The last dance and parting shots

The 11th TWAS general conference came to an end today with Jacob Palis, the president of the organisation, extending a greeting from another Jacob; Zuma, the president of South Africa.

Meeting Palis and his colleagues in Cape Town yesterday, Zuma promised that if TWAS was to organise another conference in his country he would attend in person. Oh well…

It has not just been hard work. Last night, TWAS members and staff were dancing on tables in a casino where the final party of the week took place. Unfortunately, your correspondent did not attend with her camera, otherwise this post may have had more interesting images to go with it.

The conference signalled a deepening collaboration between TWAS and South Africa, which is going to set up a regional chapter of the organisation.

It may also mark the end of an era. Mohammed Hassan, TWAS executive director, is expected to retire at some point. This could be his last general conference. But then again, it might not…

Even if Hassan retires, he is unlikely to sever his ties completely with the organisation, according to sources in TWAS. Like a certain Russian president-cum-prime minister, he is likely to stay involved for some time to come. Which, in this case, isn’t a bad thing!

Linda Nordling, SciDev.Net

How’s your IBSA?

Last post of today I think…

This conference has been dominated by voices from a small number of countries. As they are the host, it is not strange that South Africa has taken a prominent role. But many talks have also come from India and Brazil.

In a way, it’s not surprising. There are more scientists in South Africa and India than in, say, Mali. But it is putting a slightly weird spin on things.

For example, we are not hearing enough from the poorest of the poor—except in the third person when delegates from the countries above talk about wanting to boost South-South cooperation.

And that they do, constantly, which is really encouraging. The financial crisis has opened up avenues for them to rally and try to plug the gaps left by the worse affected developed countries, who foot much of the bill for science and technology support for the poorest countries.

The governments of the ‘big three’ are also pushing strongly for collaboration with each other. The IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) partnership is still evolving, but speaking to South Africa’s science minister it seems like it is going well. Each party has put $1 million into a central pot for 2009/10.

Perhaps one of the outcomes of this conference should be some sort of gentlemen’s agreement between the better off developing countries and those who are really struggling for closer cooperation, perhaps plugging some of the gaps left open by Western donors cutting funding due to the financial crisis?

Linda Nordling, SciDev.Net

Olympics, economics and Barack Obama

Much has changed in the fortunes of developing countries since last year’s TWAS meeting, the organisation’s president Jacob Palis said at the inaugural session before lunch today.

The financial crisis may have almost brought the world economy to a standstill—but it was the economic resilience of the developing country’s biggest economies that kept it going, he said.

Next year’s football World Cup in South Africa, a black man in the White House and Brazil winning the 2016 Olympics are all signs that the tide has turned for developing countries, he added.

Palis’ point was that one of the drivers of this change in developing countries’ fortunes is investments in science and technology.

But the progress has been uneven, and now it is up to the emerging economies—China, India, South Africa—to step up to the plate and share their successes with their neighbours, he concluded.

During the conference, South Africa and Brazil will meet for bilateral talks on how to boost science cooperation. There will be plenty of best practice examples for how to boost such links further.

But so far, the main voices in Durban have come from the powerful emerging economies, or from the developed world. Hopefully we will also be hearing from those who are a bit further from achieving a “knowledge revolution”.

The least developed countries will have access to help, but they also need to help themselves said South African science minister Naledi Pandor.

She voiced concern that four years after Africa adopted a common science plan, many countries either don’t have science ministries, or have not outlined a role for S&T in their national development plans.

———
In “recession watch” news, the German ambassador to South Africa said developed countries will not cut funding for developing country science.

Tell that to the Swedish development agency SIDA which may cut its research cooperation budget by 20% in 2010!

Linda Nordling, SciDev.Net

TWAS 11th general conference, Durban

Welcome to the blog for the TWAS 11th general conference taking place in Durban, South Africa, this week!

I will be filing several reports each day on this blog, focusing on what is happening in the world of harnessing science and technology for development. You will hear from a lot of bigwigs, including South Africa’s relatively new science minister Naledi Pandor and the African Union’s science commissioner Jean-Pierre Ezin.

These are interesting times. It is a while now that ‘science for development’ has been on policymakers’ lips, and it is not presumptuous to expect to see some results.

But world finances are not what they used to be, and there is a real risk in many parts of the developing world — not least Africa — that science could lose out to other pressing funding priorities.

On Wednesday, I’ll report back from what will promises to be an extremely interesting symposium on the impact of the global financial crisis on research and education in developing countries. Some funders have already said they are cutting grants, but what are the reports from the coalface?

The tougher financial times we all face these days are likely to be a recurring theme throughout the conference. But the next few days also promise to be a showcase of how, with a little ingenuity and a lot of determination, limited resources can be made to go a long way.

So watch this space!

Linda Nordling, SciDev.Net

Evaluation of science communication activities, a gap to be filled

If the number of science communication activities increases in Latin America, the evaluation of these initiatives doesn’t come with this growth. Since evaluating is a crucial stage in developing and improving science communication projects, there is a clear gap to be filled. That`s what a new workgroup presented today at the XI RedPOP meeting intends to do.

The Network for Measuring the Impact of Popularization of Science and Technology in Ibero-America (REMIPCYT), created in 2008, aims to put six Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Mexico, Uruguay and Costa Rica) together to develop evaluation strategies that can measure the impact of science communication activities in society.

“REMIPCYT has two important aspects. The first one is that this investigation effort will help us to validate our science communication practices. And the second one is that working in networks like REMIPCYT and constructing collective knowledge strengthen our capacity to do research on this field”, told to SciDev.Net Graciela Merino, coordinator of REMIPCYT, from the National University of La Plata, Argentina.

REMIPCYT is connected to RedPOP and funded by the Latin American Science & Technology Development Programme (CYTED). The activities started in 2008 and will go on until 2011. Around 30 researchers are involved in REMIPCYT.

“In the future, we hope that this work will help us to convince politicians and science & technology institutions that science communication plays a crucial role in sustainable development”, added Merino.

Besides REMIPCYT, there are some other initiatives focusing on evaluation of science communication activities. In Brazil, for example, the Museum of Life – connected to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation – has been developing a multimedia tool to assess visitors and explainers opinions about its exhibits.

“This evaluation can be an important management tool”, said Sonia Mano, responsible for evaluation and studies of public at the Museum of Life. Results of public surveys can help the Museum to improve its exhibits and programs.

Catarina Chagas, SciDev.Net

Divulgadores de la ciencia ‘deben ser tomados en serio’

La creación de un sistema nacional de divulgadores de la ciencia que siga el modelo del sistema de investigadores adoptados por muchos países –que incluya convocatorias y becas – debería ser perseguida en los países de América Latina, defendió Julia Tagueña, investigadora de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y divulgadora científica.

Dicha sistema, segundo ella, permitiría apoyar y evaluar más sistemáticamente los profesionales del área. La evaluación podría tener como punto de partida los criterios cuantitativos y cualitativos del sistema nacional, incluyendo producción, independencia (del tutor) y liderazgo.

Tagueña defendió la profesionalización de los divulgadores, que no deben se limitar a los que divulgan como un hobby. “No es un comentario peyorativo a los que hacen divulgación científica como un hobby, pero si la defensa de que sean creados mecanismos de capacitación,” dijo.

“Si es posible empezar del cero, pero los cursos de postgrados permiten aprovechar mejor la experiencia de aquellos con experiencia en el área.”

Tagueña afirmó que nos es obligado que todos los divulgadores hagan investigación, pero si es obligado que los divulgadores aprovechen los resultados de las investigaciones en divulgación científica para incrementar la calidad del área.

La profesionalización es uno de los temas de las reuniones de RedPOP y, justamente por presión de los mexicanos se transformó en una de las líneas temáticas de los encuentros desde el año 2003, cuando México fue sed del evento.

Luisa Massarani, Coordinadora regional para América Latina y el Caribe, SciDev.Net

Presidente de RedPOP hace llamado por un “trabajo colectivo”

La presidente de la RedPop y de la Fundación Cientec de Costa Rica, Alejandra León-Castella, destaca la importancia de se trabajar en red, para avanzar en la divulgación científica en la región.

“Hago un llamado por el trabajo colectivo para que construyamos juntos nuevos proyectos,” dijo a SciDev.Net León-Castella.

Ella destaca que la reunión de la red sólo es realizada a cada 2 años y, por eso, es muy importante desarrollar proyectos que estén activos entre los encuentros, incluso aquellos que utilizan herramientas de la Internet, como por ejemplo videos y entrevistas cortos vehiculados a través de You Tube.

“El trabajo en red alimenta la sinergia,” afirmó.

Luisa Massarani, Coordinadora regional para América Latina y el Caribe, SciDev.Net

La divulgación científica en América Latina: un trabajo de hormigas

El carácter itinerante de las reuniones de RedPOP por distintos países tiene una ventaja muy interesante: permite conocer experiencias de divulgación científica locales – y también pensar sobre los colores y las especificidades que cada país y cultura confieren a la actividades que involucran la sociedad en temas de ciencia y tecnología.

La XI reunión de RedPOP, por lo tanto, nos permitirá conocer más la divulgación científica realizada en Uruguay. El Espacio Ciencia, un museo de ciencia creado en los años 1990 vinculado al Laboratorio Técnico de Uruguay (Latu), es el punto de partida, visto que está en el mismo parque donde el evento es realizado – y incluso abriga algunas de las sesiones de la reunión.

El Espacio Ciencia es un centro de ciencia interactivo “hijo” del Exploratorium de San Francisco (EE.UU.), que inspiró muchos otros en el mundo. Es decir, incluye diversos experimentos similares a los desarrollados por el espacio creado en el año de 1969, por el físico Frank Oppenheimer.

Llama especial atención un hormiguero en lo cual los visitantes pueden entrar y conocer la vida y los hábitos de las hormigas Acromyrmex ambigus, que se encuentran comúnmente en la costa uruguaya. Para los niños hay un camino especial que lo pone todavía más cerca de las hormigas.

¿Quizás una metáfora a la divulgación científica latinoamericana?

Pero atención: está prohibida la entrada a osos hormigueros. Por supuesto.

Luisa Massarani, Coordinadora regional para América Latina y el Caribe, SciDev.Net

Caribbean to launch strategic plan against HIV/AIDS

The Pan-Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) will launch in October a US$7.73 million four year strategic plan to fight HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, the second-most affected region in the world after sub-Saharan Africa.

The announcement was made during the AIDS 2008 conference by representatives of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat. PANCAP is a Caricom special project.

According to Avert, an international HIV/AIDS charity based in the United Kingdom, there were an estimated 230,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean by the end of 2007. About 20,000 people were newly infected during 2007, and there were 14,000 deaths due to the disease.

The prevalence of HIV is 1.2 per cent, but in two countries – the Bahamas and Haiti – more than two per cent of the adult population is living with the virus.

The strategic plan against HIV/AIDS, to be carried out from 2008 to 2012, has six priority areas, including monitoring evaluation and research; prevention of transmission; capacity development for HIV/AIDS services; and treatment, care and support.

“We have been undertaking actions against HIV/AIDS, but we are not seeing impacts yet; we believe that giving emphasis to research [in the strategic plan] will guide us to reach better results and to promote a change in the region”, Edward Greene, assistant secretary general of the Caribbean Community Secretariat, told SciDev.Net.

“A problem Caribbean countries face is that they are classified as middle-income countries, thus they are not apt to receive external aid. In other words, they are too rich to receive help but too poor for afford themselves”, Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS – the UN Programme on AIDS – told journalists.

Luisa Massarani, SciDev.Net/Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America ‘delivering on HIV treatment’

Latin America and the Caribbean has the highest proportion of people actually receiving of HIV/AIDS treatment actually receiving the treatment in comparison to any developing country, according to Luis-Soto Ramirez, co-chair of AIDS 2008 – the XVII International AIDS Conference.

“Sixty-two per cent of the people in need are on treatment in the region – the highest proportion of any developing country”, he said in his opening speech at the conference (3 August).

However, Pedro Cahn, co-president of the AIDS 2008, urged that Latin America and the Caribbean – in which two million people are HIV positive – should be not excluded from the international agenda because of its success in fighting the disease.

“Latin American and the Caribbean are also suffering of the consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the context of poverty and marginality”.

According to Ban Ki-Moon, secretary-general of the UN, in a speech, Latin America is “the source of some of the most dynamic responses to AIDS, but also home to the greatest challenges”.

This is the first time that the International AIDS Conference has been hosted in Latin America.

Luisa Massarani, SciDev.Net/Latin America and the Caribbean