Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

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ENGINEERING CAPACITY: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND MOBILITYEngineering education in developing countries should includesignificant coverage of entrepreneurship – how to start, operate,and grow a small business. Engineering graduates shouldbe equipped to take a path of creating jobs rather than seekingone, if they wish to do so.Developing countries need mechanisms to apply research anddevelopment results from local universities and companiesfor economic gain. Such mechanisms as incubators and smallbusiness development financing are needed in the mix.As technology-based economies grow in developing countries,one important source of top talent – in addition to newengineering graduates – is the return of previous emigrantsfrom the diaspora. Several countries that are developing wellhave benefited from the return of former citizens who see newopportunities in their home countries, and bring back foreignexperience and network contacts to the benefit of their homecountries.7.2.3Dawie BothaCapacity-building forsustainability in AfricaIntroductionThe continent of Africa has vast natural and human resourcesthat remain largely underdeveloped and untapped due to anumber of issues and challenges, including:■■Large scale illiteracy, and a lack of skills and scientific andtechnological expertise due to a lack of education and training.The local political and social instability that plague manycountries.■includingThe environmental challenges prevalent Africanatural disasters caused by both natural phenomena as wellas human interventions.■ Large-scale illness due to poor infrastructure and pandemicsincluding malaria and HIV/AIDS.■■Globalization issues that often marginalize African countriesdue to economic policies driven by the more developedcountries of the world and consequential exploitationof resources and raw materials.Ill-advised aid and donor programmes driven by moredeveloped countries and international funding agencies andstructures, which do not necessarily take the principles of■affordability, sustainability, appropriate technology, transferof skills and lack of indigenous capacity into account.Poor ability to network locally and internationally with peersdue to limited capacity and funding resources, impactingnegatively on sharing and developing good and best practicefor local and indigenous purposes and leading to isolation,an inability to keep up with technological progress anda decreasing ability to compete in world markets (whichultimately increases dependence on imported technologyand goods).■ A struggle to aim for and maintain high ethical standardsand adhere to anti-corruption principles in the face ofimposed and implied ways to do business from a weak,negotiating position.■ A lack of basic infrastructure to use as a platform for furtherdevelopment.■■WFEO Standing Committee on Capacity BuildingGiven the strong relation between creation of acritical mass of educated and skilled engineeringand science graduates and economic and socialdevelopment, efforts should be made to buildthese capacities in developing countries. This isone of the conclusions reached by both UNESCOand the World Federation of Engineers ( WFEO). Inkeeping with its mission, WFEO created its StandingCommittee on Capacity Building at the WFEOGeneral Assembly in Tunis in 2003. The Committeefocuses on several priority projects, including:Engineering for the Americas: This project, beingcarried out in conjunction with the Organizationof American States, is focused on developing plansfor enhancing engineering education and practicethroughout Latin American and the Caribbean.The focus is on upgrading engineering educationand on its quality assurance for that education.African Initiatives: Many of the societal, humanand economic needs identified in the MillenniumDevelopment Goals and other similar descriptionsA widening gap in communication in spite of electronicadvances (for example in Internet access and mobile telephony)that is exacerbated by backlogs in services andgrowing populations.The worldwide shortage of engineering and built environmentskills has led to a skewed marketplace, which has ledto ‘ brain drain’ and still attracts huge numbers of professionalsaway from their home countries in Africa that educatedof the situation in developing countries are presentin sub-Saharan Africa. The WFEO Committee onCapacity Building (CCB) has developed programsto address a significant subset of those needs, inareas of its expertise. Activities have included:engineering education workshops; developmentof accreditation systems; entrepreneurial training,particularly for women; stimulation of internshipprograms; electronic delivery of courses; formationof Engineers Without Borders cells; and faculty andstudent exchanges.South-South interactions: The CCB has collaboratedin promoting South-South interactions,including technology transfer among developingcountries. For example, CCB has collaborated withthe South African Institution of Civil Engineersto promote meetings of the African EngineeringForum, involving a dozen countries in SouthernAfrica. The Institution of Professional EngineersNew Zealand, a member of the CCB is similarlyworking with a group of low population SouthPacific island nations to address their needs.315
ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT Water tank branch canal,Cape Verde.■and trained them. Indeed, a vicious circle has developed,as weakened local engineering capacity ultimately leads tothe need to import skills for projects, and few internationalprojects pay any attention to skills transfer to locals.Some donor countries or funding models employ ‘tied aid’where professional capacity and equipment and materialsare prescribed by the donor – in many such cases little orno skills transfer takes place, and occasionally the receivingcountry is permanently tied to the donor country for maintenanceand management of the asset.The demands of the philosophy of sustainability can only bemet if the principles of Sustainable Engineering are adheredto. This concept can be defined as striving for appropriate,affordable and sustainable engineering services and infrastructurewithin the local environment. This concept inturn demands the development and maintenance of indigenousscientific and technological skills and expertise supportedand facilitated by the key stakeholders includinggovernment, private enterprise, academic and professionalstructures.Serious challenges face all the organizations attempting totackle capacity-building. There is for example a plethora offunding entities, each with their own preferences, rules andregulations, which in some cases make it difficult to accessfunding efficiently and effectively. The problem is exacerbatedby the fact that the smaller organizations, institutions andNGOs have limited capacity.A number of issues became evident during the interaction thatthe Africa Engineers Forum had since it developed its Protocoland actively started to engage with world bodies including theWorld Federation of Engineering Organizations, UNESCO, theDepartment for International Development UK, the AfricanDevelopment Bank, the World Bank and many others. Theseinclude:1. The vast differences in how the developing world perceivesand experiences capacity-building and what it means.2. The vast differences in how the developed world perceivesand experiences capacity-building and what it means.6.The measure of paternalism and turf protection evidentwithin and among funding entities.7. Delivery on ideas for capacity-building vanishes as quicklyas the realities become evident and often ends up in talkingabout talks and talking in itself, which often seems tobe the only outcome of hugely expensive get-togethers.8. The initiators of ideas and the providers of resources likefunding are not always aware of one another, in additionthere is often a mismatch of some sorts, misunderstandingshappen all the time and ultimately many, if not mostof valuable programmes and initiatives remain on shelvesor in files.9. Even if funding becomes available for capacity-building,substantial red tape, stop-start approaches and stringsattached are the order of the day and, in some cases, policychanges torpedo viable and effective programmes.10. The principle of ‘teach a man to fish’ is by far not enough,since longer term sustainability of that principle is moreoften than not, not taken into account. The principleshould not only be to teach the man to fish, but how tomake his own fishing rod, how to market his fish, how tosustain fish numbers by embarking on aqua culture andso forth.11. Many capacity-building programmes are based on whatvolunteers can contribute, but volunteerism only goes sofar as that which will be allowed by an employer, organizationor individual. The lack of continuity of volunteermembers of organizations and the lack of permanentadministrative capacity to support capacity-building is aserious drawback to get programmes going and to keepthem going.Components of sustainable engineeringThe twenty-six items of the Protocol of the Africa EngineersForum were expanded upon and explored to find a commonunderstanding of the various elements that may need attentionin terms of what was defined as CAPACITY.© UNESCO/D. Roger3.4.5.The vast differences in how the geographic regions perceivesand experiences capacity-building and what itmeans.The ‘over-supply’ of donor organizations and entities thatwould like to do ‘good’.The substantial lack of integration of effort in terms ofcapacity-building.These twenty-six items were categorized and grouped underfour main headings: Individual, Institutional, Technicaland Decision making. Two additional areas of crucial capacitywere added, i.e. Business and Resources and Supplies. It musthowever be noted that the protocol does not address theseareas of capacity since it is deemed to be outside the areain which professional societies operate. It was neverthelessagreed that these two pillars are integral elements to achieveand maintain sustainability in engineering.316
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UNESCO ReportEngineering:IssuesChal
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This landmark report on engineering
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Executive SummaryAn agenda for engi
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ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND
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Introductionto the Report
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1What is Engineering?
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WHAT IS ENGINEERING?and awareness o
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WHAT IS ENGINEERING?1.2 Engineers,
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2Engineering andHuman Development
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5Engineering around the world
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APPENDICES9.1Engineering at UNESCO
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APPENDICES9.2Biographies of Contrib
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APPENDICESopment of software for in
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APPENDICESous career in higher educ
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APPENDICES2002 and has led the deve
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APPENDICESKevin WallDr Kevin Wall i
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APPENDICES9.3List of acronyms abbre
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APPENDICES212, 213, 214, 215, 217,
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