Meeting global challenges with coherent policies producing more researchers

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal 9 encourages building resilient infrastructure, fostering innovation, and promoting sustainable infrastructure by significantly increasing the number of researchers. Using Zimbabwe as a typical developing country, we analyzed ten continental, five regional, five national, and 32 sectoral science policies on their commitment to increasing the number of researchers. Our results showed that while the African Union urged member states to increase their number of researchers, the Southern African Development Community and most government departments in Zimbabwe largely ignored this recommendation. Interestingly, the national science, technology, and innovation policies in Zimbabwe have adopted the African Union guidelines. Our results suggest a lack of coordination between government departments in Zimbabwe. We propose a policy framework for increasing the number of researchers that fosters multilevel and multisectoral policy coordination, provides a link between policymakers and researchers, and promotes regional integration.