Promoting the Malaysia-UNESCO Cooperation Programme (MUCP) at the 38th General Conference of UNESCO
Round Table Discussion on:
“Promoting South-South Cooperation for Sustainable Development”
DATE: 9 NOVEMBER 2015
TIME: 13h00 to 14h30
VENUE: SALLE IX
“ISTIC: A Role Model for South-South Cooperation in STI”
By Academician Dato Ir. (Dr) Lee Yee Cheong, Chair, Governing Board,
International Science Technology and Innovation for South-South Cooperation
Under the Auspices of UNESCO (ISTIC) www.istic-unesco.org
Background
ISTIC is a most successful follow up of the 2nd Summit of China+G77 in Doha 2005. The Summit urged UNESCO to balance initiatives on the Supply Side of S&T with more initiatives on the Demand Side for the benefit of peoples in South countries. UNESCO approached Malaysia to host ISTIC as a Category II Centre in 2006. UNESCO Category II Centre is funded by host nation. Malaysian government agreed. ISTIC was formally launched in Kuala Lumpur on 22 May 2008. The UNESCO/Malaysia Agreement on the six-year extension of ISTIC was signed in UNESCO on 7 September 2015.
Under the overarching framework of UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ISTIC has emphasized on institutional and human resources capacity building in South countries.
ISTIC Priority Programmes are:
§ STI Policy, emphasizing implementation by planning, investment and
evaluation (PIE);
· Technoprenuership Training;
· Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education;
· Women in STI;
· Maintenance of Infrastructure;
· Accreditation of Engineering Education Qualifications to International Standards leading to Mobility of Competent Engineers and Technicians in South countries.
ISTIC Programme Guiding Principles are:
· ISTIC programs are held throughout regions especially in the developing world. ISTIC programs and activities were organised with local partners in Argentina, Egypt, India, France, Hungary, Kenya, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Trinidad Tobago, Ecuado and Malaysia;
· All local cost is borne by the host organization;
· Participants of ISTIC programmes are at policy making levels in their own countries so that they are likely to implement similar STI initiatives in their own countries.
ISTIC Maintenance of Infrastructure Programme
Infrastructure projects abound in the developing world, fueled by China with her Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), ‘One Belt One Road” BRICS Development Bank initiatives. But there is little indigenous capacity in the South to maintain them in good working order. ISTIC Maintenance of Infrastructure programme is gaining support in Africa.
ISTIC partners are the Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI) Hyderabad, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia); Highway Authority Malaysia (MHA), Institution of Engineers Malaysia(IEM) and Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), Engineers Registration Board Tanzania, Kenya Engineers Board and Council for Regulation of Engineering Nigeria.
Accreditation of Engineering Education Qualifications to International Standards leading to Mobility of Engineers and Technicians in the South
Accreditation of engineering educations qualifications to international standards in South countries will assure the supply of competent engineers and technicians in South countries leading to regional mobility of engineers and technicians.
ISTIC partners are UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Jakarta, Federation of Engineering Institutions in Asia Pacific (FEIAP), Council for Regulation of Engineering Nigeria (COREN) and Engineers Registration Board Tanzania (ERBT). ISTIC brokered the UNESCO Jakarta/FEIAP Agreement to mentor the accreditation process in Pakistan, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Timur Leste, Tanzania and Nigeria. This Agreement is funded by MUCP.
I was in Abuja Nigeria in August 2015 to discuss with COREN and the UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa to convene a meeting of the relevant engineering agencies in the UNESCO West Africa Cluster of Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo in early 2016 to get these countries actively engaged in the accreditation and mobility initiative.
In East Africa, Registrars of the National Engineers Registration Boards of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda have been meeting regularly to harmonize accreditation standards of engineering qualifications and to work towards the mobility of engineers and technicians in the East African Economic Community.
ISTIC Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) Programme
ISTIC partner is La Main a la pate (LAMAP), France. ISTIC has developed the English mirror website of LAMAP called “I Do I Discover”
www.istic-lamap.org ISTIC has translated into English two LAMAP thematic publications “Discoveries in Muslim Countries” and “When the Earth Rumbles”. Through participation in ISTIC/LAMAP teachers’ training courses, Brunei, Indonesia and Timur Leste have entered into bilateral agreements with LAMAP to implement IBSE in primary schools.
ISTIC STI Policy Training Programme
There are two parallel programmes.
One is with Korean Institute for S&T Policy Planning and Evaluation (KISTEP) focusing on S&T policy implementation of Planning, Investment and Evaluation (PIE).
The other is based on the Malaysian development model through STI.
ISTIC Technoprenuership Training Programme
This programme teaches research scientists and engineers how to develop business plans in the process of commercialization. ISTIC’s partner is Usains of Universiti Sains Malaysia. This programme is in great demand. Training courses have been held in Sudan, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Trinidad and Ecuador.
ISTIC Programme on Women in STI
This has been institutionalized into a high profile conference once every two years in Malaysia.
In the process, ISTIC has set an example by having gender equality in ISTIC’s Governing Board.
I am personally conducting a campaign to make gender equality the overarching agenda in every one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals so as to expedite the realization of SDG No. 5 “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls” by 2030.
Total Number of ISTIC Programmes to End 2014
Programme / Program Count / Participants / CountriesSTI Policy / 15 / 680 / 77
Women in STI / 2 / 359 / 33
IBSE / STEM / 10 / 324 / 52
Maintenance of Infrastructure / 8 / 284 / 27
Technopreneuership / 11 / 332 / 47
Briefings to UNESCO
Heads of Delegation / 3 / 130 / 60
ISTIC 5th Anniversary Conference / 1 / 250 / 87
50 / 2359
ISTIC networking principle
Obtain strong support from:
· Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia;
· National Malaysia Commission for UNESCO;
· UNESCO Top Management;
· Heads of Delegations of UNESCO Member States through Malaysian Head of Delegation to UNESCO;
· ISTIC Programme Local Hosts;
· ISTIC Programme Funding Partners.
By keeping them informed and engaged.
ISTIC’s multilateral partners number 56 in total
Finally ISTIC gratefully acknowledge funding support for ISTIC programmes to date:
· UNESCO
· ISESCO
· Islamic Development Bank
· UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia Pacific, Jakarta
· Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation Malaysia (MOSTI)
· OIC Vision 1441 Secretariat, MOSTI
· Malaysian National Commission for UNESCO
· NAM Institute for Empowerment of Women Malaysia (NIEW)
· Academy of Sciences Malaysia
· Board of Engineers Malaysia
· Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB)
· Highway Authority Malaysia
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