Calestous Juma Kennedy School of Government 23 October 2003 Knowledge for Development Seminar, Center for International Development Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University October 23, 2003 KNOWLEDGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA Building Local Policy Research Institutions Calestous Juma Kennedy School of Government 23 October 2003

Research counts The African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) is a policy research institution which was established in 1988 in Nairobi, Kenya, to undertake policy research and related activities on the application of science and technology to sustainable development.

Contents Conventional approaches A systems alternative Enter the skeptics… with Salieri and Brutus Institutional design Modus operandi Policy innovations: a sample Challenges Lessons learnt

Conventional approaches Internal research Resident advisors Consultants Public decrees Policy failure

A systems alternative Policy research Agenda-setting Systems approach

Enter the skeptics… with Salieri and Brutus Audience Political repression Lack of capacity Precedence Competition

Institutional design Feasibility ‘study’: working groups Identity: analysis, not advocacy Mission: agenda-setting Resource base: ideas and funding Structure: flexibility and redundancy Scope: global and local Approach: entrepreneurial

Modus operandi Agenda-setting: topicality Scanning global trends Research and publication Open review: ‘collaborative criticism’ Policy consultations and debate Policy formulation and codification Institutional design and management International partnerships Follow-up activities

Policy innovations: a sample International Biological diversity Climate change Environmentally-sound technologies Biotechnology National Constitutional reform Intellectual property rights Civil society Land use

Challenges Choice of issues: agenda-setting Credit: deference Funding: conflict and cooperation Management: flexibility and routine Scope of work: local and global Position on issues: non-partisan Capacity development: three levels Conflict of interest: separation Leadership: succession and continuity

Lessons learnt Agenda-setting: entry point Interactive learning: ecology of knowledge Institutional design: convening node Institutional diversity: space and time Continuity and change: inter-generational

Conclusion http://www.acts.or.ke/ Knowledge ecologies Uncertainty management Time and irreversibility Heraclitus http://www.acts.or.ke/