Strengthening Science and Technological Capacity in Africa: Engaging Women and youth

Economic growth depends on the country’s capacity to develop and apply new technologies and innovations.This therefore becomes the ultimate yardstick for measuring the success of nations on how effective their activities improve the lives of the people. Africa continent faces a number of problems ranging from unemployment, hunger, health and politically related issues. Unemployment in Africa is one of the main causes of poverty and the youth and women who have are the majority are the most affected. This segment of the population in the society has been excluded from participating in the countries development due to unemployment, inaccessibility to information and involvement in governance including low level of education. Such factors make youth prone to violence, peer pressure and mob psychology among others since they are marginalised. This can be effectively achieved by “thinking outside the box” This state of affairs has increased food insecurity, political violence, marital instability as well as conflict brought about by competition for limited resources. Kenya in the recent past has witnessed deadly conflicts between pastoralist and peasant farmers in Tana River district and in north eastern province between pastoralist communities themselves due to limited water resource and pasture leading to the death of more than 100 people in less than a week. Statistics indicate that the highest number of those who participated directly in the post election violence in Kenya was the youth and at the same time the majority of those who were killed were also the youth. In addition traditional culture has marginalised women and often constrained them from making choices in their livelihoods. There is need for socio-economic empowerment of youth and women through sustainable programs such as agribusiness through value added product development. Moi University have been involved in a number of activities aimed at addressing some of the challenges affecting the youth and women through a combination approach of exploitation and exploration. Exploitation refers toutilization of available resources to the advantage of the institution while exploration refers to the identification of resources which could be utilised in the activities of the institution. Universities have a leading role to play in research, generating and disseminating knowledge to support growth. Research increases the body of theoretical knowledge as well as its applications to solve problems in human society.The traditional university restricted itself mainly to a circle of professors and students from upper strata of society and lives in relative isolation, hence the proverbial “ivory towers”. This approach made universities to lose touch with society. The problems facing society are in themselves a resource for universities to do further research to come up with solutions, It is therefore important to emphasis that creativity,exploitation and exploration does not take place in a vacuum but are triggered by the existing problems affecting humanity. The Universities must enrich their curriculum to incorporate strong entrepreneurship concept in order to produce “job creators” and not “job seekers “. Our pilot degree program has given women an opportunity to express their talents in their technical sector. At the moment we have two women pilots. This paper highlight the role Moi University plays in turning the challenges facing youth and women into opportunities for sustainable development through Science and Technology.