Transcript Slide 1

Fourth Annual International Conference of African Science Academy
Development Initiative (ASADI):
Science Academies as Partners for Improving the Impact of Policies in Africa
November 4th -5th 2008, Royal Society, London.
Why would a Government want Independent Advice?
Patrick Amuriat Oboi, MP
Member Committee on science and technology
Parliament of Uganda
Presentation Outline
 Introduction
 Government and the running of the state
 The Need for Evidence Based Advice
 Why would a Government want Independent Advice?
 Challenges
 Conclusion
Introduction
 The actual reality is that the world is changing at a rapid pace,
driven by science and technology,
 Current disparity between the developed and developing nations
is due to level and extent of application of scientific and
technological capacities and innovation.
 There are emerging challenges that threaten the very existence of
humanity;
Climate change, energy shortage, emerging complex diseases,
food shortage etc
 Attempts by Africa to attain higher economic growth have
so far not been entirely successful, with member states only
attempting to attain macro-economic stabilization.
 Developed countries, on the basis of evidence based
knowledge-adopted deliberate policies that led to sizeable
investment in human resource capacity development for
research and development.
 Governments engaged in policies that emphasised publicprivate partnership.
 Owing to the evident disparity between developed and
developing countries and changing global challenges, there
is a need for Governments especially in the developing
world to engage in policies that are guided by independent
advice.
Government and the running of the state
 A government may be defined an organization, that is the authority of
a political unit or the ruling power in a political society, and the
apparatus through which a government body functions and exercises
authority.
 Governance describes the process of making and implementing
decisions, and “good’ governance describes an ideal in which public
institutions conduct affairs and manage public resources in an
impartial, effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent manner.
 For the smooth running of a country, there has to be a robust
government which is charged with the cardinal responsibility of
providing for the needs and well being of the citizenry of that country
in the most efficient and effective manner. In carrying out their
functions leaders in government will ensure that they meet the
aspirations of the people they lead.
 Democracy as opposed to a dictatorship or any other form
of governance is a form of management in which the
supreme power is held completely by the people under a
free electoral system within that unit. Most countries
globally practice democracy with varying degrees of
meticulousness.
 The government of Uganda has a structure of
Administration at both the National and Local or
Municipal levels with leaders at these different levels
carrying out specific functions in different jurisdictions.
These administrative demarcations are establish under the
1995 constitution of Uganda.
Government at the National
Level
 The structure of government at the national level
ensures the smooth running of the entire country. At
this level the structure of administration in Uganda is
very much similar to that of other democratic
countries. This model of government has a structured
composed of three distinct, independent and
constitutionally established arms; the Executive,
Legislative and Judiciary.
 The Executive arm of government with the President as chief
Executive is composed of the cabinet and is charged with the
responsibility among others to determine, formulate and
implement the policy of government. They are also under
constitutional obligation to perform other functions that will be
conferred by the constitution or any other subordinate law.
 The Legislative arm of government is composed of members of
Parliament both elected and ex-officio and is headed by the
Speaker of Parliament. The responsibilities of Parliament entail
making legislation on any matter for the peace, order,
development and good governance of the country,
representation and oversight. Parliament shall also protect the
constitution and promote democratic governance of the country.
 The Judiciary headed by the Chief Justice has the responsibility
of interpretation of the laws of the country. This arm ensures
fairness and justice is done to all persons irrespective of social or
economic status.
Government at the Local Level
 These are set up at district level down to the villages.
Districts as well as sub-county level of administration have
different levels of decision making responsibilities. The
district councils for example can pass ordinances for
enforcement within the confines of the district. It should
be clear by now that the running of government is an
enormous responsibility and that decisions have to be
taken at all levels of the strata of leadership in the country.
 It is necessary to note that in order to be elected into any
elective office in Uganda, one does not necessarily need to
be an expert in any field of study.
The Need for Independent Advice
 Independent advice needs to have the force of
evidence
 For the purposes of this paper, the focus will be
Evidence Based Science Advice as opposed to advice in
general terms. Before embarking on the reasons
government would want evidence advice, it is only
proper that we review our understanding of what
Evidence based Science advice really means.
What is evidence-based science advice?
 Evidence-based
science advice is a conclusion or
recommendation about a particular subject based upon the
investigative assessment of existing evidence from relevant
fields of inquiry and the application of the laws of scientific
reason.
 Those individuals who conduct such an assessment
collectively represent scientific disciplines relevant to the
subject of investigation. The product of the investigation is
subjected to an independent external review to verify that
the conclusions drawn are valid and relevant.
 The evidence gathered in the process of scientific
inquiry is specifically derived using standard
procedures and criteria to minimize the influence
of bias in the experimenter when testing
hypotheses. The result and methodologies of such
an investigation are also carefully documented so
that other investigators can independently verify
that the results are accurate and reliable
Science Academies and Evidence-Based
Advice
who should offer evidence based advice?
It can be argued that evidence based policy advice
 can be offered by anyone competent in the scientific
method and laws of reasoning.
 Is most powerful when developed in a consensus
manner that draws upon the special competencies of
people trained in a range of disciplines relevant to the
subject of investigation.
 While many elements within a nation can produce credible
scientific advice, a science academy can do so with a unique
level of credibility due to its independence from nonscientific influences, the degree of access to leading experts
and scientific literature, and the use of rigorous consensus
and external review methods.
 It is proper that those conducting the assessment are
carefully screened to minimize political and ideological
influences or biases and financial and other forms of
conflict of interest.
 Science Academies have a niche as the most competent in
informing policy with scientific advice of a nation.
Whom Should Academies of Sciences
Advice
 Evidence based scientific advice from an Academy can be
targeted at all elements of society. While typically advice is
sought from an Academy with respect to a nation’s most
serious or urgent policy challenges, Academies should
consider that their functions includes service to
individuals, industry, the educational community,
nongovernmental organizations, and donor, as well as
government. An Academy that releases its advice to not
only sponsors but also to the general public fosters
democratic processes through providing information
important to public debate. This advice is guided not by
personal opinions or gains but by the scientific merit of the
available research.
Why Would a Government Want
Independent Advice?
 As has been observed from above, the task of running
Government can prove complex and very challenging
and requires a collective effort and diverse human
resource to manage or help to manage.
 All policy makers stand to gain from the advice
provided by neutral, diverse, apolitical committees of
experts who have gone through the religious ‘academy
process’ . Policymakers in the executive branch,
legislative branch, and policymakers at the state or
municipal levels can benefit from academy advice,
including the following specific areas:
Evidence Based Advice for National Policy
Design and Decision Making
Evidence-based scientific advice to government is
necessary for optimizing the effectiveness of decisionsincluding laws, regulations, programs, and policies.
 Evidence based advice when applied in the context of
policy- and decision making in government, can be
understood as information or knowledge which is helpful
in clarifying, buttressing, or even challenging a particular
policy-position. It is therefore important that arising from
this advice, governments are assisted in informing political
decisions and therefore political course of action. It is
therefore a logical argument that the use of research-based
evidence, whether statistical or narrative, will serve to
strengthen a policy proposition
 Evidence based advice can also help to entrench
policy-decisions, both enriching the process and,
probably legitimising the decisions taken. Owing
to this, it would be ideally reasonably for
policymakers to insist that no policy decision is
justified without a strong evidence base to
substantiate it.
Evidence Based Advice for Resource
Allocation
 Well developed laws, regulations, programs, and policies
are necessary to provide a country with a road map for its
development. It is obvious that no government can have all
the resources that it desires for the well being of all its
citizens. Proper resource allocation therefore remains
critical to the growth of any nation.
 It can be argued in this paper that strong laws, regulations,
programs, and policies are the cornerstone for resource
mobilization and utilization, and therefore if well
formulated on the basis of evidence based knowledge, can
ensure that finite assets (often from the national treasury)
available are rationally and optimally used. So long as
policymakers are well informed, prioritization can prove
easy.
Evidence Based Advice as a Tool of
Persuasion/ Lobbying
 Many major donors and international lending institutions
are increasingly basing aid and loans on the condition that
reforms ensuring good governance are undertaken.
 Tools that reinforce effective decision formulation and
implementation – such as evidence based scientific advice
– will contribute to improving governance and gaining
access to limited development assistance resources.
 For developing countries to remain competitive before
development partners therefore it is necessary for them to
develop tools based on evidence based advice.
Evidence Based Advice as a Planning Tool
 Evidence based advice can be used as a planning and an
economic development input. As planning tools
information and data which is evidence based generated
should be available to planners and decision makers to
enable them develop strategies, design plans and conceive
decisions that facilitate intervention of Science and
Technology in the national development processes.
 The government of Uganda is adopting an approach to
decision policy making on issues has been particularly
vocal on this subject. It can be projected that practice of
evidence based policy will gain increasing attention in the
foreseeable future both in Uganda just is like the case in
other developing countries.
Evidence Based Advice as an aid to
Program Implementation
 In the implementation of government programs, the information
available to implementers needs to be factual and based on evidence,
for the implementers to use well informed approaches to
implementation.
e.g The PEAP (poverty Eradication Action Plan) which is a framework
to guide the public to eradicate poverty is a strategy that the
government of Uganda has used for some time now. The Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) which represent a set of global
development targets and priorities stand out as Government of Uganda
commitment to her citizens. These framework documents require the
force of clear understanding that would enable policymakers to
understand what they are dealing with and how to most efficiently and
efficiently deal with them.
 It follows therefore, that evidence based advice has a contribution to
make in the success of the implementation of development strategies
 Studies in Cameroon elucidating the link between goiter and iodine
deficiency resulted in new regulations requiring industry to iodine salt.
 Based on advice from U.S. National Academies’ Institute of Medicine
report, the guidelines for the US Women Infants -Children; [WIC] food
assistance program are now being revised to better align with
nutritional requirements of these vulnerable groups (pregnant and
lactating women, infants and children under 5). Food assistance
programs are particularly politicized in the US because of pressures by
food commodity groups
 An institute of medicine committee found inadequate evidence to
either support or reject a causal relationship between exposure to
thimersol, a mercury compound used as a preservative in some
vaccines, and neuro developmental disorders such as autism, attention
deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and language and speech delays – a
purported relationship that had been widely disseminated by the
media
 A committee was formed at the institute of medicine to review
data evaluating the efficacy and safety of single dose nevirapine
and short course zidovudine regimens for preventing mother to
child transmission of HIV infection (HIVNET 012 study). The
committee found no reason to retract the publications or alter
the conclusions of the HIVNET 012 study.
 International organizations and world leaders are being
encouraged to contribute to a newly created global subsidy that
makes “artemisinin– combination therapies “available to all
malaria sufferers for roughly the same cost as the single dose
therapies. This” subsidy” fund is the result of recommendations
from an institute of medicine committee addressing the
economies of malaria.
 Home grown examples include research partly conducted in
Uganda proved that incidence of HIV/AIDS infection of
circumcised adults was less than in the case of uncircumcised
males.
Challenges
Budgetary Limitations
 Generally scientific research that would generate evidence based
information can be costly and may take a very long time for their
benefits when they come, to be realized. In developing countries like
Uganda, occurrence of floods, food and water shortage, outbreaks of
infectious diseases and the short and long term effects HIV/AIDS and
internal conflict, will always find resources ahead of scientific research.
Getting Governments to Act:
 Independent advice however convincing may be may not impact on
policy if the policymakers do not embrace it. Person(s) offering
independent advice many times are not the same as those who cause
the advice to be utilized for the well being of society.
Information Flow Difficulties
 With the revolution in communication created by the use
of the internet in recent years, the potential for increased
access to information and opportunities to disseminate
research findings across borders is growing very fast.
Through this scientist can effectively engage colleagues and
policymakers can be brought on board on issues that
impact on policy. However, this revolution has brought
forth unlimited access even to websites that may not
provide credible information. This may not only spread
incorrect conclusions but conflict with evidence that would
otherwise have positively supported policy and decision
making.
Conclusion
 African Science Academies and other organizations
offering independent advice have an evident role to
play in advancing national socioeconomic aspirations.
To fully apply their potential, the Academies should be
effectively linked into government policy
implementation framework both at macro and micro
levels. Their programs and activities should be
designed more and more to complement rather than
compete with those of government ministries and
institutions.
 At the broadest level, ASADI can contribute to improving the
effectiveness and efficiency of key policy decisions, which can in
turn contribute to development goals, such as improved human
health. ASADI can promote the development process of Africa
by strengthening the physical and intellectual infrastructure of
science Academies and its staff and by increasing the academies’
capacity to interact with its government. ASADI can also
facilitate interactions among African academies which: (1) helps
Academies learn through the successes and failures of other
Academies; and (2) promotes educational opportunities offered
by more advanced African Academies of science
 The current buoyancy of African Academies participating in
ASADI is an output of the effort and funding from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation and this is finite. Now is the time to
think about the sustainability of the programs that ASADI is
rolling in terms of financing.
THANK YOU