SADC Regional Science, Technology and Innovation STI policy review and Statistics meeting

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SADC Regional Science, Technology and Innovation
(STI) policy review and Statistics meeting

• Republic of Zambia
• Ministry of Science , Technology and Vocational
  Training
  
• P. O. Box 50, 464
• Lusaka Zambia
• September 2008

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Background

• The revision of Zambias National Policy on
  Science and Technology commenced early this year
  (2008) and the process is being coordinated by a
  Team of eleven (11) experts, which was
  constituted by the Zambian Government.
• The Members on the Review Team were picked from
  various sectors, of the economy, such as
  
• - Agriculture
• - Health
• - Energy
• - Education
• - Engineering
• - Mining
• - Industry
• - Environment and natural resources

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ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN

• Since its inception, in April 2008, the Review
  Team has held several review meetings.
  
• The Review Team has also been convening
  stakeholders consultative workshops
  
• At these workshops ,only key stakeholders are
  invited.
  
• The main purpose of these meetings is to get
  views and comments from the stakeholders on the
  contents of the policy.
  
• The consultative workshops also aim at getting
  the views of the stakeholders on the performance
  of the current national ST policy. The
  stakeholders are also requested to make specific
  suggestions/recommendations on the way forward

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ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN CONTD.

• Since it is not possible to bring all the
  stakeholders, in the country, to one place due
  to logistical reasons, the Review Team sometimes
  undertook visitations to various institutions.
  The reason for this is to ensure that as many
  stakeholders as possible participate in the
  review process.
• The visitations helped the Review Team to get
  information very quickly, without having to wait
  for very periods of time.

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STATUS OF THE REVIEW PROCESS

• After getting the views of the stakeholders, the
  Review Team started the process of drafting the
  revised Policy , in August this year.
  
• The process is progressing very well and the
  Review Team has come up with a Zero Draft.
  
• The Zero Draft will again be circulated to the
  same stakeholders that we consulted. The reason
  for this is for the stakeholders confirm that
  their views and submissions have been correctly
  captured.
• Plans are also underway to bring the stakeholders
  to one place where the draft document is going to
  be discussed.

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ASSISTANCE REQUIRED

• As indicated above, the revision of Zambias
  National Policy on Science and Technology has
  reached a very advanced stage. All the same,
  there is still a lot of work that still needs to
  be done. Assistance is required for the following
  activities

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ASSISTANCE REQUIRED CONTD

• Visitations, by members of the Review Team, to
  other countries (2) that have recorded
  significant progress in science and technology.
  These visitations are aimed at sharing
  experiences and learning from others on the best
  practices in science and technology.
• Continued consultations so that as many
  stakeholders as possible are consulted and
  involved in the review process.
  
• We would also need assistance to help us in
  monitoring evaluating the implementation of the
  revised policy. This ME will also help us to
  update our statistics in ST.