MEST - Ministry of Education Science and Technology

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Kenya spearheads the national Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) agenda. Among other, the mandate and core functions of MEST are: Stimulate global competitiveness through international and regional cooperation in STI. Within the European S&T cooperation aspect, The Kenya government has bilateral development cooperation agreements with a large number of EU Member states and work closely with UN bodies like UNESCO, UNEP, FAO among others.

MEST has also specific S&T cooperation agreements covering a broad range of thematic areas with the respective countries or institutions in France, Germany, UK, Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Netherlands among others. From the Pan African angle, MEST has bilateral S&T agreements with African countries, including, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan, and Botswana among others. On the S&T agenda in Africa, Kenya (through MEST) was the AMCOST chair (2009-2010) and was active in the JAES process.

Activities

MEST will contribute more specifically to WP1 (Task 1.1: Governance Support and Secretariat; Task 1.2: Strategic Stakeholder Engagement).

People

  • Dr Eric Mwangi (m) is a research scientist and policy advisor. He holds a PhD in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Glasgow (UK) and has published widely in scientific journals. His current portfolio includes implementing the MEST’s international cooperation agenda (described above) which include development policies and strategies including research and innovation promotion; executing STI country and regional programmes and resource mobilisation to support for ST&I programmes. Dr. Mwangi has since 2008 represented MEST in the position of the CAAST-Net Africa Region Coordinator and in the management of the LEAP-Agri project. He is also involved in other EU-FP7 projects listed below on S&T in Africa and therefore, has a good experience on initiatives related to the EU-AU S&T cooperation agenda. He coordinates the technical activities with Jacob Njagi.
  • Jacob K. Njagih (m) (Assistant Director of Research) holds a Master of Science Degree in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation from International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation-ITC (University of Twente, The Netherlands). His current responsibilities include establishing and implementing new strategic international collaboration and linkages in STI in national priority areas. He was the FP7 National Contact Point for ICT and is currently the Horizon 2020 NCP for ICT. Jacob has been responsible for the activities of the FP7 funded IST-Africa in Kenya since 2009. He is also involved in the implementation of CAAST-Net Plus and the LEAPAgri Cofund.
  • Dr. Jemimah Onsare (f) (Principal Research Officer) holds PhD (Applied Microbiology – Antimicrobials), under the Kenya – India Bilaterial Agreement Scholarship from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar – India. She currently deployed to the National Research Fund as the Ag. Chief Executive Officer and is currently involved in the mobilization and management of Research Grants. She has participated in various assignments including: Publication process of Kenya Journal of Science, Technology and Innovation; Establishment of collaboration and linkages in ST&I matters; Gender mainstreaming in ST&I; ISO certification; and Environmental Sustainability matters. Dr. Onsare has 4 years experience in Microbiological Research (Antimicrobials) including grants proposal writing and published a number of articles in international Journals of repute. Dr. Onsare has also trained on putting ideas to work – strategies for innovation – led sustainable growth (International Programme Sponsored by Sida).