The Minister of Education, Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima, has urged researchers to find innovative solutions to solve humanitarian crises through climate change modeling. The National Research Agenda (NRA) was launched to operationalize the research and innovation needs of the country, with a focus on environmental sustainability. The NRA aims to solve the negative impacts of cyclone Freddy and evoke the application of predictive artificial intelligence (AI) to improve disaster preparedness. Malawi hopes to achieve lower-middle-income economic status by 2030 and an upper-middle-income, inclusively wealthy, and self-reliant country by 2063 through the NRA. The NPC Director General, Thomas Munthali, bemoaned the lack of research and development in Malawi and emphasized the importance of the NRA in achieving the country’s aspirations. The keywords relevant to the article’s content are climate change modeling, the NRA, Malawi, economic growth, and innovation.
Malawi Calls for Innovative Solutions to Humanitarian Crises Through Climate Change Modelling
The Minister of Education, Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima, has called upon researchers to come up with innovative solutions to solve the humanitarian crisis through climate change modelling. Speaking during the launch of the National Research Agenda (NRA) developed by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) and supported by UNICEF, Wirima urged researchers to focus on the environmental sustainability pillar, which will allow them to come up with solutions to solve the negative impacts of cyclone Freddy, which Malawi is currently facing.
Wirima directed the NCST to immediately put up a research call through NRA that will solve the negative effects of cyclone Freddy using available resources in the Science and Technology fund. She encouraged youths and Early Career Researchers (ECR) to respond to the call, which will evoke the application of predictive Artificial Intelligence (AI) to project the occurrence of natural disasters and improve preparedness for such catastrophic phenomena.
Wirima stressed the importance of effective implementation of NRA in stimulating economic growth and realizing Malawi 2063 aspirations. She also assured that her ministry will advocate and lobby Parliament to prioritize Research, Science, Technology and Innovations (RSTI) if Malawi is to catch up with the new pathways of attaining socio-economic development and transformation.
Professor Emmanuel Kaunda, Chairperson of the NCST, said that the scientific world has not done much to be able to alert people in advance on how to prepare for natural disasters. He emphasized the need to bring out young minds to get into science and technology, artificial intelligence to be able to alert or prepare people in the event of a disaster.
The research agenda is key and is providing a platform where all will be done in a coordinated manner, according to Kamanga. The Director General of the NPC, Thomas Munthali, bemoaned the lack of research and development of innovations and technologies, which could have spurred growth in the country.
NRA Developed to Propel Malawi to Future it Desires
The Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Thomas Munthali, has lamented the lack of research and development in Malawi. “Perhaps, our research and technological endeavors were less informed by what we want and aspire as a country in improving our economic growth and living conditions as well as transformation we aspire,” he said. To address this, the National Research Agenda (NRA) has been developed to operationalize the research and innovation needs of the country. The NRA aims to propel Malawi to a future it desires, with a goal of achieving lower-middle-income economic status by 2030 and an upper-middle-income, inclusively wealthy, and self-reliant country by 2063.
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