UNAS Programs

Governance, Transparency, and Accountability

Transparency, Accountability, and Governance

Following the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the collective African Academies of Sciences sought to explore what a sustainable development paradigm should look like for the continent. The general failure of the MDGs on the African continent was prompt to re-examine development thinking and examine what it would take to transform Africa’s future. With a guiding vision of what could be, what the vision should be driven by, and the tools that would inform that transformation, African nations could be part of a so-called African Renaissance.

The result was a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the African Science Academies in 2014, entitled Mindset Shifts for Ownership of Our Continent’s Development Agenda. The study focused on the conditions necessary for a transformation in thinking, led by those living, working, and dying on the continent. The report has been used since its publication to inform the core thinking at UNAS and by colleagues in academies around the globe.

The publications in this section include:

Trust in Our Nation: Building Effective Governance and Partnerships Systems for National Development
Mindset Shifts for Ownership of our Country’s Development Agenda: The Case of Domestic Financing in Uganda
Mindset Shifts for Ownership of our Continent’s Development Agenda

Trust in Our Nation

In the Ugandan development context, it is easy to be suspicious and cynical of one another’s motives and behaviors. This situation is not surprising: what we can reasonably expect of one another is uncertain due to a long legacy of broken promises and the easy resort to violence. Yet, within this context, there is the greatest value in changing our mindset because behavior worthy of trust is in such a scarce supply. By no means is a change in mindset easy. Rather, if we recognize that trust has value, we can change how we treat and perceive one another, and therefore, what we can do together.

We can unleash the development possibilities for Uganda if we consider prioritizing trust. Newer, bolder, and riskier development activities rely upon relationships of trust because to operate in the absence of trust requires huge investments of financial, social, and intellectual capital to control uncertainty. Given that such resources are in short supply, the future of development in Uganda will depend on how partnerships and governments survive uncertainty and create an environment for collaboration.

For these reasons, this report focuses on how human beings who live in Uganda perceive and have learned to perceive each other’s behavior. The report’s intent is not to make an infallible or irrefutable claim about Ugandans. Instead, it intends to reveal the tensions that pull people apart and bring them together and their particular expression in Uganda. If we learn to understand these dynamics, we can shift our focus from tolerating and suppressing uncertainty to identifying shared problems, finding solutions, and learning together.

Country Ownership 2014

Following the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the collective African Science Academies sought to explore what a sustainable development should look like for the continent. The general failure of the MDGs on the African continent was a prompt to re-examine development thinking and examine what it would take to transform Africa so that it can better tackle its challenges. With a guiding vision of what could be, what the vision should be driven by, and the tools that would inform that transformation, African nations could be part of a so-called African Renaissance.

The result was a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the African Science Academies in 2014, entitled Mindset Shifts for Ownership of Our Continent’s Development Agenda. The study focused on the conditions necessary for a transformation in thinking, led by those living, working, and dying on the continent. The report has been used since its publication to inform the core thinking at UNAS and by colleagues in academies around the globe.

Effective Evidence Informed Policy Making in Parliament of Uganda Project – 2016

Whereas it is acknowledged that Research evidence is also not the only type of information needed to inform the judgements necessary for policy decision making; strengthening the use of research evidence, and the ability of policymakers to make appropriate judgements about its relevance and quality, is a critical challenge that holds the promise of helping to achieve significant gains and better use of resources. Evidence use in African parliaments is an emerging area that UNAS is keen to make a contribution.

In 2016, UNAS partnered with the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) through the VakaYiko Consortium that worked with the parliaments of Ghana, Uganda and Zimbabwe to strengthen capacity for evidence use in decision making. The project was undertaken as part of Building Capacity to Use Research Evidence (VakaYiko) program. The project aimed to build capacity at three levels, working with parliaments’ in-house research department. To meet the project goals UNAS and its partners conducted three main activities:

A communications training workshop where staff working in the Parliament’s Department of Research Services (DRS) were trained in gathering and synthesizing evidence for decision making.
A Research Week, where leading Evidence Generation and Translation Institutions were given the opportunity to showcase their services to the Members of Parliament and the staff in a bid to increase demand for and use of evidence in policy making. The research week culminated in a symposium which focused on development and use of evidence in strengthening Parliament. A video link to the Research week can be found here.
An MP-scientist pairing scheme, designed to build links between parliament and Uganda’s scientific community. This involved pairing Scientists with Policy makers in a bid to build a mutual understanding between the two groups of what each party’s work involves. In order to build sustainability into the program a particular effort was made to involve members of the National Young Academy, Parliament staff as well as MPs. Four MP- Scientist pairs were run during this period, and four Young Scientists did placements with the Department of Research Services.

This followed lessons learned from a similar project implemented between 2007 and 2010 carried out in partnership with the UK Royal Society and UNAS, and was based on a similar scheme which has been run by the Royal Society in the UK since 2001. Five pairs of Ugandan MPs and scientists took part. The MPs were all members of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology while the scientist came from a range of disciplines: electrical engineering; bio-safety and bio-technology; ceramics; HIV/AIDS; and plastic waste disposal.