The African Science, Technology and Innovation Priorities (ASP) programme is implemented through the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), a partnership of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) founding and funding global partners, and through a resolution of the summit of African Union Heads of Governments.
The programme engages Africa’s science leaders and political stakeholders to identify of the top scientific priorities that, if addressed, offer the highest return on investment for Africa’s sustainable development.
Over a five-year period, the programme will be developing, publishing and disseminating to relevant stakeholders, a set of position papers communicating the top 10 scientific priorities for Africa.
Delivering on Africa’s Most Needed Scientific Priorities
As we enter the last decade to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries still face major challenges in ensuring that all people have the opportunity to lead healthy lives and reach their full potential. This is especially true in Africa, where many countries have the farthest to go to meet targets for health and wellbeing.
The SDGs, along with the
African Union’s Agenda 2063 ,
the Science Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) and National Development Plans (NDPs), lay out a huge number of research and development priorities for countries to tackle in pursuit of those targets.
African countries have made progress across a range of issues, but recognizing that time and resources are limited, it is essential to prioritize and focus on the areas that offer the greatest opportunity for impact. An initiative coordinated by
the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and
the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) seeks to convene the growing number of scientific leaders in Africa to review the scientific priorities set by the SDGs, African Union Agenda 2063, STISA 2024 and NDPs, and help build consensus around which top 10-15 scientific priorities will give African countries the greatest return on investment. Ultimately, the aim is to direct resources towards discovering, developing and delivering game-changing interventions in priority areas that will help most people lead better lives, sooner.
These priorities will inform investment decisions by African governments and global funders to align resources towards projects that are critical to the scientific and developmental progress in Africa.
