Harnessing knowledge to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Africa

Abstract

Africa’s average economic growth has been positive and relatively high in the first decade of the third millennium. This economic expansion should have enhanced the ability of governments to improve the welfare of their people, including reducing poverty and improving health. This document seeks to provide answers to the following five concrete questions: 1. What is knowledge and how is it important for development? 2. Why is knowledge not contributing enough to development in Africa? 3. Who are the relevant stakeholders, and what are their roles? 4. How can knowledge be made to contribute to the development of Africa? 5. What are the steps, prerequisites and requirements necessary for this to happen? The report is organized along the points that follow. Following the introduction, Section 1 deals with the first question above by introducing the various approaches to knowledge together with its transmission into development.