at home are the same values it hopes for in the rest of the continent.

The Government’s foreign policy should openly state that Kenya will use its relative strength for mutual benefit of all and not attempt to run roughshod over neighbouring states. A specific element is that the country should seek strategic partnerships with African states in order to promote peace, stability and development of its economy.

We must make a contribution to the challenge of peace, democracy, development and stability in the rest of our continent for it is all about building a stable democratic system.

We must develop youth employment, support innovation by youth for the youth market and promote ideas in the female gender, reinvent distribution networks (internet, mobile, urban networking, and rural outlets) and develop/acquire infrastructure technology in the continent.

There is need to strengthen local SMEs to compete in all infrastructures markets (housing, education, health, transportation, energy, water, etc.), including by patronage of bigger African companies and promote Private Public Partnerships (PPP) and implement transparent procurement processes in the continent.

We should improve the quality of health care received by Africans in order to ensure a healthy and productive workforce thus resulting in an increase in the standard of living for all Africans.

Africa should maximize intra continental trade by encouraging private sector enterprise, as a way of creating sustainable growth on the continent.

Africa must commit to inclusive, transformative development that reduces income poverty, creates decent jobs, enhances access to social services, reduces inequality and promotes resilience to climate-related hazards in the continent.

 UNIVERSITY MUST EVOLVE WITH TIME OR FADE AWAY

Knowledge, its acquisition, dissemination and application is evolving at supersonic speed. Universities as among key institutions that support knowledge structures and pass on knowledge to future generations must keep stride with the knowledge revolution and the changing times.

Traditionally Universities were charged with the sole responsibility of teaching and research; we now live in an era where they have taken up new roles including their increased involvement with the society and in contributing to national economies all over the world. World class universities have embraced these global trends however Universities in our region are yet to fully adopt these new approaches and there is need for catch-up.

Universities today have embraced a learner-centred mode of learning by adopting curricular and pedagogies that prepares their graduates for tomorrow, concentrates on problem-solving and hands-on skills and emphasize on how to achieve sustainable development. Already, we have witnessed changes in terms of education delivery where Universities have used ICT to break the classroom confinement and deal with constraints of time and space as well as cater for foreign students. Virtual classrooms are now a reality and education is offered anytime and anywhere.

The evolving knowledge and research sphere now point towards transdiciplinary and multi disciplinary approaches. New fields are emerging from existing disciplines for instance bioinformatics and biochemistry.  It is important to ground students in particular disciplines but also explore interactions as societal needs are complex and multifaceted requiring different and multi dimensions to effectively solve them. Universities today have broken away from the silo mentality and from non-productive ideologies into collaborative initiatives which maximize on resources, reduce duplication, build synergy and enrich knowledge sharing.

Labour markets demand new skills with each dawning day and continuous lifelong learning must become a necessity rather than what we know as an education system where we have defined years of schooling and then graduate to start a profession. In the same breadth, Universities must upgrade the skills of the labor force as well as churn out graduates equipped with the necessary skills demanded by these markets. Towards this end, Universities must now integrate different programmes and improve the employability of their graduates by making them relevant to market needs and make them globally competitive.

Universities today contribute to the economy through wealth creation by commercializing research products. University-Industry-Government linkages are important in this endeavor and can take the form of joint research funding, establishing incubation centres, exchange of scientists and researchers.

Universities are also key players in a country’s innovation system and must carry out their role by tapping into the growing stock of global knowledge, assimilate it to local needs and create new knowledge.  

The 21^st Century University is in touch with the society more than ever. Universities today go the extra mile to understand what the society needs and respond to these needs by designing appropriate programmes. Gone are the days when faculty developed curriculum all by themselves and Universities now draw their agenda from the society.

Our Universities must therefore become flexible and change with the times or be left behind by the globalization wave. We live in societies whose thirst for knowledge is insatiable and who also demand that we focus on their needs. Only adaptive Universities will transform themselves and respond to these needs and remain relevant and competitive.

TO SELL SCIENCE, JARGON MUST BE SIMPLIFIED

TO SELL SCIENCE, JARGON MUST BE SIMPLIFIED

Information is the indispensable fuel for the development engine; the raw material that can be transformed into knowledge to empower African communities in their efforts to take charge their socio-economic needs. Information, education and communication are vital elements of creating a knowledge-based economy as envisaged in the Kenya Vision 2030. Adequate information infrastructure is vital to facilitates the effective communication, dissemination, and processing of information as well as for assembling, managing and sharing of knowledge and for applying knowledge in production processes, policymaking and the development process.

In the sector of Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) Media and communication are important tools to communicate and disseminate information on research, promotion and awareness creation.

Communication is essential for stimulating public awareness and participation and for improving their knowledge and capabilities equally for policy making towards Social and economic development.

There are a number of challenges facing effective knowledge dissemination such as less priority given to science communication as compared to political news and crime; science reporters lack basic training on how to communicate science and technology; pseudo scientists, misinforming public; Africa lags behind in harnessing information infrastructure for knowledge dissemination. 

To promote effective dissemination of Science knowledge we need to work closely with journalists and interpret scientific data, decipher technical language, and distinguish scientifically credible claims from unsubstantiated ones.

We must pay enough attention to knowledge and allocate enough resources to the development, accumulation and dissemination of knowledge if we are to achieve our vision of being a knowledge based economy.

Exchange ideas

Strengthen capacity to harness and apply as well as protect indigenous knowledge and technologies in view to solve specific problems and improve our economy.

For any country to move forward to a sustainable economic development, it should be ready to “Sell Science” by removing the “jargon”.

Communication activities can help people, even those from different social groups within a community, to share information and exchange ideas in a positive and productive fashion. This dialogue can be enriched by understanding how development issues affect them, discovering what others think in other communities, and seeing what other communities have achieved. 

The government, in cooperation with the scientific community, should establish ways of employing modern communication technologies for effective public outreach. National and local educational authorities and relevant agencies should expand, as appropriate, the use of audio-visual methods, especially in rural areas in mobile units, by producing television and radio programmes for rural areas, involving local participation, employing interactive multimedia methods and integrating advanced methods with folk media.

Changes in the media landscape, in particular the rise of information and communication technologies, also require changes to the way in which media development is conceptualized.

Effective Science communication will establish a transparent and open form of communication in both directions that contributes to defining the role of science in society and to enabling society to make the best use of scientific knowledge.

AGRICULTURE IS AFRICA’S JAB FOR FOOD INSECURITY

In Africa, the agriculture sector is essential for growth, poverty reduction, and food security. More than half of rural employment in Sub- Saharan Africa consists of self-employed farmers, many of whom are women. Agriculture contributes 12 percent to Kenya’s GDP, and GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four times more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth originating outside the sector. It is also the largest source of foreign exchange, accounting for about 40 percent of the continent’s hard currency earnings; and the main generator of savings and tax revenues. The sector also remains the dominant provider of industrial raw materials with about two-thirds of manufacturing value-added in most African countries being based on agricultural raw materials.

Agriculture in Kenya continues to dominate Kenya's economy, although only 15–17 percent of Kenya's total land area has sufficient fertility and rainfall to be farmed, and only 7–8 percent can be classified as first-class land.

Almost 75 percent of working Kenyans made their living by farming, compared with 80 percent in the earlier days. About one-half of Kenya's total agricultural output is non-marketed subsistence production.

A report by the African Development Bank Group indicates that agriculture supports some 70-80 percent of the total population in Africa, including 70 percent of the continent’s extreme poor and undernourished. This means labor-intensive growth in the sector holds much promise for poverty reduction. Long-term investments aimed at boosting agricultural productivity will contribute to inclusive growth by creating employment opportunities for women and youth. Likewise, the agricultural sector is crucial for finding paths to development that will ease pressure on natural assets while managing environmental and socioeconomic risks better.

Unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential and tackling food insecurity will require sustained coordinated investment using an integrated value-chain approach. While these interventions may be initiated by the public sector, there is need for increased linkages with the private sector, by promoting PPPs in agricultural projects and programs.

  

Food insecurity

There are several products that are exhibited during agricultural shows but they are not implemented outside despite the technologies that are involved in them. Therefore, there is need to strengthen extension services and food security.

Globally, the socio-economic growth of any country is based on the transformation of knowledge, science and technology into goods and services. Integration of Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) into national production processes is central to the success of Government’s policy priorities and programmes that lead to development, growth and competitiveness based on new innovative ideas as outlined under Kenya Vision 2030.  This is of significance in this era of demands of global economic competitiveness, sustainable development and equity concerns.

Development of the necessary scientific and technological infrastructure as well as the technical and entrepreneurial skills is an essential prerequisite to the transformation of Kenya into a knowledge-based society. This is because Knowledge-based economies are at advantage in today’s liberalized global market. 

Kenya, and Africa in general is faced with enormous challenges; scientific interventions are needed to ensure food security in the context of climate change. Africa continent should therefore embrace the emerging technologies like modern biotechnology normally undergo risk assessments making them even safer than their conventional counterparts that we normally consume without knowing the risks involved.

As a response to market failure, or as an effort to accelerate market-driven social change, technology transfer may combine public and private sector or rely solely on public institutional mechanisms to identify, develop, and deliver innovations and information. The challenges to technology transfer efforts center on developing indigenous capacity to generate and adapt agricultural technology to local conditions. This is the primary objective of technology transfer in agriculture and the basis for advancing rural development.

The main aim of technology transfer is to modernize economies and transform the way products are produced so countries become more efficient and productive within the global market system. The technology to be transferred is said to not only benefit large scale production, but also to assist small producers and manufacturers of goods, be they in the agricultural sector or otherwise.

A new technology must be socially acceptable and beneficial on many levels, adding to the overall capacity of communities to maintain healthy and sustainable livelihoods.

In a globalized economy, technology licensing and transfer of technology are important factors in strategic alliances and international joint ventures in order to maintain a competitive edge in a market economy.

For this nation to grow to a sustainable economy, the Government should put more focus on agriculture as it creates employment opportunities for youth and helps in promoting more women in farming.

GOOD LEADERSHIP PROMOTES CULTURE OF INNOVATION

Innovation involves the process of turning ideas into reality and causes an impact to the society. It springs from the creativity and brings about change by introducing new tools, products and processes.

Innovation takes place at different levels from modest improvements on an existing product or process to dramatic and even historically significant breakthroughs in how we relate to the world. In all cases, the capacity to innovate will be a function of our commitments, what we want to accomplish and our relationship with the circumstances we perceive we are in.  Innovative systems, tools and thinking are essential for organizational health and future viability.

Leadership on the other hand is about directing and mobilizing people and resources. Leaders need to be innovative for themselves, as they learn to operate in challenging, unpredictable circumstances. They also need to create a climate for innovation in their institutions. Innovative leaders identify the need for change, lead the change process and have to manage change for it to be successful.

Leaders can close the innovation gap by working simultaneously on four essential organizational enablers. Otherwise, innovation will be stifled. These enablers include; leading innovation, culture of innovation, organizational practices for innovation and the innovation plan.

To close the innovation gap, leaders must clarify what they want to achieve with innovation, and understand the specific issues that can prevent individuals and teams from innovating in their organization. An innovative leader will reveal organizational vision, give direction and develop strategies that will help the organization become more innovative.

Executive leaders also must demonstrate their strong commitment in their actions, not only in their talk. They need to make innovation a core priority for the organization and for key departments; assign credible senior people to lead the implementation; and fully resource their innovation initiatives for the long term. It is these kinds of actions that will send the clearest message that innovation is here to stay and not the latest passing trend.

Leaders throughout the organization do not have to be the most innovative individuals but they must learn innovative thinking and learn how to lead and manage innovative teams. About 70 percent of organizations identify innovation as their means to gain competitive advantage yet only 20 percent of organizations conduct any innovation training as revealed by a survey  by Claude Legrand and David Weiss in their book; The Art and Practice of Leading sustainable Innovation in Your Organization . If leaders are committed to innovation, they must give their managers and employees at every level the skills to develop and manage innovative thinking skills.

Innovative and successful organizations utilize the skills and ideas from all its members and effective leadership for innovation encourages team spirit. Organizations must invest in their leaders and employees to ensure that they develop individual and teams innovative-thinking skills.

Organizations also need to design their culture and organizational practices to make innovation possible. As well, organizations require a well-developed, organization-wide innovation plan to ensure a focused approach to organizational innovation.

When innovation occurs in organizations, it becomes embedded. It also becomes an invisible competitive advantage, consistently creating new value for the organization. It is reflected in how individuals and teams think innovatively as they redefine complex issues, generate new ideas, discover solutions, and mitigate risks. The end result will be that organizations will close their innovation gaps, achieve sustainable customer value and employee engagement, and remain relevant in the future.

Leading an organization towards creativity and innovation involves setting realistic goals, having a shared sense of purpose, progress reviews and monitoring as well as learning from past experiences.

Lastly, it is important to note that innovation springs from a culture that encourages everyone to come forth with new ideas, however small, and then provides the time and resources to develop it. It comes from openness to trends and ideas within and outside the organization.

REAPING FROM KENYA’S DRY LANDS

In Kenya, dry lands cover more than 80% of the country, supporting 20% of the total population, 50% of the country’s livestock and 65% of its wildlife. These dry lands normally experience low annual precipitation and high levels of water evaporation while maintaining strong ecological resilience posing significant challenges to development, dry lands have unique natural potential that could be tapped to alleviate poverty.

The region however has great potential that can be of great importance not only to the locals but the country as a whole. This includes livestock and livestock products; hides and skins, meat, milk, ghee, bones, hooves, horns, which are raw materials for the leather industry in the country; nature-based products such as Aloe, Gum, beeswax herbal products, herbal tea, honey, tree dyes, fragrance, wild sisal, wild fruits; Minerals like asbestos, gold, quartz crystals, green and red garnet and the recent oil discovery in Turkana.

Livestock production in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) areas supply more than 40 % of the country’s total livestock demand and export to middle East countries potential  millions sustenance and income for pastoralists and employment opportunities.

The Jubilee government is committed to develop ASALs taking cognizance of the fact that 80% of Kenyan ASAL, hosting about ten million people majority of whom were women.

The Livestock industry contributes about Sh150 billion annually to the economy; the government will partner with the private sector to improve it. Moreover, livestock production and the dairy sector is a major economic and social activity which constitutes a significant part of the rural economy accounting for 14 per cent of the agricultural GDP.

The ASAL regions have some of the best forage trees, shrubs and herbs that support production of high quality honey.  Bee keeping is estimated to contribute significantly to improved livelihoods of most rural communities in Kenya. It contributes close to 4.3 billion Kenya Shillings from honey production alone, which is estimated at 25,000 Metric tonnes annually. Most dry lands also have several herbs and high value trees that are in use locally for medicine.

Export market

Some areas have potential for dry land farming, especially areas that border Turkana river where farmers have irrigated their land to provide fruits, vegetables, cereals and cash crops both for subsistence and market.

Dry lands have a huge potential for cultural tourism and ecotourism, which could be tapped to supplement incomes acquired from livestock keeping. Many of the people in these areas are endowed with unique traditional skills for handicrafts production that have a ready market among millions of tourists visiting East Africa. There are also opportunities in the export market.

For maximum benefit from this region we must overcome the challenges of lack of storage, cooling, production and agro processing facilities, poor transport and communication infrastructure and lack of market information and empower the locals through entrepreneurial skills to be able to transform their lives and become self-sufficient.

Value addition through construction of abattoirs will enable livestock keepers  to sell processed meat products rather than live animals as done traditionally therefore increase their earnings.

The opening up of the Northern Kenya, which comprises a big portion of the ASAL region in Kenya through the LAPPSET project will provide essential infrastructure required to achieve economic development to benefit the locals.

Use of appropriate technologies and value addition of the ASAL products will assure quality products and increase export earnings thereby increasing the land use of this region and its contribution to the national economy cake.

Most importantly, creating awareness on the great potential that this region holds will go a long way into sustainable use of these resources, together with instilling knowledge on how to utilize Science and Technology skills to exploit the great potential that this region offers for sustainable development.

            

FUNDING INNOVATIONS CAN SPUR OUR ECONOMIC GROWTH

Kenya is one of the emerging economies in Africa that is seen as a future star due to its vibrant democracy and economic growth. It has competent manpower necessary to carry out research collaborations and innovations. A more remarkable characteristic of that trend is that emerging markets have increased their innovation and R&D faster than high-income countries. These markets are also largely driving the growth in patent filings worldwide.

This infrastructure is taking shape with a lot of investments in roads and technology. Nairobi for example is seen as an innovation hub, especially in mobile money and applications development, and the mobile penetration in Kenya is high and there is access to broadband for high speed Internet.

The Kenya Vision 2030 recommends strengthened application of science, technology and innovation to raise productivity and efficiency levels across different sectors. It  identifies  the  critical  role  played  by innovation, research  and  development  (R&D)  in accelerating economic development in all the newly industrializing countries of the world. The Vision recognizes the role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in a modern economy, in which new knowledge plays a central role is in wealth creation, social welfare and international competitiveness.

In the Global Innovation Index 2013 (GII), Kenya is ranked at position 99 out of 142 in the world with Low-income economy in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Switzerland retains top spot in 2013. Both Switzerland (1^st) and Sweden (2^nd)'s performance reflects the fact that both countries are leaders in all pillars of the GII. The United Kingdom (3^rd) has a well-balanced innovation performance (ranking 4th in both input and output), in spite of a relatively low level of growth in labor productivity. The United States (5^th) continues to benefit from its strong education base (especially in terms of top-rank universities), and has seen strong increases in software spending and employment in knowledge-intensive services. Mauritius is leading in Sub-Saharan Africa and ranked 53^rd globally while Uganda tops the East African countries and ranked 3^rd in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Coherent strategies

The GII is a recognition of the key role that innovation serves as a driver of economic growth and prosperity. It is also an acknowledgement of the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation that is applicable to both developed and emerging economies, with the inclusion of indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation such as the level of research and development in a the country. The GII is therefore a valuable benchmarking tool to facilitate public-private dialogue, whereby policymakers, business leaders and other stakeholders can evaluate progress on a continual basis.

Kenya intends to become a knowledge-led economy wherein, the creation, adaptation and use of knowledge will be among the most critical factors for rapid economic growth. Experience from countries such as South Africa, Senegal, Ireland,  China and Chile illustrates that rapid progress can be made over relatively short periods of time by pursuing coherent strategies  and building the capabilities to create, access, and use knowledge. The positive effect of technological advances is reduction in the cost of transport and communication and created new opportunities for business and employment through the innovation output.

Innovation is a dominant factor for a country’s competitiveness. It fuels a countries growth, drives future success and is the engine that allows a country to sustain her viability in a global economy. Kenya must be able to create and commercialize a stream of new products and processes that extend the technology frontier. One way to get changes to take hold is to give recognition to original ideas thus creating a culture of innovation. Once a critical innovation threshold is reached investment money continues to fuel the engine, successful talent attracts more talent, and the cycle of innovation becomes endless.

For Kenya to improve its ranking, we should walk the talk on supporting innovators to be competitive internationally. Retain, attract and generate talent and combine them with local talent. We need to increase funding for the sector and strengthen the Public Private Partnership. It is also important to provide venture capital to fund incubation and start-ups for viable innovations.

We need to support and encourage the development of strong Intellectual Property (IP) protection system by filing patents and licenses domestically and internationally, maintaining strong internal policies and processes for protecting their own IP and establish a strong national IP regime.

The Kenyan Government committed itself to allocate 2% of its GDP to fund research in the country starting 2013/2014 financial year which is a good step forward for a low-income country. Highly ranked countries in the GII like Singapore, Switzerland, and Sweden contribute 2.1%, 2.9% and 3.4% of their GDP respectively and score higher in indicators including; political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory and business environment, knowledge and technological outputs. There is need for us to improve in this areas so that we can compete with them.