Retrieved from Allafrica News
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200210010069.html

Daily Champion (Lagos)
October 1, 2002 
Posted to the web October 1, 2002 
By Ken Nwogbo

AN African initiative that seeks to boost science and technology communication was launched yesterday at Entebbe, Uganda with participants calling for concerted efforts to lift the continent from technological backwardness.

Entitled: SCIDEV.Net Africa, the initiative will link individuals and institutions to create a sub-Saharan regional network of SCIDEV.Net, an organisation committed to increasing capacity in science communication in the developing world. The launch was performed by Minister for General Duties in the Prime Minister's Office, Uganda, Prof. Mondo Kagonyera, who underscored the need for building both regional and individual capacity to bridge the science and technological divides between the developed and under-developed world. Director SCIDEV.Net, Mr. David Dickson said the organisation will run a website, WWW.SCIDEV.Net, dedicated to reporting and commenting on the potential contributions of science and technology to meeting the needs of developing countries. According to him, the website was set last year with the backing of the scientific journals Nature and Science, and the support of the Third World Academy of Sciences. The website already has a regional gateway that links news, feature and opinion articles about science being carried out in or indirectly relevant to sub-Saharan Africa.

"SCIDEV.Net Africa seeks to expand the coverage of the gateway, to improve the dissemination of SCIDEV.Net Material in Africa and to play a key role in achieving capacity-building in science and technology communication," Mr. Dickson added. The workshop attracted 60 scientists, journalists and policy researchers from 10 sub-Saharan African nations.

Beginning this morning (Tuesday) delegates will attend series of talks on the central role of science communication in promoting sustainable development, participate in group discussions that will explore how this role can be achieved more effectively and engage in practical training exercises. The workshop will end on Thursday, when participants would have been able to contribute to sustainable development through science and technology communication.