Envisioning the Future of Africa and needed Actions

Background

In the recent past the continent of Africa has been playing catching up game in driving its social-economic development agenda. Well-read scholars such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania to mention but the few, made attempts in one way or the other in contributing to this development agenda of the continent of Africa to be at par if not equivalent to the developed continents globally. Scientists and scholars as mentioned by Newsham (2008) have also emerged on the African continent, and studies have been conducted during the process of the aforementioned developments.

On the contrary despite the encouraging efforts made as strategies the continent of Africa has not achieved much to date due to the tragedies of poverty, warfare and diseases (Show, 2015). Several other factors including natural disasters continue to hinder the design and implementation of sound economic plans in Africa to bring prosperity to the continent. According to Show (2015), planning for such development requires the consideration of an inclusive political system, visionary leadership, open markets, investment in human and economic capital, good regional integration, and good relationships with foreign powers. Kabba as far back as 1997 envisaged some developments and changes taking place on the global scene, which were foreseen to have far-reaching ramifications for the continent and its development partners. Until today, strategies are still being sought and envisioned for the future of Africa and actions needed. Strengthening Higher Agricultural Education, Science, Technology and Innovation has the potential to catalyse the needed development in Africa.

Africa is a continent with very diverse cultural settings coupled with the different colonial background legacies which have been accepted across Africa. However, the strategy of the Africa Union that encourages a modern agriculture for increased productivity and production together with development partners, calls for increased role of higher education to become throttlehold for today. Higher education in agriculture if planned, implemented, and well executed will help propel development in the continent. Specifically, among other factors to consider about higher education are that it (i) should be demand-driven (Deegan & Martin, 2019), (ii) transformative and innovative education (Holley, 2009; Yee, Raijmakers, and Ichikawa, (2019), (iii) skill-matching education (Chris Ryan and Mathias Sinning, 2009; International Labour Organization, 2015), (iv) career-ready education, demand- ready education, and (v) gender-balanced synergies in leadership of higher education. These are elaborated below.

The demand-driven education

Deegan & Martin (nd) argue that it matters how education systems merge with work learning to develop the human skills that matter in development plans. Deegan & Martin (nd) further stated that the world of work is changing as both the technology and the demographics of our populations are changing. As a result, jobs and work environments have also changed requiring a more flexible, dynamic, and equitable system of preparation. Traditional routes to employment have functioned much like these roads, which are also changing. Conventional credentials, like the university degrees, and vocational training qualifications have offered defined entrances and exits for individuals looking for jobs that lead to careers. A map of this system may look less like a highway that runs from one city to the other and more like the iconic web of circles and intersections of any network that exist in a community. Africa is connected through university technology networks where education offered matters at these higher institutions in the network. The education offered at these networks should be demand-driven. The demand-driven higher education, which refers to the education required by the students than education required by the institution (supply driven education) is one that is required and envisioned for the continent. As indicated by Kirschner and Valkce (2005), the evolution of the demand-driven education comes at a time when it is coupled with technology and related systems need to be strengthened for Africa to enhance its development.

Transformative and innovative education

Transformative and innovative education matters a lot in the development of Africa. The two concepts which are ‘transformative and innovative’ education are crucial in Africa’s economic development. According to Koh, Chapmman and Larry (2020), it is an important initiative in education that would create an equal learning opportunity for many learners to develop Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) literacy, and global competencies.

Read more