Table Of ContentStudies in Space Policy
Annette Froehlich
André Siebrits
Christoffel Kotze
Space
Supporting
Africa
Volume 2: Education and Healthcare as
Priority Areas in Achieving the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals
2030
Studies in Space Policy
Volume 27
Series Editor
European Space Policy Institute, Vienna, Austria
Edited by: European Space Policy Institute, Vienna, Austria
Director: Jean-Jacques Tortora
Editorial Advisory Board:
Marek Banaszkiewicz
Karel Dobeš
Genevieve Fioraso
Stefania Giannini
Gerd Gruppe
Max Kowatsch
Sergio Marchisio
Fritz Merkle
Margit Mischkulnig
Dominique Tilmans
Frits von Meijenfeldt
https://espi.or.at/about-us/governing-bodies
The use of outer space is of growing strategic and technological relevance. The
development of robotic exploration to distant planets and bodies across the solar
system, as well as pioneering human space exploration in earth orbit and of the
moon, paved the way for ambitious long-term space exploration. Today, space
exploration goes far beyond a merely technological endeavour, as its further
development will have a tremendous social, cultural and economic impact. Space
activities are entering an era in which contributions of the humanities — history,
philosophy, anthropology —, the arts, and the social sciences — political science,
economics, law — will become crucial for the future of space exploration. Space
policythuswillgaininvisibilityandrelevance.TheseriesStudiesinSpacePolicy
shall become the European reference compilation edited by the leading institute in
thefield,theEuropeanSpacePolicyInstitute.Itwillcontainbothmonographsand
collections dealing with their subjects in a transdisciplinary way.
The volumes of the series are single-blind peer-reviewed.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8167
é
Annette Froehlich Andr Siebrits
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Christoffel Kotze
Space Supporting Africa
Volume 2: Education and Healthcare
as Priority Areas in Achieving the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030
123
Annette Froehlich AndréSiebrits
European Space Policy Institute European Space Policy Institute
Vienna,Austria Vienna,Austria
Christoffel Kotze
European Space Policy Institute
Vienna,Austria
ISSN 1868-5307 ISSN 1868-5315 (electronic)
Studies in SpacePolicy
ISBN978-3-030-61779-0 ISBN978-3-030-61780-6 (eBook)
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Preface
Setting the Scene: Towards Achieving the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals 2030
Ifyouwanttogofast,goalone.
Ifyouwanttogofar,
gotogether.
AfricanProverb1
This volume is part of a series exploring the ways in which space is supporting
African development, with particular reference to primary needs—specifically cli-
mate, biodiversity, health, water, education, and space-related capacity building.2
ThisfocusonprimaryneedspermeatestheentireseriesofSpaceSupportingAfrica.
The first volume was dedicated to several core themes. These included unpacking
the general background and context of Africa and its political organisation on
continental and regional levels. It also provided a socio-economic overview of the
African economy and the promise of the digital renaissance. Each of the primary
needsareaswasbrieflyconsideredintheAfricancontext,aswastheimportanceof
AfricantheoreticalcontributionsincludingUbuntuandemergingmiddlepowersto
the discussion of the space sector. It also analysed and presented methods for
ranking African space capabilities, and the background and history of the African
space arena and the “astronaissance”. The African space policy and strategy doc-
umentswereanalysed,anddebatesaroundtheAfricanSpaceAgency(AfSA)were
identified. Finally, Africa’s developmental plan Agenda 2063, as well as the
1PassItOn,“Ifyouwanttogofast,goalone.Ifyouwanttogofar,gotogether”,TheFoundation
for a Better Life, 2020, https://www.passiton.com/inspirational-quotes/7293-if-you-want-to-go-
fast-go-alone-if-you-want(allwebsitescitedinthissegmentwerelastaccessedandverifiedon3
August2020).
2ForadiscussionoftheprimaryneedsapproachtoAfricanspaceactivities,seeChap.1(Africa
andtheSpaceArena)ofthefirstvolumeintheseries:AnnetteFroehlichandAndréSiebrits,Space
Supporting Africa Volume 1: A Primary Needs Approach and Africa’s Emerging Space Middle
Powers(Cham:Springer,2019),38–40.
v
vi Preface
African international space ecosystem and African Union (AU) member states’
national space infrastructures, activities, and capabilities were examined. In that
volume,itwasevidentthatthereisindeed goodnewscomingoutofAfrica,butat
the same time major challenges remain. This and future volumes of the series
expandonsomeoftheremainingthemeshighlightedinthefirstvolume,including
a deeper analysis of the relationship between the AU and the European Union
(EU)inthespacesector,policiesdrivingtheinfusionofspaceintoAfrica’sprimary
needs, and further discussion of space applications.
The present volume focuses on delving deeper into two particularly critical
primary needs and their relationship with space: education and health. These two
focusareasareindispensablefortransformingthelivesofAfricansandraisingtheir
quality and standard of living and are some of the most critical challenge areas in
thecontextofglobalandAfricandevelopment goals.Aswas remarked inVolume
1,withouteducation“nolasting,genuineprogresscanbemadeinthespace sector
oranyother”3becauseitisthevehiclethat“increasesthecapacityofthepeopleto
transform theirvision ofthesocietyinto operational reality, anessential means for
sustainablehumandevelopment”.4Assuch,thechaptersofthepresentvolumewill
be dedicated to higher or tertiary education (Chap. 1) and healthcare (Chap. 2),
whichareequallyimportant,especiallyintheAfricancontext.Coretothechapters
will be the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030,
Agenda2063oftheAfricanUnion(AU),theSDG-relatedprojectsoftheEuropean
SpaceAgency(ESA),andvariousAfricanspaceactivitiesrelatedtoeducationand
health. The accompanying figure illustrates the broad structure of the volume.
Whiletheconceptofsustainabilityfirstmadeitsdebutin1713whenitappeared
inahandbookofforestryandwasusedinthecontextofneverharvestingmorethan
what the forest can regenerate,5 the modern concept of sustainable development
(SD) first entered into global discourse through the World Commission on
Environment and Development, launched by the UN in 1982 (known as the
Bruntland Commission, named after the chairperson, former Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland).6 However, arguably, the modern root of the SD
concept can be traced back to the 1972 Stockholm UN Conference on the Human
Environment, which was the first to recognise that “[t]he problem was how to
reconcile those legitimate immediate requirements [of developing countries] with
theinterestsofgenerationsyetunborn”.7Whilethefullhistoryofhowtheconcept
3FroehlichandSiebrits,SpaceSupportingAfricaVolume1,38.
4SamuelOyewole,“SpaceResearchandDevelopmentinAfrica”,Astropolitics15,no.2(2017):
200.
5The World Energy Foundation, “A Brief History of Sustainability”, 20 August 2014, https://
theworldenergyfoundation.org/a-brief-history-of-sustainability/.
6Robert W. Kates, Thomas M. Parris, and Anthony A. Leiserowitz, “What Is Sustainable
Development? Goals, Indicators, Values, and Practice”, Environment: Science and Policy for
SustainableDevelopment47,no.1(2005):1–13.
7United Nations, Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (New
York: United Nations, 1972), 45, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.
48/14/REV.1.
Preface vii
MaincomponentsofSpaceSupportingAfricaVolume2
of SD entered into prominence through thePost-2015 Development Agenda isnot
the focus here,8 various facets of its definition are relevant for the discussion on
educationinthischapter.Inthiscontext,themostwell-knowndefinitionofSDwas
providedbytheBruntlandCommission’s1987ReportoftheWorldCommissionon
Environment and Development: Our Common Future, which summed the concept
upas“meet[ing]theneedsofthepresentwithoutcompromisingtheabilityoffuture
generationstomeettheirownneeds”.9Thisdefinitionclearlyechoestheconcernof
balancing current legitimate needs with the needs of unborn generations, as first
espousedin1972.WheretheBruntlandCommissiongoesfurther,however,isinits
recognition of the inseparability of the environment from developmental debates:
8For an in-depth discussion, see: André Siebrits and Valentino van de Heyde, “Towards the
Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: The African Space-Education Ecosystem for
Sustainability and the Role of Educational Technologies”, in Embedding Space in African
Society: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Supported by Space
Applications,ed.AnnetteFroehlich(Cham:Springer,2019),127–180.
9BruntlandCommission,ReportoftheWorldCommissiononEnvironmentandDevelopment:Our
CommonFuture(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1987),16,http://www.un-documents.net/our-
common-future.pdf.
viii Preface
Theenvironmentdoesnotexistasasphereseparatefromhumanactions,ambitions,and
needs,andattemptstodefenditinisolationfromhumanconcernshavegiventheveryword
‘environment’aconnotationofnaivetyinsomepoliticalcircles.Theword‘development’
hasalsobeen narrowed bysome intoaverylimited focus,alongthelinesof‘what poor
nationsshoulddotobecomericher’,andthusagainisautomaticallydismissedbymanyin
theinternationalarenaasbeingaconcernofspecialists,ofthoseinvolvedinquestionsof
‘developmentassistance’.Butthe‘environment’iswherewealllive;and‘development’is
what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are
inseparable.10
Therecognitionoftheinterrelationbetweendevelopmentandtheenvironmentcar-
riedoverintothe1992UNConferenceonEnvironmentandDevelopment(UNCED)
inRiodeJaneiro(knownasthe“EarthSummit”).IntheresultingRioDeclaration,it
was argued that “[i]n order to achieve sustainable development, environmental
protectionshallconstituteanintegralpartofthedevelopmentprocessandcannotbe
considered in isolation from it”.11 This realisation culminated in the 2002 World
Summit on Sustainable Development (also known as the Johannesburg Summit)
which recognised the challenge of “improving people’s lives and conserving our
natural resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing
demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic
security”12—to which education can be added. Here, it is not difficult to see the
emergenceoftheconceptofprimaryneeds,towhichthisseriesisdedicated.
Bytheyear2000,theconceptofSDwassoentrenchedinglobaldiscoursethatit
formedpartofthe2000–2015UNMillenniumDevelopmentGoals(MDGs),which
emerged from the Millennium Summit. These MDGs were the predecessors of the
current SDGs and consisted of eight core goals: eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and
empowerment of women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health;
combating Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS), malaria, and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustain-
ability; and building a global partnership for development.13 While there were
“serious,regrettable,anddeeplypainful”shortfallsinachievingtheMDGs,14much
of Africa made substantial progress, often without much fanfare, even in cases
where the goals were not fully met. In fact, some argued that this progress still
needed to be recognised, instead of being dismissed as a failure—“some experts
10Ibid.,7.
11The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, The Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development (New York: United Nations, 1992), 2, http://www.unesco.org/
education/pdf/RIO_E.PDF.
12UnitedNations,“WorldSummitonSustainableDevelopment(WSSD),JohannesburgSummit”,
SustainableDevelopmentGoalsKnowledgePlatform,nodate,https://sustainabledevelopment.un.
org/milesstones/wssd.
13United Nations, “Background”, Millennium Development Goals and Beyond 2015, no date,
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml.
14Jeffrey D. Sachs, “From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals”,
Lancet379,no.9832(2012).
Preface ix
believe the global community needs to be aware that the assessment process was
unjust to Africa and that progress made by countries such as Burkina Faso and
Nigeroughttoberecognized”,especiallyinthecontextoffailingtomeetuniversal
primary school enrolment, since “[i]n just two decades, primary school enrolment
intwoof theworld’s poorestcountries—Niger andBurkina Faso—increased from
20%tomorethan60%”15while“[i]ttooktheUnitedStatesoveracenturytomake
the transition from Burkina Faso’s current enrolment rate to universal primary
schooling”.16
Whileanin-depthanalysisoftheMDGsandtheirimplementationisoutsidethe
scopeofthisvolume,twoobservationsarenoteworthyinthecontextoftheSDGs.
First,SDwasembodiedasaseparategoaloftheMDGs(Goal7),consistingoffour
parts: “7.A. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country poli-
cies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources”; “7.B.
Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of
loss”; “7.C. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”; and “7.D. Achieve, by 2020, a
significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers”.17 In
contrast,aswillbediscussedinChap.1,theSDGsplaceSDatthecoreoftheentire
post-2015 development agenda, which in turn isthen infused into individual goals
such as Goal 13 (Climate Action), Goal 14 (Life below Water), Goal 15 (Life on
Land),etc.Second,aswillalsobediscussed,theSDGsgreatlyexpandedthescope
of the educational goal beyond universal primary education to include early
childhood development, qualified teachers, and more. This does not, however,
meanthatblindspotsdonotremainsince,aswillbeseen,thesedoexistespecially
in relation to tertiary education.
Thepost-2015developmentagenda,knownasthe2030AgendaforSustainable
Development, was adopted by the UN General Assembly via Resolution
A/RES/70/1inOctober,2015.18Theareasofcriticalimportancetobeaddressedby
thissuccessortotheMDGswereidentifiedasPeople(“endpovertyandhunger,in
all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their
potentialindignityandequalityandinahealthyenvironment”),Planet(“protectthe
planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and produc-
tion,sustainablymanagingitsnaturalresourcesandtakingurgentactiononclimate
change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations”),
Prosperity (“ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives
15JaspreetKindraandJulietWasswa-Mugambwa,“MDGs:AnassessmentofAfrica’sprogress”,
Africa Renewal, December 2015, https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2015/
mdgs-assessment-africa%E2%80%99s-progress.
16Michael Clemens and Todd Moss quoted in Kindra and Wasswa-Mugambwa, “MDGs: An
assessmentofAfrica’sprogress”.
17UnitedNations,“Goal7:EnsureEnvironmentalSustainability”,MillenniumDevelopmentGoals
andBeyond2015,nodate,https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/environ.shtml.
18UnitedNationsGeneralAssembly,“A/RES/70/1:Transformingourworld:the2030Agendafor
Sustainable Development”, 21 October 2015, https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?
symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E.
