Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology through the department of Science have launched the Needs Assessment Technology in an effort to enhance economic growth, on Friday
The Technology Needs Assessment is one of the key programmes of the United Nations (UN) Technology Bank that assists least developed countries to identify technologies required to meet
national development ambitions. The launch comes after the two-day workshop on Lesotho Needs Assessment Technology. Speaking at the launch Director of Science and Technology Lefa Thamae stated that the ministry has
conducted research to study what Basotho need to be assisted with in order to enhance economic growth. He noted that the ministry has two projects in the
pipeline that will be invented this month thus diversification of technology and producing dairy products on a large scale, saying the government has allocated money to the Ministry of Agriculture , Food and Security for this
project to be a success. “The UN and other relevant stakeholders are willing to help Lesotho in case the government runs out of money,” he mentioned. The UN Representative to
Lesotho Amanda Khozi Mukwashi congratulated the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology for effectively completing the Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) report through the support of the UN Technology Bank for least
developed countries. “On behalf of the UN system in Lesotho, I would like to affirm the continued commitment of the UN system through the cooperation framework to supporting the Kingdom of Lesotho
in its mission to strengthen science, technology and innovation and in achieving the targets set in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, she said.
She stipulated that Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) is important not only for Lesotho but for all countries, even more so for developing countries, stating for countries
to be able to identify critical areas where STI can be more effective to achieve their national development aspirations, the TNA exercise becomes crucial.
She noted that it helps the countries not only identify their needs but also reflect on their development progress and collectively agree on entry points, noting that the
unique nature of STI is that it cuts across all sectors, therefore creating opportunities for enhanced stakeholders’ collaboration. Mukwashi expressed her gratitude to see that
the ministry has convened a stakeholder’s workshop over the past two days, to allow further reflection on the TNA findings and collectively agree on projects
to implement. She added that the report recommendations also reaffirm the importance of coordination, collaboration and partnership in general for Lesotho to achieve its development milestones especially around STI policy
implementation. According to Mukwashi access to affordable internet was identified as a cross-cutting technological system for the various priority sectors listed in the report as it is an enabler for
sustainable development and supports the growth of ICTs as well as the digital economy. The National University of Lesotho, Vice-Chancellor Professor Olusola Isaac Fajana said the rapid development in Information
and Communication Technology has greatly influenced the process of education in the past few years. “It would be enormous not to acknowledge the role technology has played and continues to play in the provision of higher education
and especially in the advent of Covid-19. On the research function, the development to smooth out the process of investigations started in the last part of the 60s when academic researchers began utilizing programming such as
SPSS to do complex analyses as opposed to writing them out by hand”, he directed. Fajana revealed that the teaching function revealed that the period of the 21st century
is generally viewed as the time of technology, which assumes a significant function in everyday life, saying it is conceivable just through technology that distances are no more obstructions and the educational process can be bought to the student’s doorstep.
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