Cooperation Special Unit for SSC : Latest news from the Special Unit for SSC & SSC

Using triangular cooperation arrangements, the Special Unit has launched an initiative to develop institutional capacities for management of water demand in the Middle East and North Africa region. This initiative is aimed at strengthening the capacity of policy-makers to deal with such water-management issues as wastewater reuse, water valuation, privatization and decentralization. A network will be established among the participating governments to support the implementation of water-demand management strategies in their respective countries. This initiative has attracted funding from the International Development Resource Centre and the Canadian International Development Agency.

Demand has been growing for varieties of New Rice for Africa (NERICA), which resulted from innovative collaboration with the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), the Government of Japan and other partners. In response, the Special Unit supported the creation of the NERICA Consortium for Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa and the African Rice Initiative (ARI), which aims to increase the dissemination of NERICA varieties in Africa. ARI has been recognized by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development as one of the most promising initiatives for the improvement of food security in Africa. Work was also begun to develop additional NERICA varieties, including rain-fed lowland types, and to increase local African rice production to over 744,000 tons. This constitutes savings of up to $88 million in rice imports per year and will also help to preserve millions of tons of precious topsoil.

The Special Unit has initiated a project to explore ways to lower the cost of accessing the Internet in Africa. The project aims to draw from the experience and technical expertise as well as the entrepreneurial innovations in other developing regions. Initial findings suggest that multiple factors, including inadequate policies, lack of a viable business environment and insufficient investment in equipment and technology, contribute to the relatively high rates paid by Internet users in Africa.

The Special Unit for TCDC has supported investment promotion with the introduction of the Africa-Africa Business Forum as a means of catalyzing investment and technology transfer from Asia to Africa at the enterprise level. Existing arrangements to establish business linkages between African and Asian entrepreneurs are being transformed by the Special Unit, which is working to create an electronic platform that empowers companies participating in the Africa-Asia Business Forums to identify partners in either region over the Internet.

Recognizing the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in economic development in Africa, a programme was initiated in 2001 to establish a TECHNONET AFRICA to replicate, in Africa, TECHNONET ASIA, which has over 30 years of experience in the promotion of Asian SMEs. In its first phase (2003-2006), the programme aims at policy and institutional reforms as well as the development of the capacities of key national and regional institutions that promote SMEs in seven African countries. Based on the needs assessment study and the workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa in July 2002, the project is at a stage where the TECHNONET platform can be used to develop the capacities of these institutions, which in turn will support SMEs at the country level.
The Special Unit addresses the need for capacity-building of financial institutions to enable them to support investment in SMEs in African countries. In this regard, interventions are designed to develop the capacity of African bankers in development financing, using the capacities of Asian financial institutions. Training programmes will implement in 2003.

With funds provided by the Government of Japan, the Special Unit has begun preparatory work on a programme for African capacity development in local governance and economic development in November 2002. The aim is to facilitate the establishment of two local governance networks in Africa and Asia that will assist the member countries to collaborate and draw upon one another’s experience for country-level initiatives.

The Special Unit has initiated an umbrella programme on the preservation of coastal and marine biodiversity, which brings together three Asian countries (Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand) and 10 African countries (Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo) in efforts to protect endangered coastal and marine resources in the Gulf of Guinea using Asian experience and know-how. The project has captured the attention of officials of the Government of Cameroon, who have called for its expansion to foster confidence-building among Cameroonian and Nigerian fishermen living in the previously contested Bakasi area in order for them to exploit local marine resources peacefully under collaborative TCDC arrangements.

The Special Unit is focusing on fostering public-private partnerships and community participation in solid waste management, air pollution control and wastewater management in five African cities (Accra, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Lagos and Nairobi) and six Asian cities (Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Marikina, Phnom Penh and Tokyo) under the Africa-Asia Eco-partnership Programme.

Successful policies and experiences relating to the teaching of science and technology subjects in the developing world are being widely shared through South-South exchanges as part of an initiative by the Special Unit to train trainers in science and technology education. Work has begun on an electronic platform and the initiative has attracted a number of partners from developing countries, including Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, India, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Three Canadian universities and the World Bank are supporting this effort.