World Bank Launches “African Centers of Excellence”

Weekly French Translation

The World Bank has announced funding for 19 "African Centers of Excellence" to the tune of $150 million. These funds are intended to serve seven countries in West and Central Africa, and will be used to assist in the transformation of scientific and technological education across the continent.

La Banque mondiale a annoncé le financement de 19 "centres d'excellence africains", à hauteur de 150 millions de dollars. Ces fonds sont destinés à sept pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest et d'Afrique centrale, et serviront à aider à la transformation de l'enseignement scientifique et technologique à travers le continent.

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original version on Jeune Afrique.

The first "African Center of Excellence" promised by the World Bank will be revealed. The board of directors of the international institution has approved a budget of EUR 150 million to finance "19 centers of excellence in universities located in seven countries in West and Central Africa."

These hubs, which were "competitively selected, will receive funding to support specialized courses of instruction in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but also agriculture and health," said the World Bank in a statement released on April 15. The seven countries are Nigeria (which will receive $70 million), Ghana ($24 million), Senegal ($16 million), Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Togo ($8 million each). Gambia, meanwhile, will receive a credit of $2 million and a grant of $1 million.

Gaps

This initiative seeks firstly to address the shortcomings of scientific and technical education on the continent, and the consequences they impose upon the labor market, particularly in terms of the shortage of skilled labor, and secondly to support strategic sectors such as agriculture, telecommunications, and health.

"Africa needs to forge its own solutions through research and innovation in order to tackle its development challenges [...] The proportion of researchers in the population remains extremely low: for research and development (R & D) for example, Burkina Faso and Nigeria have a ratio of 45 experts per 38 per million inhabitants, against an average of 481 and 1714 respectively in Latin America and East Asia," the World Bank explains.

Win-Win

The African Centers of Excellence project "is a win-win initiative, as it will help young people to meet their aspirations without having to leave the country.  It will also help companies find specific profiles without having to resort to expatriates, thereby increasing their competitiveness in international markets," said Peter Materu, head of education for the West and Central Africa regions of the World Bank.

A mechanism for coordination and knowledge sharing among the 19 African Centers of Excellence was established. It will be rolled out by the Association of African Universities (AAU), a partner who has received a grant of $5 million for this purpose.

Article translated by Allie Stauss, Staff Intern for the Africa Program at the Wilson Center.

Photo courtesy of US Army Africa via Flickr Commons.