Concept Note
India and Africa: Partnership for Capacity Building and Human Resource Development
India and Africa have historical and multidimensional relationship. In the recently held India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi (8-9 April 2008), a framework for cooperation between Africa and India was spelt out. It emphasized the rich history of Africa-India relationship and the existing close and multi-layered ties between the two sides. Among several areas of cooperation one important sector is capacity building and human resource development. It was a key component in India -Africa cooperation. Even when India itself was not strong during 1960s, it lent a helping hand to Africa in capacity building and human resource development. Indian teachers, scientists, doctors, technical and military experts trained an entire generation of Africans. India made a major contribution to the development of Africa’s skill base. Africans are familiar with Indian capabilities and its support to education, agriculture, small scale industries, computer software, trade and training in defense sector. India provided educational support to the newly independent countries of Africa by sending teachers, giving large number scholarships and admission to African students in state run Indian academic institutions. Many African students who studied in India came to occupy important positions in their respective countries on their return. Many of those who came from countries like Mauritius, Seychelles and East Africa also belonged to the Indian Diasporic community.
India has developed a sizeable skilled and educated manpower. It emerged as a third largest skilled human resource in the world due to substantial public investment in establishing academic and professional institutions. Indian government policy led to liberal university education and the subsequent rapid development of the educational research and training. These experiences are relevant for African countries. Therefore, India is a suitable partner to contribute in the capacity building and development of human resource in Africa. As it is Africa is rich in natural resources. It needs skilled human resources and technology to accelerate its economic growth. The partnership in capacity building and human resource development has following areas to be focused:
Human and Social Resources Development: As India’s capabilities and resource base has grown in these areas it has broadened the scope of cooperation activities in capacity building with Africa. Not only the public sectors but India’s private sectors are now encouraged to build partnerships for capacity building and human resource development. The focus areas include capacity building for educational policy planning and administration, establishing programmes for entrepreneurship for youth and opening distance education programmes. In addition to there cooperating in capacity building for devising policy frameworks to establish partnership to develop ‘Information and Communication Technology’ tools and to develop areas like e-education, e-commerce and e-health etc will be very useful. Other areas include building capacity for health professionals and healthcare system, strengthening the indigenous manufacturing capacities of essential medicines and enhancing training for media professionals.
Governance and Civil Society: Good governance and an empowered civil society are essential development imperatives. India is partnering with Africa to build its indigenous capacity in these areas. The key focus areas in this partnershipinclude enhancing public and private participation in local and central government, establishing platforms to enable civil societies to play a vibrant role in promoting institutions of local self governance and establishing relevant governance training institutions in Africa. Cross-fertilization of ideas and sharing of experiences on public service reforms, conduct of elections, and management of ethnic diversity are other identified areas. For maintaining regional peace and security, effective policing, peacekeeping operations, and disaster management are areas where India could partner with Africa for capacity building. Besides them, mainstreaming gender in governance is another sphere where India’s experience at local self government could be shared. Partnering with India’s civil society organizations and NGOs engaged in capacity building in India could help in addressing the special needs of women and self help groups in Africa. Partnering with Indian media for capacity building would enable the media in Africa to play an effective role in promoting development, democratic practices and good governance.
Agriculture, Trade and Development: Partnership in this area aims at building capacity to promote development and growth. It includes capacity building in trade negotiations, dispute settlement, enhancement of competitiveness in world economy and establishing training programmes for entrepreneurship and skill development. Building cooperation for sharing experiences and expertise in the areas of Small and Medium scale enterprises (SMEs) is another important area of engagement. Other sectors identified include capacity building on policy and regulatory frameworks inthe financial sector, tourism development and policy planning in agricultural sector.
Diasporic and Cultural Resources: India- Africa partnership in this area would allow both sides to mutually gain from each other. It includes sharing experiences in harnessing Diasporic resources through building Diasporic networks and formulating engagement policies, strengthen people-to people contacts through cultural exchange programmes and by effecting cooperation for capacity building in areas of sports.
The cooperation between India and Africa is historical and its strong focus remains empowerment of people and institutions of the African countries through capacity building and human resource development to effect rapid development. This Conference would like to address issues related to India and Africa partnership for capacity building and human resource development under the following sub-themes but not confining to them.
1.Developing Human and Social Resources covering areas like education, training and focusing on science and technology, e-education, media, health, water and sanitation.
2.Democratizing Development including areas like governance and civil society,peace and security, media and communication.
3.Delivering Development covering areas of mass involvement like Agriculture, Trade, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs), Finance and Tourism.
4.Harnessing Diasporic and Cultural Resources including diasporic networks & resources and developing cultural and soft power. |
