The Finals of the Women and Young Professionals in Science Competitions Held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

The Women and Young Professionals in Science Competitions reached their climax on 21st April, 2009 during the finals held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ATPS coordinated the two competitions in collaboration with the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (ACP-EU), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Alliance for a Green revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The competitions themed; Improving Agricultural Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa took place under the auspices of the ATPS Phase VI program on youth and gender empowerment and were widely regarded as major success. Prof Mary Abukutsa Onyango’s presentation on “Development and Promotion of Technologies for Sustainable Production and Utilization of Indigenous Vegetables for Nutrition Security and Wealth Creation in Kenya” scooped first prize in the Women’s category. In youth category, Joel Nwakaire won the first prize with his presentation entitled; "Design, construction, and test-running of a biodiesel pilot plant."

The awards were given out during a Ministers of Agriculture, Land and Livestock conference at the African Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on April 24, 2009. The expert Group Committee constituted to carry out a peer review of the abstracts was overwhelmed by the number of submissions from across Africa. "The panel is really pleased with the quality of the submissions and the enthusiasm of the women and young professionals," said Ms Judith Francis, CTA (the Netherlands). "Most issues addressed came out of practical problems faced by farmers in their day to day work which shows that the research they do is relevant and has the potential to make a lasting impact," she added.

It was observed however that there were some glaring imbalances in representation between various regions; Southern Africa was singled out as the least represented. Most participants acknowledged their support came from outside agencies which reveal increasing overdependence on donor funding for science, technology and innovation (STI) policy research, dialogue and practice for African development.

In his keynote address during a dinner to announce the winners, Dr. Monty Jones, 2004 World Food Prize Laureate and Executive Director, FARA, Ghana called upon African Governments to invest more in agricultural science, technology and innovation (STI) policy research, dialogue and practice for African development. "It is time for African Governments to show their commitment towards investing in agriculture as a means to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, by increasing their budget allocations for it, no matter how modest their spending plans. Furthermore their focus should be trained on the young people and women if we are to make any real progress."

In his opening remarks, read on his behalf by Mr. Marsden Momanyi of ATPS, Dr Kevin Urama, Executive Director, ATPS observed that 50 per cent of Africa's population is below the age of 18 and an extraordinarily high percentage of it is between the ages of 15-25, and this percentage is growing by the day. This places Africa amongst the most 'youthful' continents in the world. On the other hand, women and girls make up 51 per cent of Africa's population and 70 percent of the continent's agricultural producers are women. Despite this, African Youth and Women are often placed in the margins of the public sphere and major political, socio-economic, and cultural processes! It is for this reason that ATPS places a huge emphasis on youth and women as drivers of their own destinies, through engagement in science, technology and innovation capacity building and policy engagement.

According to the expert panel, although there is evidence of participation of stakeholders particularly women farmers and youth, there is greater need for researchers to interact with the farming community in order to do ground breaking science. During the event, special status was given to Prof. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim from Mauritius on her abstract titled “Traditional Medicine and its Impact on Livelihoods.” Her presentation underscored the need for Africa to value its abundant indigenous scientific knowledge and capacities which are yet untapped.

The ATPS took the opportunity during the event to announce the launch of its Youth Innovation Challenge Program (Y I CAN), and Women Innovation Challenge Programs (We Can). Modeled after the British Council African knowledge Transfer Partnerships (AKTP), the ATPS (Y I CAN) and (We Can) programs aim to promote innovation through targeted collaboration/partnerships with the triple helix: (Researchers, Private Sector Actors and Policy Makers). The program applicants are required to identify original innovative ideas, craftsmanship, technologies and knowledge for solving specific challenges in a production or service chain either in the private sector or in rural communities. Successful applicants will be deployed with relevant actors in the relevant areas (private or public sectors) on the continent for 3 – 6 months to incubate the idea and turn it into tangible technologies / innovations for solutions practical problems identified.

The theme of the 2009 competitions to be launched soon is "Agricultural Innovation in a Changing Global Environment."

Speeches:

Opening Remarks - Dr. Kevin Urama, Executive Director, ATPS

Message to ministers