Wednesday, February 22, 2006

The Fundamental Role of Science and Technology in International Development: An Imperative for the U.S. Agency for International Development

Read the report online at the National Academy Press.

This report by a distinguished panel reviews the role of science and technology in international development and considers the way in which the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) promotes and uses science and technology in its programs.

The report is organized to emphasize five topics or issues:
* Improving child health and child survival;
* Expanding access to drinking water and sanitation;
* Supporting agricultural research to help reduce hunger and poverty;
* Promoting microeconomic reform to stimulate private sector growth and technological innovation; and
* Preventing and responding to natural disasters.

The report makes three recommendations:
* First, that USAID should reverse the decline in its support for building science and technology capacity in developing countries.

* Second, that the agency should strengthen the capacity of its leadership and program managers to effectively integrate science and technology into its programs.

* Third, that USAID should promote and coordinate the science and technology-related activities that other US government departments and agencies undertake in developing countries.

David Dickson has written a news article in SciDev.Net noting the publication of the book .

By the Committee on Science and Technology in Foreign Assistance, National Research Council, 2006. (175 pages)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I skimmed some of this, and read the 6 pages on agriculture. Of course we have known what has been going on at USAID in this area, but the numbers in this report are interesting if you haven’t seen them before…..Given reductions in agricultural science and technology investments by international and national bodies, and the growing food demand, you wonder how much longer this downward investment trend can continue….I guess production will increase in the favored areas. Will it be enough? My sense is that those peak investment numbers in the mid-80's saved the world from massive food insecurity due to continuing and increasing droughts, combined with surging human population.