Future Africa Joins STI Coalition for Africa

Future Africa has joined forces with the United Nations Coalition on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Africa’s Development (STI Coalition for Africa) to advance African priorities by accelerating the development, application, and scaling up of technologies to fast-track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063.

The UN’s STI Coalition for Africa is a multi-stakeholder collaborative initiative launched on 2 May 2023, in New York. Co-founded by the UN Permanent Representatives for South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, and Morocco, and supported by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the coalition aims to enhance STI’s responsiveness to African realities.

Future Africa is set to play a key role in several strategic initiatives of the Coalition, with a particular focus on supporting the United Nations (UN) Task Team in piloting STI4SDGs Roadmaps. This role involves leveraging its extensive African networks to provide essential technical support and contributing expertise to policymakers guidebooks for implementing STI4SDGs.

Another significant initiative involves Future Africa’s leadership in establishing the STI Leaders Forum. Once formed, this forum will serve as a strategic platform to inform the Coalition about current developments and priorities in the STI sector across Africa. These insights will enable the UN Permanent Representatives of South Africa to effectively engage and negotiate within the UN system.

Additionally, the STI Leaders Forum initiative is closely linked to Future Africa’s collaborative efforts with the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) to establish the Chief Scientist Roundtable. This initiative is particularly timely as South Africa prepares to assume the G20 Chairmanship in 2025.

Future Africa will also collaborate with the Coalition in several upcoming events this year, including the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in July and the UN’s Summit of the Future event in September.

This collaboration underscores Future Africa’s role as a neutral platform operating at a pan-African level to address critical interconnected social, economic, and environmental challenges across African societies.

“Through our collaboration with the STI Coalition for Africa, Future Africa is positioned to drive significant advancements in addressing Africa’s challenges through STI. We are committed to fostering transformative partnerships that help shape global agendas to create thriving African societies and sustainable development across the continent and beyond,” said Dr Farai Kapfudzaruwa, Research and Partnership Manager at Future Africa, University of Pretoria.

Stakeholders and the public are invited to engage with and support the STI Coalition through Future Africa’s events to be advertised on the Future Africa website. These events will provide a platform for diverse stakeholders in the STI policy arena to contribute to shaping STI agendas in Africa, promoting inclusive growth and sustainable development.

For more information on Future Africa’s collaboration with the STI Coalition for Africa, contact: Dr Farai Kapfudzaruwa, farai.kapfudzaruwa@up.ac.za

This collaboration aims to harness Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063.