From Sudan to Somalia and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed conflicts continue to devastate communities and fracture institutions. Heaven knows when peace will come, but education, research and development cannot flourish where survival is the daily priority.
My continent does not know peace.
Poverty is prevalent, aided by the chokehold of corruption. In conflict zones, infrastructure crumbles under the march of soldiers’ boots. Food security is undermined by maladministration and increasingly threatened by extreme weather. The strengthening El Niño brings heightened risks of drought in parts of southern Africa and flooding in parts of eastern Africa. These are forecasts, but the need to prepare is immediate. Economies are failing to create enough secure jobs. Health sectors are under severe strain.
My continent does not know prosperity.
UNESCO’s estimates for 2024 put primary school completion in sub-Saharan Africa at 68%, against 88% globally, while its 2026 Education Data Refresh reports upper secondary completion of just 29%, compared with 62% worldwide. Its 2024 Global Report on Teachers projects that the region needs 15 million additional primary and secondary teachers by 2030. I have hope that this need will be met, but it is overshadowed by doubt. History repeats itself too often for us to ignore it.
I want us to delve a little deeper. According to UNESCO’s 2026 research data release, in 2023, sub-Saharan Africa had just 88 full-time-equivalent researchers per million inhabitants, compared with 4 358 in Europe and Northern America. That means Europe and Northern America had approximately 50 times as many researchers relative to their population as sub-Saharan Africa.
We are in the midst of the Nobel Prize awards season. This is a grand time of year when the world bears witness to extraordinary achievements across science, literature and peace. By the end of 2025, only 29 of the 990 individual laureates across the Nobel Prizes and the associated economics prize were born in Africa. That is about 2.9%. This is a measure of birthplace, not of research conducted on our continent, and it includes achievements beyond science. Still, it prompts us to ask how much more African talent could achieve with sustained support.*
My continent has yet to realise its research potential.
Yet our continent is the last great frontier of global development. Here at home in South Africa, we are looking to the skies with astounding results. From the SKA-Mid telescope under construction to African mRNA vaccine research and technology transfer, we are building the scientific capacity to shape our own future.
Mission 300’s electricity expansion, the modernisation and planned expansion of the Lobito Corridor, and the newly completed core 2Africa cable system strengthen that promise. These developments provide essential foundations for industry, education and research through greater access to power, markets and international connectivity.
We are not stagnating. These are but a few examples, and there are a great many more. But let’s be honest: we are lagging in development, and we will continue to do so if we don’t produce the researchers we need to support our growth and realise our potential.
We must start by strengthening science and mathematics teaching in our schools. Governments must commit to predictable, multi-year research funding, with transparent oversight of how it is spent. Universities need funded postgraduate places, properly equipped laboratories and stable career opportunities that allow promising researchers to stay and build their work here. Industry must help turn that knowledge into products, services and jobs. We should measure progress by the people we train and retain, and by the problems their research helps us solve.
I want to see an Africa as rich in its industries as it is in its cultures. I want to see an Africa that gives to the world and is not exploited by it.
I’ll tell you what my continent does know. It is a lesson learned through hardship, through the suffering of its people and through promises made but never fulfilled. My continent knows how to be resilient. Imagine if we focused that resilience and equipped it with the support it needs to help solve the problems hampering our growth. Picture an Africa where our children complete their schooling equipped with the knowledge and confidence to shape their own futures. One where we see research blooming and watch as our researchers are applauded while accepting accolades on the world’s most revered academic stages.
We can do that. History repeats itself when we let it.
*Since these end-of-2025 figures, South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to international justice. Announced on 9 October 2026, the award makes her South Africa’s fifth Nobel Peace Prize laureate, following Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk.
By Prof. Jeffrey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research & Innovation at the North-West University (NWU) in South Africa.