Africa — A Manifesto for Creativity and Innovation

Copying and imitation are central to our process of learning and the acquisition of skills. … Copying and imitation never leave us, and without it a lot of socially valuable information would never be transmitted or learnt. The creator of innovation is also always the borrower of ideas and information from others.

Information Feudalism 

Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite

Earthscan Publications Ltd, London – Sterling Va.,

Copyright © Peter Drahos, 2002

My dream for Nigeria, Africa

I wish Nigeria would turn a definitive corner in the path of its national development – from the vice grip of poverty and disease to the ambience of sustained prosperity and good health, from poor leadership to inspired / inspiring leadership. As I write about Nigeria and I have a graphic image of Africa etched on my mind.

Africa desperately needs a century of change accomplished within a few decades; Africa requires the shock therapy of drastic and traumatic change. Africa yearns for visceral and overwhelming change. For this, we need political will and individual will, collective and contributory; we need guts and moral re-armament. We need a well-thought compass and feasible development plan.

I have a few suggestions to add to what a bevy of fine minds and African well-wishers have been saying, praying, writing and advocating.

The year 2009 was declared by the European Year of Creativity and Innovation by the European Commission. Main objective of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation was to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and innovation for personal, social and economic development; to disseminate good practices; to stimulate education and research, and to promote policy debate on related issues. Key message was that Creativity and innovation contribute to economic prosperity as well as to social and individual wellbeing. The Target groups were a range of different groups including young people, educators, firms and policy makers, as well as the general public at European, national and local levels.

One of the outcomes was the formulation of Creativity and Innovation Manifesto endorsed and signed onto by a panel of eminent persons including scholars, Nobel Laureates, artistes, inventors, educators, captains of industry, and thinkers selected as European Ambassadors for Creativity and Innovation. This blog affirms that Africa desperately requires this kind of manifesto among other things just as much as Europe, with a large dose of cultural and attitudinal modifications. The entire manifesto is reproduced below with Europe replaced by Africa.

See how it fits:

Background to the Manifesto

The world is moving to a new rhythm. To be at the forefront of this new world, Africa needs to become more creative and innovative. To be creative means to imagine something that didn’t exist before and to look for new solutions and forms. To be innovative means to introduce change in society and in the economy. Design activities transform ideas into value and link creativity to innovation.

In order to progress, Africa needs increased investment – both private and public – in knowledge. Moving ahead with wisdom requires respect for history and the cultural heritage. New knowledge builds upon historical knowledge, and most innovations are new combinations of what is already there. Culture, with its respect for individual and collective memory, is important to maintaining a sense of direction in the current context of restless change.

Creativity is a fundamental dimension of human activity. It thrives where there is dialogue between cultures, in a free, open and diverse environment with social and gender equality. It requires respect and legal protection for the outcomes of creative and intellectual work. Creativity is at the heart of culture, design and innovation, but everyone has the right to utilise their creative talent. More than ever, Africa’s future depends on the imagination and creativity of its people.

The economic, environmental and social crises challenge us to find new ways of thinking and acting. Creativity and innovation can move society forward toward prosperity, but society needs to take responsibility for how they are used. Today, they must be mobilised in favour of a fair and green society, based upon intercultural dialogue and with respect for nature and for the health and well-being of people worldwide.

To create a more creative and innovative Africa, open to the rest of the world and respectful of human values, we present the following manifesto, which sets out our priorities and our recommendations for action. The need for change and a new initiative is urgent. African Union and its Member States must give full attention to creativity and innovation now in order to find a way out of the current stalemate.

The Manifesto

1. Nurture creativity in a lifelong learning process where theory and practice go hand in hand.

2. Make schools and universities places where students and teachers engage in creative thinking and learning by doing.

3. Transform workplaces into learning sites.

4. Promote a strong, independent and diverse cultural sector that can sustain intercultural dialogue.

5. Promote scientific research to understand the world, improve people’s lives and stimulate innovation.

6. Promote design processes, thinking and tools, understanding the needs, emotions, aspirations and abilities of users.

7. Support business innovation that contributes to prosperity and sustainability.

Lines of action

The following lines of action require a new understanding of public policy. The African Union and national Governments need to engage in change together with social partners and grass-root movements. Shared visions and initiatives that cross traditional policy areas are needed in order to deal with current ecological, social, cultural, security and democratic deficits. Focusing upon creativity and innovation is a key to opening dialogues that cross historical political divides.

Action 1: Invest in knowledge

In order to strengthen the competitiveness of Africa, new budgetary principles that give high priority to investments in people and knowledge are necessary. In the short term, unemployed workers should be offered a chance to upgrade their skills. Business, trade unions and governments should work together in organising the upgrading of workers’ skills through public and private funding. The scale and ambition of the African Development Funds must be expanded, be focused upon investment in research and knowledge and linked to building institutional frameworks that support learning in working life.

Action 2: Reinvent education

Schools and universities need to be reinvented in partnership with teachers and students so that education prepares people for the learning society. Retrain teachers and engage parents so that they can contribute to an education system that develops the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for intercultural dialogue, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative projects. Give a strong emphasis to design in education at different levels. Establish a major African-wide research and development effort on education to improve quality and creativity at all levels.

Action 3: Reward initiative

People that take new initiatives in business, the public sector and civic society should be rewarded. Social policies can contribute to innovation by sharing risks with citizens who engage in change. Artists, designers, scientists and entrepreneurs who contribute with new ideas should be rewarded. Prizes for excellence should be combined with legal protection of intellectual property rights and strike a balance between creating fair rewards and promoting knowledge-sharing.

Action 4: Sustain culture

Capacity-building in the cultural sector should be supported through national and African programmes and mechanisms in order to sustain cultural diversity, independence and intercultural dialogue. Creative industries should be promoted by building new bridges between art, philosophy, science and business. The development and use of new media should be stimulated through raising the quality of the content. New economic models must be developed to finance free, diverse, independent and high-quality digital news media.

Action 5: Promote innovation

There is a need for a more ambitious and broad-based innovation policy. Increased investment in science, technology and design should be combined with efforts to increase the demand for knowledge. Firms should be stimulated to combine scientific knowledge with experience-based knowledge. They should be encouraged to increase diversity among employees in terms of gender, education and nationality. The education of engineers, managers and designers should mix theoretical education with practical experience. Innovation policy as well as labour market and education policy should aim at mobilising users and employees in processes of change. Developing and implementing broad innovation policy strategies must be a major concern for political leaders.

Action 6: Think globally

Africa should be at the world-wide forefront in terms of science, culture and competitiveness. Collaboration within Africa in science, technology, education, design and culture needs to be further opened up to the rest of the world. A competitive Africa should develop economic collaboration both with the strong new emerging economies and with the poor countries most in need of support. Promoting innovation in poor countries is a moral obligation and it reduces the pressure of immigration. Africa should contribute to the establishment of fair rules regarding the protection and sharing of knowledge at the global level.

Action 7: Green the economy

Africa must mobilise creativity and innovation to transform itself into a post-carbon society. A key element is eco-innovation and the establishment of a ‘new techno-economic trajectory’ starting from ‘end of pipe’ solutions, moving through ‘clean technologies’ and ending with ‘system innovations’ that radically transform production, distribution and consumption. Investments need to be combined with new institutions, new regulation and new habits. Creativity is the major tool to find solutions that combine sustainability with prosperity.

No wild dreams

Someone may say this is a tall order. Make no mistake about it, the odds seem stacked against the possibility of such a lofty manifesto – dream. With a cursory appraisal, you may even immediately decipher the huge and daunting challenges like the facts that:

• Africa and the African Union is not leading or taking initiative on any known global issue;
• while the European Union is grappling with the wise-spread economic crisis, the African Union is tackling the International Criminal Court over trying sitting presidents accused of committing various crimes;
• African Union lacks the cohesion, the convening power among member states and the financial wherewithal compared to the European Union;
• Europe can affirm its relative economic sufficiency while several African countries are tied to the apron strings of development (some say phantom) aid;
• Europe ranks high in most development indicators while Africa is wracked with some of the worst global ranking figures of almost all development indicators;
• Europe has no subsisting inter- or intra-national conflicts, Africa is pockmarked with several ongoing inter- or intra-national conflicts and some full-scale skirmishes;
• Europe has several points of cooperation and engagement while several African countries spend capital magnifying differences and appear to be mostly trying to outwit one another;
• the only Africa-wide programme of the African Union is the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) with uncertain prospects and results while European Union has several Europe-wide (and successful) programmes;
• Africa has no Structural Funds for development to speak of as was proposed in the original manifesto, Europe has a number of interventionist funding mechanisms to assist member states;
• Africa cannot be at the fore-front in terms of science, culture and competitiveness when most countries are grappling with weak economies lacking competitive advantages, de-funding education, and unable to compel fair trade; 
• relative to Africa, Europe has less corruption and graft issues to tackle;
• Europe boasts several thriving democracies while Africa has crippling leadership / governance challenges; and
• Africa is not mobilising creativity and innovation to transform itself into a post-carbon society while Europe is through the thrust by the European Commission.

All these as valid challenges as they may be should not stop or diminish our expectations. They are mostly thorny problems but not impossible to overcome.

A manifesto for change

Let me blog-leak this to you – about education in Nigeria. From close observation, I discovered one of the main drivers (though rarely amplified) of the burgeoning examination malpractice issue afflicting Nigerian educational system (both public and private, yes) are parents: parents who rightly desire their children to succeed at all cost wrongly end up paying bribes and abetting criminal behaviour in their ambition. I have written about the inadequacy of the current overall curricula in another post. Can you therefore imagine the benefits Nigeria stands to reap if only it would re-design the overall education curricula, train / retrain teachers and engage parents so that they can contribute to an education system that develops the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for intercultural dialogue, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative projects.

There is substance to the 7-point plan and the corresponding lines of action enunciated above. The steps are commonsensical and workable; results and impact can be tracked and measured. It is nigh time to stop mouthing slogans like "African solutions to African problems" bereft of meaningful actions and reproducible strategies. There are problems common to man which could be tackled with common solutions; borrow and adapt, if you must but make certain that you pull yourself up. By the bootstraps, if need be. Prune and discard what does not suit you and your purpose but, surely, sign onto this manifesto of transformation.

Or you throw it out altogether and draft a better plan.

Africa, hear me, take your destiny in your hands against implacable forces trying to make a fool of you! This is not impossible, I believe.

Notes:

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is the vision and strategic framework adopted by African leaders to address poverty and underdevelopment throughout the African continent. Its broad approach was initially agreed at the 36th Heads of State and Government Assembly of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) held in Algeria, in 2000. The meeting asked Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa to develop an integrated socio-economic framework for Africa. Subsequently, the 37th Summit of the OAU held in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001 formally endorsed NEPAD as the framework for the continent's development. In January 2010, the 14th African Union (AU) Summit strengthened the NEPAD programme by endorsing its integration into the AU.

See full European Ambassadors for Creativity and Innovation Manifesto. All rights reserved. © European Union, 1995-2013:

http://create2009.europe.eu.

Acknowledgement:

The author acknowledges the effort of the LOC for the EYCI Secretariat which coordinated the preparation and the distribution of the European Ambassadors for Creativity and Innovation Manifesto. All rights reserved. © European Union, 1995-2013