African perspectives on scientific freedom: insights from policy and practice in 6 countries

Table of Contents

• Foreword 5
• Acknowledgements 9
• Introduction —The Vision for Science and Scientific Freedom in Today's Africa 13
• 1. Introduction 14
• 2. What is science and the right to science? 14
• 3. Historical overview of science and scientific freedom in pre-modern Africa 16
• 4. Colonialism and the place of science and scientific freedom 16
• 5. University education and the place of science 17
• 6. The post-colonial African higher education system under the Organization of African Unity 17
• 7. Emergence of the concept of sustainable development 19
• 8. Legal and policy framework of science and scientific freedom under the African Union 19
• 9. Agenda 2063 and the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 19
• 10. Assessment of scientific and academic freedom in Africa 20
• 11. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers 23
• 12. Conclusion 24
• 13. Recommendations 25
• Perspective on Scientific Freedom in Ghana 31
• 1. Introduction 32
• 2. The environment for scientific freedom: Constraints and enablers 32
• 3. A brief methodological note 33
• 4. Overview of Scientific freedom in Ghana 34
• 5. The regulatory framework 35
• 6. The organizational framework 37
• 7. Some factors affecting scientific freedom in Ghana 38
• 8. Conclusion and recommendations 40
• Perspective on Scientific Freedom in Namibia 45
• 1. Introduction 46
• 2. Overview of Namibia’s higher education sector 46
• 3. Methodological approach 47
• 4. The research, science, and technology ecosystem in Namibia 47
• 5. Namibia’s medium- and long-term development plans 48
• 6. Namibian legal and policy frameworks on scientific freedom 49
• 7. An enabling environment for scientific freedom 49
• 8. Key institutions and their roles 50
• 9. Perceptions of academics and researchers on the state of scientific freedom 51
• 10. Trends, monitoring and evaluation: balancing freedoms with responsibilities. 52
• 11. Gender equality and empowerment 53
• 12. Recommendations 53
• 13. Conclusion 54
• Perspective on Scientific Freedom in Congo 57
• 1. Introduction 58
• 2. National legal and political frameworks 58
• 3. Favourable environment for scientific freedom 61
• 4. Key institutions and their roles 63
• 5. Trends in the implementation of STI policies 65
• 7. Taking gender issues into account 67
• 8. Results of the survey on scientific freedom 68
• 10. Conclusion 73
• Perspective on Scientific Freedom in Sierra Leone 77
• 1. Introduction 78
• 2. Entrenchment of scientific freedom and responsibility in national legal and policy frameworks 78
• 3. Enabling environment and key institutions 82
• 4. What gaps exist compared to other countries in Africa? 83
• 5. Gender equality and scientific freedom 85
• 5. Key findings 86
• 6. Challenges 87
• 7. Conclusion 87
• 8. Recommendations 88
• Perspective on Scientific Freedom in Tanzania 91
• 1. Study design and methodology 92
• 2. Tanzania’s legal and policy framework for scientific freedom 92
• 4. Assessment of scientific practice and freedom in Tanzania 95
• 6. Findings on academic freedom 97
• 7. Gender equality and youth in science, technology, and innovation 103
• 8. Conclusion and Recommendations 104
• Perspective on Scientific Freedom in Zimbabwe 107
• 1. Introduction 108
• 2. Methodology 108
• 3. National legal and policy frameworks 108
• 4. Enabling environment for scientific freedom 110
• 5. Key institutions and their roles 114
• 6. Implementation trends in science, technology and innovation policy 114
• 7. Gender and scientific freedoms 116
• 8. Conclusions and recommendations 118
• Conclusion 121
• 1. Introduction 122
• 2. The state of science in Africa 122
• 3. Legal and policy frameworks 122
• 4. Key institutions 124
• 5. Monitoring and evaluation, and indicators 125
• 6. The enabling environment 125
• 7. Gender considerations 126
• 8. Academic freedom and scientific freedom 126
• 9. Gaps and recommendations 129
• 10. Concluding remarks 131
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