Submitted by Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs
Cross-posted from the State Department’s Dipnote blog.

This year, 17 sub-Saharan African countries celebrate 50 years of independence, and the Obama Administration is ready to look forward towards greater partnerships with African nations. Acknowledging the value of engaging young leaders in the discussion of the future of Africa, President Obama has invited 115 young leaders from 47 nations of sub-Saharan Africa to the President’s Forum with Young African Leaders. The Forum is an opportunity for the participants to engage with each other, their American counterparts, and U.S. government officials on key themes of youth empowerment, good governance, and economic opportunity.

I have worked closely with my African counterparts, civil society leaders, and colleagues at the State Department on each of these themes and am looking forward to interacting with the future leaders of Africa through this unique opportunity. On numerous occasions, I have been inspired by the passion and ingenuity of Africa’s young leaders. At Kenya Polytechnic University, I learned from innovative students the value of mobile and other technology and scientific advancement for youth empowerment and social change. In Uganda, I met with young human rights advocates fighting for tolerance and inclusion. I was moved by their courage and inspired by their passion. Young women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia reminded me that glass ceilings were meant to be cracked.

Through the Forum, these young leaders will have a great opportunity to learn from one another, and we have a unique opportunity to learn from them. People to people connections like this have the power to change lives and the future of nations and are where lasting partnerships begin. As policymakers, we in the U.S. government hope to learn how best to support African youth’s vision for the future of Africa. Personally, I have seen how enhanced mutual understanding of ideas and cultures can create the foundation for long term peace, security, and prosperity.

Technology is going to connect this Forum to an even wider audience, enabling every person that has access to the internet to virtually participate in the Forum through live online streams of select segments of the conference. Stay tuned to www.state.gov and DipNote for updates.

Take a look at what the next few days have in store:

DAY 1: The President’s Forum with Young African Leaders opens in Washington, DC at the State Department where participants will attend a number of small discussion sessions to explore topics including transparency and accountability, job creation and entrepreneurship, rights advocacy, and the use of technology to empower individuals and communities. President Obama will then welcome the delegates and host a town-hall at the White House.

DAY 2: Participants meet with leaders of Congress on Capitol Hill, participate in leadership and empowerment discussions with Peace Corps, and share in service experiences across Washington, DC.

DAY 3: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale and I co-host “The Way Forward Plenary” at the Newseum where delegates will share their ideas from the forum. Participants will also have an opportunity to network with American civil society leaders and resource organizations at an “unconference” following the plenary. The Forum will close with a featured speaker.

Each night, participants will have the opportunity for peer to peer exchange at partner events hosted by the Aspen Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, McKinsey, and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy.

The following post from Dr. Shah is re-posted from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy blog:

In January, on the same day I took my oath of office to be Administrator of USAID, I met with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Together we discussed President Obama’s strong support of science, technology, and innovation as an indispensible component of U.S. development policy as we seek to support developing communities worldwide.

Last week marked a major milestone in the Administration’s efforts to advance this goal. Together with the President’s science and technology advisor Dr. John P. Holdren and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, USAID co-hosted a conference entitled Transforming Development through Science, Technology, and Innovation. We welcomed more than sixty of the top thought leaders in science and development, from within and outside the Federal government, to help us identify a set of “grand challenges” and explore how science and technology can be used to help solve them. These challenges include such acute development needs as installing piped drinking water for households, deploying high-quality irrigation systems with locally-accessible replacement parts, and using the latest mobile technologies for banking, sharing vital health data, paying salaries, and checking commodity prices.

At the conference’s closing event, Secretary Clinton made note of the many development-related “quantum leaps” that science has already enabled, such as the smallpox vaccine that within just a few years turned the tide in global health, mobile banking programs that have helped local economies in Kenya and the Philippines, and updated “green revolution” farming techniques that have boosted productivity in marginal environments. Science, technology, and innovation, she said, can be great equalizers that increase opportunity and prosperity for all.

Last Friday, after the conference had concluded, I again met with PCAST to discuss our findings and how USAID can continue to deliver the transformational promise that science and technology hold for poor communities around the world. We also talked about how these advancements will allow specific key development priorities, such as Feed the Future and the Global Health Initiative, to become more scalable and sustainable.

New technologies alone won’t be a silver bullet for development; we also need to ensure that our implementation, distribution, and communication networks with partner countries are strategically coordinated at all levels. But science, technology, and innovation can help us leapfrog development problems that can otherwise take generations to tackle. They can bridge the divide between the public and private sectors and help us bypass obstacles previously considered insurmountable. And they can help USAID change the way we do business with the more than 80 nations in which we work.

The President’s leadership on this issue has been remarkable and I am tremendously optimistic about our opportunity to increase the impact of USAID’s work with developing communities worldwide in the coming years.

Below, please find a quick read-out from yesterday’s fascinating opening plenary session of USAID’s groundbreaking conference entitled: Transforming Development through Science, Technology and Innovation.

In front of a high-powered audience of science, development, and Federal government experts, Dr. Shah began the evening’s discussion by expressing his enthusiasm for the conference’s goals and urged participants to think strategically and across sectors about how we can better deploy science, technology, and innovation (STI) to further development in high-impact and scaleable ways.  He stressed the need to quickly move advancements “out of the lab and on the ground.”  And Dr. Shah encouraged the group to think about how we partner with private industry to create sustainable, scalable development that will bring lasting change to individuals around the world.

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