Date: 24/11/2008

Source: Department of Science and Technology

Title: SA: Mangena: Address by Minister Mosibudi Mangena at the eleventh Southern African Association of Science and Technology Centres (SAASTEC) conference

Programme director,
President of the Southern African Association of Science and Technology Centres, Mr Alfred Tsipa,
CEO of the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, Mr David Kramer,
Members of Southern African Association of Science and Technology Centres (SAASTEC) Council,
Members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Science Centre Community,
Executive Director of the South African Agency for the Advancement of Science and Technology, Ms Beverley Damonse,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen

Some of you might recall that one of the resolutions adopted at the first New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Ministerial Meeting of Science and Technology in November 2003 referred to the need to establish national and regional programmes to promote public understanding of science and technology. This 11th SAASTEC conference, which brings together science centre communities from all over the region, is a consequence of that resolution.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is beginning to make a mark on the global science centre scene. Officials from my department, who were part of the 5th Science Centre World Congress in Toronto in June, assured us that one parallel session at the Congress examined possible regional and continental collaboration arrangements in Africa. This is a welcome development, especially against the background of South Africa hosting the 6th Science Centre World Congress in 2011.

The opportunity for South Africa to organise and host the sixth World Congress in Cape Town should be seen as a victory for the entire African continent, and our preparations should include developing and implementing strategies to ensure a stronger representation of our African brothers and sisters at the congress.

We should also look beyond our continent to include other developing countries, particularly the members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The International Workshop on Enhancing Change through Science Centres, which we hosted in February 2008 under the auspices of the NAM Science and Technology Centre, was attended by more than 30 foreign delegates. This leaves us with the welcome challenge of ensuring participation by these states in 2011.

While there is no question about the wealth of knowledge we can gather from our counterparts in developed countries, there is also a lot the developing world can share with them. And the sixth Science Centre World Congress will offer us ample opportunity to do this.

Preparations for the congress will require us to work harder in a number of areas. We would have to secure the participation of local scientists and the support of the corporate sector. Although more work still needs to be done to improve collaboration between local science centres and scientists, I was impressed by the co-operation that led to the birth of the Science and Technology Education Centre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, which I had the privilege of launching last month. We expect the science centres based at South African universities to encourage their academics to support the 6th Science Centre World Congress.

For it to succeed, the Congress requires strong local participation, and a large number of Southern African scientists to present papers of a high standard. The annual SAASTEC conferences in the next two years should serve as a rehearsal for the congress, and coaching sessions on researching, writing and presenting conference papers have therefore been included in the ongoing training programme for the local science centre community.

As part of its continued commitment to enhancing the role of science centres, my department will dedicate some funds for capacity building through networking led by the South African chapter of SAASTEC. The funds will be used to support the annual SAASTEC conference over a period of five years, and assist SAASTEC to prepare for the sixth Science Centre World Congress.

Ladies and gentlemen, our efforts to enhance the operations of local science centres have received a shot in the arm from the Australian Government. AusAid has granted AUS$123 000 to support our science centre capacity-building programme. This funding will make it possible for two renowned Australian academics to conduct an intensive two-week training session for carefully selected science centre staff in South Africa early next year. We are making plans to bring officials from Lesotho to participate in the programme. Eager to share knowledge and opportunities with other countries in the region, in September we hosted a Namibian delegation on a science centre study visit, led by the Minister of Education, the Honourable Nangolo Mbumba. The delegation was shown two science centre development models, at the Sci-Enza Discovery Centre in Pretoria, and the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre.

As the Toronto Declaration stated, "Around the world today ... science centres are important resources for the formal education system." We expect discussions during the three days of this conference to broaden our understanding of the role science centres play in supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. My department's latest move in this regard involves the adoption of schools within a specialised programme run by our Department of Education referred to as the Dinaledi Schools. This initiative is part of my department's support for our National Strategy on Mathematics, Science and Technology Education. To date, we have chosen two Dinaledi Schools in each of the nine provinces for participation in all the strategic interventions of the Youth into Science Strategy. Our choice of schools was informed mainly by their proximity to a science centre in line with the decision to make science centres the basic infrastructure for the delivery of the Youth into Science Strategy. Officials from my department are visiting the schools involved to formalise the project, and will soon be engaging the relevant science centres to discuss their roles in the project.

In closing, I want to commend SAASTEC on the progress it has made in terms of growing the number of science centres and obtaining formal legal status for the South African chapter. Keep nurturing your association, as it is integral to our future capacity to innovate. I wish you well in your discussions.

Thank you.