Abstract:
Mozambique is one of the fastest growing economies in Sub Saharan Africa, with GDP growth of 4.8% in 2023 and 8.3% projected in 2024, according to the African Development Bank. Mozambique is paying great attention to higher education, science and innovation to increase the proportion of scientifically skilled workforce that is necessary to sustain and increase growth opportunities.
Mozambique is one of the nine African countries that is contributing to the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (Rsif) of the Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET), since 2021. Its contribution of USD 6 million is through the World Bank supported Improvement of Skills Development in Mozambique (MozSkills) project and is towards training Mozambican PhD students and to provide grants for research and innovation projects led by Mozambican universities and research institutions in strategic high potential sectors. Through PASET-Rsif Mozambique will build strong institutions and future science leaders to drive a science and technology-led growth and development.
There are 32 Mozambicans awarded Rsif PhD scholarship (31% women and 78% faculty). 14 research and innovation grants have been awarded to eight different Mozambican institutions.
The report turns the spotlight on Mozambique’s future science leaders and highlights Rsif projects; Modernizing agriculture: Internet of Things and AI predictive models for agricultural value chain. Incubator for prototype development and commercialization of new agri-products; and Drying technology for reducing post-harvest loss and increasing high-quality market-competitive products.
