Office of the Special Adviser on Africa - STEM

African women in STEM: using drone technology to boost development in Africa.

KDISWAI1 — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 14:46:00 +0000

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Ruth Mtuwa, STEM, Drone Technology

[Ruth Mtuwa teaching secondary school students at Providence Secondary School, Malawi, the basics of electronics under the FemEng collaboration.© Photo: Ruth Mtuwa]

Ruth Mtuwa (23 years old) is an engineer and entrepreneur from Malawi with experience in the technology industry. She is a biomedical engineering graduate from Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) and is a licensed drone pilot with a Trusted Operator Program (TOP) certificate levels 1 and 2 in drone and data technology.

In 2021, Ruth co-founded and became the Managing Director of DroneX Technologies, a company leveraging drone technology to develop solutions to sustainable development challenges affecting her community. Through innovation, Ruth’s company aims to produce actionable intelligence and collaborate with innovators to move beyond data and build localized solutions to socio-economic challenges affecting people’s lives.

DroneX Technologies focuses on three main work areas: data, agriculture, health and environment/climate change and waste management. In agriculture, the company developed a hybrid drone for precision agriculture to optimize output; in health, a cholera geo-database that could be utilized for contact tracing; in waste management, a partnership with EcoAges Waste Solutions, which is a startup company that deals with waste management to provide insight on landfill management.

In addition to her work with DroneX, Ruth also served as a biomedical engineering consultant for the California Polytechnic State University Oxygen Generator Project, an initiative to develop an easy-to-use oxygen generation system powered by clean, renewable energy. Ruth’s passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has inspired her to take on leadership roles within the industry, where she is an avid advocate for STEM education for young people, including female engineers in Africa.

There is a growing interest in STEM education among young girls and women in Africa. This is evident in the celebration of women scientists and young women scientists across the continent. However, women remain underrepresented in STEM, both globally and across the continent.

To reduce the gender gap in STEM education on the continent, African countries must take initiatives early to demystify STEM and get girls interested in the field. Programmes encouraging girls and women to pursue STEM education with various academic options, including online education courses, should be introduced to increase accessibility for young women.

Reflecting on her start, Ruth says her passion for STEM was ignited as a secondary school student in Malawi. She visited the Polytechnic University (now the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences) and its mechanical engineering workshops. “I saw how the engineers were making machines [produced locally] that were ‘low cost,’ and that served the same purpose as the imported ones. When I learned that we had many non-functioning machines in hospitals, I saw an opportunity. I thought there must be a way to have the machines in the hospitals made in Malawi.”

She is immensely proud of her work as a trainer with FemEng, a programme that aims to encourage more girls in high school to take up engineering through simple STEM projects. “The response from the girls we worked with was truly phenomenal. It sparked my own interest in becoming a passionate advocate for STEM education. I now run social projects and teach STEM to children, especially through drone technology, and this experience has also shaped my approach to business,” she said.

Ruth takes pride in mentoring young talent in STEM fields in the hopes of helping to shape the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers. “Through all these efforts, I hope to inspire more young people, especially girls, to explore the world of STEM and to make a positive impact on their communities and the world. I believe in the power of mentorship and how small actions can make a significant impact.”

Her biggest challenge has been limited access to financial resources. When starting her company, she teamed up with local business partners to increase access to capital, and together, they leveraged their existing partnerships to achieve their goals. Ruth said her company also faced a challenge when the innovative technologies they produced initially received a slow reception. “This has required a lot of patience and perseverance in educating and convincing others about the benefits of the technology. Despite the challenges, I remain optimistic about the future and the potential for growth in the STEM field in Africa.”

Ruth believes STEM has immense potential and could be leveraged in tackling systemic challenges, such as the impact of climate change and overpopulation. “There are tremendous opportunities in STEM across the continent. These initiatives are incredibly important as they provide access to resources and technologies that were previously unavailable in many communities.” She believes that by encouraging young people to pursue STEM education, Africa can ensure it has the talent and skills it needs to compete in the global economy.

As women comprise half of the world’s population, getting girls and women into STEM is a matter of human rights and smart economics. Adopting gender inclusion in STEM increases creativity and provides gender-sensitive perspectives during product development. Ruth says, “With the rapid pace of technological advancements and the growing need for innovative solutions, there has never been a better time for young Africans to pursue STEM fields and make a meaningful impact on their communities.”

Ruth’s work in Malawi highlights how STEM education contributes to accelerating progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. Her actions make it clear that there are enormous opportunities in leveraging innovation to tackle pressing issues impacting the continent, harnessing skills and resources already available locally. 

Front Page Article:

Tackling spending and inequalities to promote STEM education in Africa

Rado Ratovonarivo — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:00:00 +0000

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Prof. Amivi Kafui Tete-Benissan teaches cell biology and biochemistry at the University of Lomé

Stephan Gladieu/World Bank

Professor Amivi Kafui Tete-Benissan (left) teaches cell biology and biochemistry at the University of Lomé, in the capital of Togo. She encourages girls to pursue science as a career path, and as head of the association for Togolese women in science, she has started a mentoring programme for female students to help them thrive in STEM fields. © Stephan Gladieu/World Bank

By Rumbidzai Adebayo

Africa needs to boost education in Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) to develop its human capital and accelerate progress toward the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. African countries have subsequently been taking measures to strengthen access to STEM education, establishing initiatives such as the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25) and the Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategies for Africa (STISA-2024).

African countries also decided to invest at least 1 per cent of GDP towards the development of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) while creating the political impetus for the implementation of policies on STEM education at the highest level of decision-making. This resulted in the creation of a committee of ten heads of state and government to champion education, science and technology on the continent. African countries subsequently developed policies and mechanisms to mainstream STEM education in the national development framework.

However, challenges remain, undermining these African initiatives to promote STEM education.

Public spending inefficiencies

The inefficiency of public spending for education is a key challenge, as highlighted in the 2022 Report of the UN Secretary-General on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). This inefficiency costs Africa US $12 billion. This is a particularly considerable number, considering it is not always clear how much of the resources African governments are investing in education get allocated to STEM education.

There is also the issue of governance and accountability mechanisms – such as policy development, support structures for budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, etc. – which often are not adequate to allow for the reliable implementation of STEM education initiatives. Therefore, investments, including those required to establish STEM-friendly schools, increase the number of STEM-trained teachers, and close the STEM gender gap, do not consistently deliver the expected results.

Inequalities in education

Another challenge is the inequalities between urban and rural areas, which limit the promotion of STEM education. Schools in wealthier urban areas attract the lion’s share of investment at the expense of schools in underprivileged, rural areas. The result is a disparity in access to infrastructure and qualified teachers, a “teacher gap” that is creating a vicious cycle that further accentuates the urban-rural divide.

To tackle the issue, several African countries have been boosting access to universal primary education, particularly in underprivileged communities, leveraging social protection programmes, such as school feeding initiatives organized with the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) and other partners to increase student enrollment. While the number of underprivileged children who have access to STEM education has subsequently increased, the result has not been enough. Urban-rural inequalities continue to persist and are compounded by other factors such as gender equality, disability, etc.

The way forward

What can African governments and their partners do to address these challenges?

Investment in education should go hand in hand with capacity-building initiatives to boost governance and accountability. Governments could leverage resources such as the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management to develop their capacity for budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning or the World Bank’s Public Expenditure Management Handbook to acquire more knowledge about public expenditure management and its impact on budgetary outcomes.

Collaboration with development partners supporting investment in STEM infrastructure should be strengthened. This could contribute to bridging the urban-rural divide by making resources critical for the delivery of quality STEM education more accessible, such as classrooms, laboratories, pedagogical supplies, Internet connectivity, etc. This collaboration could also be essential for the maintenance of social protection programmes, such as school feeding initiatives, where needed.

The “teacher gap” should be reduced by prioritizing training for current and future teachers, especially in STEM education. Specialized institutions providing these training services should be supported, such as the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), and the International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

A significant, sustained investment in infrastructure should be made to provide students and teachers in Africa with a modern learning environment where they can thrive and engage with a global, interconnected world. Digital technology should be made accessible to all. The playing field between urban and rural areas should be levelled by expanding power and water grids, as well as road networks and Internet infrastructure to underprivileged, rural areas.

Tackling these inefficiencies and inequalities is therefore crucial to the establishment of a robust STEM culture and a dynamic STEM ecosystem in Africa. This would create an environment where the promotion and growth of STEM education become an integral part of the African narrative as the continent mobilizes to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and the realization of the promises of Agenda 2063.

The author is a Programme Management Officer in the policy analysis and coordination team of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa at the United Nations. She acknowledges the contribution of Dr. Beatrice Khamati Njenga, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Institutional Advancement, International Leadership University Kenya and former Head of the Education Division in the African Union Commission), who provided technical guidance during the preparation of this product. Dr. Njenga is a member of the Africa Knowledge Network.

Front Page Article:

Africa at the Transforming Education Summit

Rado Ratovonarivo — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 16:30:00 +0000

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A wide view of the projections in the General Assembly Hall as Secretary-General António Guterres (on screens and at podium) addresses the SDG Moment 2022.

UN Photo/Cia Pak

The UN system and its partners organized the Transforming Education Summit in New York from 16 to 19 September, aiming to tackle a global education crisis that is having a devastating impact on the lives of children and young people around the world, including in Africa. In addition to recovering learning losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summit explored ways to make equitable, inclusive, quality and relevant education accessible to all, mobilizing global action and solidarity to put education front and centre on country priorities and government agenda.

The United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa produces knowledge products, highlighting the issues addressed during the Transforming Education Summit, with a specific focus on Africa. Most recently, the office published the policy briefs STEM education and inequality in Africa and Information Communications Technology in Higher Education in Africa: Challenges from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Summit included a Leaders Day segment dedicated to the presentation of National Statements of Commitment by Heads of State and Government as well as a presentation of the Summit Youth Declaration and the Secretary-General’s Vision Statement for Transforming Education. The UN Chief urged countries to protect education budgets and prioritize spending for learning resources. “Education financing must be the number one priority for Governments. It is the single most important investment any country can make in its people and its future,” continued the Secretary-General, who also spoke via video message on transforming the financing of education.

The Minister of National Education and Literacy of Côte d'Ivoire as well as the Minister of Education of Sierra Leone exchanged with youth leaders from their respective countries as well as other participants during an engagement on Intergenerational dialogues on young people at the center of transforming education. The Youth Envoy of the African Union also delivered closing remarks during a pivotal Youth Declaration segment exploring opportunities for action.

UN News reported the importance of halting a crisis that will have a significant impact on an entire generation, while amplifying the call of Secretary-General António Guterres that “Now is the time to transform education systems.” The outlet shared a key outcome of the initiative as well, which is the announcement that “more than 130 countries attending the summit, have committed to rebooting their education systems and accelerating action to end the learning crisis.”

The “biggest-ever investment in education” was also announced during the Summit, when the Secretary-General and Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, launched a new mechanism that will provide an initial US $2 billion in additional affordable funding for education programmes, which could unlock an extra US $10 billion of additional financing for education and skills by 2030.

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