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

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT Industry - DzamandzarSugar Factory, Madagascar.© UNESCO/D. Rogerprogrammes from across the world that would warrant mentionand many of those can be transplanted easily and implementedwith very little adaptation. These examples prove animportant point: effective and innovative capacity-buildingprogrammes exist and are offered in many places. The challengeis to get these programmes rolled out in all developed aswell as developing countries. Other examples include activitiesin career guidance, harmonization of procurement, standardsand guidelines.■■■■■Numbers & Needs – Addressing the imbalances in the CivilEngineering Profession in South Africa ( N&N1)This research study and suggested interventions is deemedto be world class and a world first. From the UNESCOWorkshops on Poverty Alleviation it was agreed that thismodel should be replicated in every country in the worldto facilitate decision-making regarding build environmentprofessions.Numbers & Needs in local government – Addressing civilengineering – the critical profession for service delivery(N&N2)This research study and suggested interventions is a resultof findings during one of the programmes that was implementedfrom the list of interventions in N&N1, commonlyknown as ENERGYS. Once more, the UNESCO Workshopdelegates in Johannesburg in November 2007 agreed thatthis was another major contribution to the capacity-buildingenvironment.ENERGYS – a case study in transferring of skills and acceleratingexperiential training for technicians and technologiststudents from universities of technology. The projectinvolves mobilizing teams of retired senior engineers andstudents and deploying them to local authorities. In additionto the transfer of skills, teams unblocked many bottlenecks,and enhanced capacity at local authorities aroundRSA.Numberwise – programme to bring the poor numeracyskills of students entering engineering studies up to acceptablelevels.Tertiary Education – a case study about the challenges facingtertiary institutions in South Africa and possibly othercountries in the world.Solutions suggestedIn order to achieve effective and successful progress in capacity-buildingrelated to infrastructure, there are a number ofimportant and crucial core components and it suggested thatthese issues be accepted and implemented. These include:■Round table integrated approaches to all elements.■■■■■■■■■■Identification of common or generic needs and classificationof areas of need.A common database of funding agencies and donors andtheir requirements.A common database of training providers.A common database of training materials or programmesthat are available.A common administrative support system which could beaccessed for purposes of capacity-building needs.Well-designed templates for plans of action, roll out guidelines,clear goals, responsibilities and deadlines.A networking mechanism to share ideas, get feedback onprogrammes and share information in general.Credible and strong custodians of programmes.Well-recognized and credible guarantors and non-monetarysponsors and endorsers.Harmonization of processes and programmes.It is also important that:■is A programme to strengthen engineering in Africa developedas an urgent priority to address the problems of seriousand increasing human and institutional capacity andresource shortages in engineering in Africa.■■■A programme of human and institutional capacity-buildingis developed under the auspices of the Africa EngineersForum and the proposed International Engineering Programme.A programme of continuous professional development( CPD) is developed and offered in interested countriesunder the auspices of the Africa Engineers Forum and theproposed International Engineering Programme.Activities relating to advocacy, information and communicationare developed under the auspices of the Africa EngineersForum and the proposed International EngineeringProgramme.ConclusionThe Policy Statement from the UNESCO workshop on povertyalleviation should be universally accepted as a step towardsbuilding engineering capacity in developing countries. Programmesto strengthen engineering in Africa should be devel-318