Developmental applications of science and technology

The CSIR will oversee a multidisciplinary pilot S&T research project and create an internal S&T planning and policy analysis entity. Ghanaian researchers will conduct a pilot study of desertification in the Tamne River Basin (including Bawku), a representative, hydrologically defined, accessible area in northeastern Ghana for which satellite imagery already exists. Multidisciplinary cooperative research will be conducted on the causes, extent, and impact of burning, water availability and distribution, overgrazing, deforestation, agricultural cultivation practices, and socioeconomic relationships, and research results will be integrated to provide a scientific basis for identifying optimal remedial strategies. To improve the management and coordination of S&T research in Ghana, an innovative management and budgeting structure will be tested in the pilot study. A Project Management Group will be established within the CSIR"s Committee on Natural Resources to develop and implement policies and programs for the study; solicit, select, integrate, and budget research proposals; and provide overall monitoring. AID-funded training will include short-term, U.S. training for six Ghanaian scientists, managers, and administrators, and, possibly, participation by Ghanaian scientists in UNESCO"s Man and the Biosphere Program. A Planning and Analysis Group (PAG) will be established in the CSIR to evaluate results of the pilot study and thus institutionalize an innovative S&T policy analysis and program design capability within the CSIR. To the latter end, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences will help the PAG conduct analyses of three priority topics in the development and application of S&T research in Ghana - one on funding and managing cooperative S&T research, the others on specialized development issues.