AFRICAN GONG: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

CASUAL SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

African Gong has been conceptualised, initiated and driven by the recognition of the profound challenges and implications for science communication in Africa, due to the lack of science infrastructure (including science centres and science museums) and the low visibility of these facilities where they exist on the continent. Its vision is fully informed by the imperatives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and African continental development frameworks such as Agenda 2063 and the Science, Technology & Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024). These innovative policy frameworks affirm the critical role of science and technology in driving sustainable development, where challenges are profound, and nowhere more so than on the African continent.
African Gong is committed to operating through strategic partnerships with key stakeholders in Africa and internationally, including the African Diaspora and to delivering inclusively across the three main African working languages of English, French and Portuguese. Key programmes include: Addressing the Capacity-building needs of African scientists, researchers and policy-makers; innovative multi-disciplinary science communication through co-design with science centres/museums, science journalists and science communicators, and which explore added-value elements of sociocultural inclusion and the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) inherent in African communities.

Dr. Elizabeth Rasekoala is the President of African Gong – the pan-African Network for the Popularization of Science & Technology and Science Communication, which aims to advance the Public Learning and Understanding of Science (PLUS), scientific outreach and scientific literacy on the African continent. She is a member of the African Union Commission (AUC) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Committee on the ‘Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa’ (STISA-2024). Dr. Rasekoala with a professional background in Chemical Engineering and industry internationally, has championed, advocated, researched, presented and written widely on public innovation and transformative development through advancing diversity, sociocultural inclusion and race and gender equality issues in science communication and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and skills development. She has provided extensive advisory and consultancy expertise to governments and multilateral international organisations over the past 15 years, including the European Commission, the UN Commission on Human Rights, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, UNESCO, the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank."

[Host: Nuno Ferrand, Population Genetics, Hybridization and Speciation]

Image credits: João Silas