“Humanitarian policy in Africa should not humiliate the countries of the region, it should meet the needs of the population. This is a joint work of the state, business, and public organizations.” This was stated on July 28 by the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov at a session on Russian humanitarian policy on the African continent within the framework of the Russia—Africa forum.
One of the most important areas of humanitarian cooperation is work in the scientific and technical sphere. “Africa expects from us not just goods and money, but technology transfer. And I think the signing of the agreement on the establishment of the Russian-Ethiopian Center for Biological Research is a great achievement of the forum,” said Irina Abramova, Director of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Russian education is competitive and of high quality, so African countries are ready to create joint educational institutions with Russia. We are also talking about opening branches of Russian institutions of secondary vocational education. This was told by the Deputy Minister of Education of Russia Denis Gribov. He also added that this year, with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo, 28 Open Education Centers for the study of the Russian language will be opened around the world, including in Africa.
Due to the humanitarian crisis, not all people in Africa have the same access to knowledge. The head of the Alliance for Non-Formal Education Yasmin Abdo raised the issue of the need to develop an alternative to the classical education system.
Vice President for Marketing and Development of Rusatom – International Network Egor Kvyatkovsky noted that training issues are often inextricably linked with business. “When we come to the country, we are not just building a station, we are creating an industry and trying to show that it is promising in terms of education and work for several generations. We find local specialists and train them according to Rosatom quotas in the main universities,” he said.
First Deputy General Director of PhosAgro Siroj Loikov stressed that for their company, assistance to the countries of the region is to provide them not only with fertilizers, but also with knowledge. “It is important for us not just to feed other countries, but also to teach them to feed themselves. So, back in 2013, we signed an agreement to provide grants to young scientists in the field of “green” chemistry,” Loikov shared.
RUSAL adheres to a similar logic. Yakov Itskov, Director of Alumina Business at RUSAL, said that the company not only implements programs to reduce poverty, develop medicine and education, and improve infrastructure, but also actively attracts local specialists to this. “Countries should develop themselves, but they can be helped by transferring experience, knowledge, skills,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, Alexey Smirnov, co-founder of the Humanitarian Monitor project, presented a map of Russian humanitarian aid to different countries of the world: “This is a tool for informing Russian and foreign audiences about our international development assistance program. We offer the world a showcase of the best humanitarian practices.”