Project Title: AAS Executive Education Program
Targeted countries: All African countries

Goal: empower participants to design and implement strategies that harness innovation, technology and science for Africa

Thematic key words: Science in Africa, innovation systems, frontier technology, economic development, environmental sustainability, intra-Africa trade & security, cooperation

Targeted participants: Senior Government Officials, Parliamentary leaders and Judiciary Officials,BusinessandCivilSocietyLeaders,Senior Officials of pan-African Institutions and Regional Economic Communities; Top Academia Leadership in all sectors, as well as regional and pan-African institutions

Course Duration: 8 weeks
 

Background and Justification

Some capacity building initiatives exist on the continent to address science, technology and innovation systems. However, there are limited training opportunities available to address these topics at an executive level, despite the inclusion of regional integration, industrialization and trade, in line with the Skill Combination Scenario to Enhance Flagship Initiatives and Programs of Africa’s Agenda 2063. This gap can be filled by targeting senior professionals in all sectors and providing them with a unique opportunity to integrate science, technology and innovation into sectoral or national development policies through training. Building their capacity would inevitably result in met human development needs, increased participation in the global economy, and effective sustainability transitions. The same positive effects would apply to Africa, provided that its leadership receives the requisite training and skills for transformational governance and leadership.

The African Academy of Sciences is establishing an Executive Education program at its Nairobi campus. This initiative would invite Fellows and affiliated experts to propose and lead 2-month Executive Education courses, targeted at the continent’s senior and mid-level leadership and management in all sectors and thematic areas. The courses will blend global insights with African expertise, thus empowering participants to design and implement strategies that harness innovation, technology and science for Africa, in an age of science-led development. 

Rationale

African economies and society are dominated by low level processing of natural resources and the production of simple consumer goods for local consumption, and have remained substantially untransformed from its colonial raw material production and export origins, scientific and technological advancement is increasingly seen as necessary to help promote homegrown economic development and eradicate poverty, by providing Africa with the Science and Technology tools to address its own challenges and expand its industrial productivity.

Leaders in key decision-making and influential roles around the world are paying increasing attention to the role of technological innovation and institutional change in their bid to achieve competitive advantages and prosperity. This phenomenon is taking increasing importance, as global geo-politics and development are ever more predicated on national mastery and utility of science and technology.

Indeed, the broad African political leadership has over the last few decades, variously situated scientific mastery as a premier continental development priority, and as prerequisite for developing the necessary continental technical and scientific manpower for other important priorities like economic transformation, trade, governance, and security --including health and food security. Africa today is broadly emphasizing and demanding scientific competencies and productivity, as crucial and prerequisite for it to integrate into the world economy, and firmly stay on a path to fulfilling its vision under agenda 2063.

Training the continent’s top public sector and corporate leadership in the Science, Technology, and Innovation imperatives for continental devleopement is essential for integrating modern scientific advancements into governance and management, driving economic growth, and solving complex national and regional challenges.

Already, many African managers and leaders continue to travel abroad, at high costs to foreign institutions offering executive education courses, most of which can readily be offered by the expertise within the AAS community of Fellows and affilliated experts. Indeed, some of these sought-after course at foreign Institutions are offered by Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences at those Institutions1

The AAS Executive Education program aims at enhancing the continent’s untapped knowledge resources to fill in this gap. Through the expertise within the

AAS’s over 800 Fellows and affiliated experts in the network, it will offer widely acclaimed courses on Science, Technology and Innovation for Economic Development. Thesecourseswill empowerAfrican leadersand Managers todesign policies and implementation mechanisms that enhance economic growth, global competitiveness, and environmental sustainability in Africa. By meeting this demand, the AAS hopes to harness the intellectual capital in its 800+ membership and affiliated experts, to position itself as Africa’s leading trainer of the continent’s senior leadership in all sectors and thematic areas, and thereby complement its position as Africa’s leading Think-Tank in the broad sense of the word.

Targeted Participants

The AAS Executive Education program is a leadership development program and as such will target senior and mid-level leaders and managers who influence Africa’s development agenda, including:

• Ministers, parliamentarians, and senior government officials
• CEOs, Directors, and executives from public and private sector Institutions
• University presidents, deans, and research institute leaders
• Diplomats, science attachés, and International policy professionals
• Senior advisors to governments and corporations
• NGO and development organization managers and leaders
• Defence and Security industry leadership

Key Features

• Africa-Centred, globally contextual Curriculum: Rooted in Africa’s realities & focused on homegrown solutions to complex leadership and innovation challenges
• Applied and Action-Oriented: Participants develop practical leadership strategies and innovation frameworks for immediate impact •    Blended Learning Model: Combines in-person immersion sessions in Nairobi with online modules and applied projects in the form of case studies, simulations and peer-to-peer learning
• Pan-African Leadership Network: Participants connect with peer senior leaders across different sectors, themes and African development interests, from across Africa.
• World Class Faculty: Led by Fellows of the Academy and affiliated experts, the top Scholars Africa has to offer in each field and topic, and who often teach similar courses at the most prestigeous Instituions in the world. 

Sample Topics/Themes

• Science, Diplomacy and Cooperation for Africa’s Diplomatic Corps •    Science, Technology and Public Policy for Parliamentarians
• African Governance in a Science-led World
• Intra-Africa Trade in the era of the African Continental Free Trade Area
• Intra-Africa Defence and Security
• Urbanization and Economic Competitiveness
• African Industrialization Policy and Practice
• Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation
• Research and Grant Management (with Harvard DFCI; PROMOTE)
• Oil and Gas Policy and Leadership
• Project Management Oversight Training and Education
• Africa in the era of Frontier Science and Technology
• Africa in a changing global order and alliances

Timeline
Duration: 2 months (8 weeks), with the following break-down:

• Week 1-3: Online delivery
• Week 4: Mandatory in-person in Nairobi (no additional cost to participants)
• Week 5 - 7: online delivery
• Week 8: exams / assessment.

Admissions

Selection Criteria
Participants will be selected based on leadership experience, potential for impact, and a demonstrated commitment to advancing a science, technology, and innovation-led development in Africa. Academic qualifications will be less important than professional achievement and purpose-driven leadership.

How to Apply
Applications are accepted online through the AAS Executive Education portal (under development).
Interested candidates should submit:

• A completed application form
• A professional bio or CV
• A short statement of intent (500 words) outlining their motivation and how they intend to apply their learning 

AAS Executive Education Program Management

• Program Director (Secretariat): Nkem Khumbah, Director, AAS STI;
• Proposed Steering/Oversight Committee: (see profiles below)

1. Friday Okonofua (AAS SG); (Nigeria, Medical Science; 2018); Chair
2. Haja Wurie (Sierra Leone, Medical Sciences, 2025; Female)
3. Shaukat Abdulrazak (Kenya, Agricultural Sciences, 2013)
4. Sylvester Gates (USA, Physical Science; 2025)
5. Nkem Khumbah, Director, STI, AAS
6. Phil Mjwara, South Africa Permanent Representative to UNESCO
7. Timothy Rebbeck, Vincent L. Gregory, Jr. Professor of Cancer Prevention, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
8. Jaymie Durnan, Chair, Andrew Marshall Foundation, USA
9. Robert Lisinge, Director. United Nations Economic Commision for Africa, Ethiopia.

Responsibilities of the Steering/Oversight Committee

• Provide overall programmatic oversight to the structure, quality and relevance for an Executive Education program on the cutting edge of Africa Policy Leadership.
• Review and select courses proposed by FAAS and affiliated experts
• Serve as advocates and ambassadors of the program within and outside Africa leadership institutions and partners
• Promoting the AAS Executive Education Program at the local, regional and International levels
• Support the AAS Executive Education Secretariat to seek contractual arrangements    with    African    Ministries,    Parliaments,    Regional Development Institutions (RECs, NEPAD and AU Institutions) and Industrial Corporations to offer Execuitve Education training to their leadership and management.
• Meet twice a year:
  • once virtually to review and approve courses and
  • once in person at an AAS convening on: The Frontiers of Africa Policy Leadership in an increasingly Science and Technology-led world.