UN Technology Bank supports the Lesotho Academy of Science and Technology

This article is also shared on the LAST website.

Why is an Academy of Sciences important to a country?

Academies of Sciences are unique institutions that provide authoritative and credible advisory services to governments on issues related to science and technology. The academies play a major role in the development of national science and technology, and in sustainable development policies, thus benefiting both the economy and society.

The intellectual independence of academies is critical to the success of providing evidence-based advice to governments. The establishment of new academies of sciences requires financial and in-kind support from governments and other funders. Even with this support, it is critical that the academy remains intellectually independent to produce and publish studies on critical national, regional and global challenges without censorship, even when the studies are commissioned by the government or other stakeholders. Moreover, the governance of the academies must enable academy members or fellows to freely elect their officials on merit without influence by the government or political influence. The academies must remain apolitical to the public sector and non-partisan to the private sector as well.

Three of their key roles are:

1. To provide consistent, impartial and evidenced advice
2. To respond to specific needs of countries
3. To respond to, analyze and provide recommendations for systemic needs

Supporting the development of Academies of Sciences in LDCs

To enable least developed countries (LDCs) to benefit from the advice of academies of sciences in developing their science, technology and innovation policies, the UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (Technology Bank) in collaboration with the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) developed a programme to support academies of sciences in LDCs. This includes the establishment of these academies while also giving support to existing academies.

Since 2020, the programme has supported 10 African LDCs to develop their academies. To date, the programme has assisted the launch of Academies of Sciences in four LDCs - Angola (December 2020), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (March 2021), Lesotho (March 2021), and Malawi (May 2021). In addition, some academies are at different stages of establishment in Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

The development of the Lesotho Academy for Sciences and Technology

With regard to the Lesotho Academy for Science and Technology (LAST), there is a clear space for the academy to play its part in Basotho society. Currently, the government expenditure on R&D is 0.05% of the GDP, although the African Union recommends a minimum of 1% of GDP to be spent on R&D. Moreover, Lesotho has approximately 35 researchers per million inhabitants, a number much below the critical mass estimation for developed countries, i.e., 1000/1200 Full-Time Equivalent researchers per million inhabitants^[1]. Notably, females make up 36% of researchers in Lesotho^[2], higher than the global average of 33.3%^[3]. However, women researchers in Lesotho are not working equally across different fields. For example, 70% of agriculture research is contributed by female researchers but only 10% of engineering research is conducted by female researchers^[4]. Increasing the variety of fields female researchers contribute to can help gender equality across the country more broadly. Currently, women in research are well represented in fields which comprise a lower contribution to the GDP, and not well represented in areas with substantial economic potential such as services and manufacturing. Increasing the variety of fields where female researchers contribute, could strengthen gender equality across multiple sectors and contribute to national development plans.

Within the overall mandate of the academies, LAST can provide evidence-based advice to the Lesotho government as it is currently updating its science, technology and innovation (STI) policy, this presents an opportunity for LAST to carve out a valuable role within the wider Lesotho STI ecosystem. The Technology Bank has also been supporting the Government of Lesotho in conducting the Technology Needs Assessment that prioritized agriculture, environment and conservation and education sectors for achieving the National Strategic Development Plan.

In addition, the academy development programme complements the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation strategy to have academies of sciences which ‘support the region with knowledge production and scientific evidence-based policy’, particularly with an active focus on young and women scientists^[5]. As recognized in the SADC Ministerial Meeting of June 2021, the partnership between the Technology Bank and NASAC has played a key role in strengthening SADC scientific capacity, with thirteen of the sixteen member states now being home to their own established Academies of Sciences^[6].

How can LAST provide advice to the government as an independent entity?

LAST is an independent platform for collaboration and knowledge transfer among the private sector, public sector, civil society, academics, and government in the fields of science, technology, and innovation. Key to its role is not only to provide policy advice to the government but also support education across the wider community in science, technology and innovation. As Prof. Norbert Hounkonnou, President of NASAC emphasized when the Academy was launched in 2021, “through the Lesotho Academy, NASAC hopes to build confidence in the lives and inspirations of the eminent scientists, who have taken the path least followed – to pursue youth towards careers in science”.

The Technology Bank would like to congratulate LAST on the progress achieved so far, particularly the measures taken to register both the Youth and Senior Academies in accordance with the Lesotho Legislature and the plans to submit its application for membership of NASAC by the end of 2022. With the support of an IAP grant, it has also established its office and website, including the domain name. Furthermore, it is important to recognize the importance of initial events that have taken place, such as monthly webinars intended to link in-country Basotho scientists and researchers with Basotho scientists in the diaspora. LAST has also completed and received funding for a policy brief on ‘Covid-19 Policy Brief Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention’ on behalf of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) from the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Moving forward, the Technology Bank will continue strengthening the links between LAST and the scientific communities that make up other new Academies of Sciences in the region. It also hopes to strengthen South-South cooperation between LAST and more established academies in Africa such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa. And the collaboration will strengthen the capacity of LAST to provide impartial, relevant and timely policy advice on issues key to people in Lesotho such as agriculture, connectivity and climate change.