Telescope Reviews: Proposal for High Profile Visits

Notes from Brainstorm over high profile “developing astronomy” visits to countries - input welcome...

Brainstorm took place on 4th October 2009 at SAAO, Cape Town

Present:
Francois - Rwanda
Solohery - Madagascar
Geoffrey - Kenya
Patrice – Gabon
Jun – Japan
Kevin – South Africa

Background:
Brainstorm was called following the possibility of Bob Williams (IAU President) visiting various African countries with a NASA astronaut in order to stimulate astronomy and space science.

Notes:
- This discussion should not simply be a reaction to Bob’s suggestion but rather a “big picture” approach which will result in a proposal which could be applied to any visit in the future.
- In future, we should use this proposal to go to people like Bob Wiliams and REQUEST the astronauts for our programme.
- Visits are an opportunity to highlight the importance of astronomy and space science.
- Must be clever about choosing countries in order to maximise impact – visits to some may not be as beneficial – need to make some tough calls.
- Identify individuals/organisations in each country - champions - who can organise activities and drive programme before and after
- Regional bodies (or other structures) should be set up before and the visit used to gain recognition
- Gabon experience in 1998: big problem was lack of a structure before the event which the visitors could interact with
- Eg. Madagascar: need the govt policy to be influences; the lecturers are already willing to drive the programme
- A potential long term target is that NASA accepts an African Astronaut – this may have complications as it should not be viewed as a “free ride” for someone but rather an opportunity which young Africans can strive towards.
- Local potential champions/drivers must be present. This point refers to the fact that in many small countries the main drivers may be busy studying in another country so we should time visits for when they are home (e.g. during holidays)
- Discussion should focus on the least developed countries (phase 4) and other countries would be a subset of those interventions. However, every visit will be specific to that country.

Proposed Plan for a high profile visit e.g. astronaut, IAU president

Overview:
In order to maximise the benefit from such a visit and to ensure sustainability thereafter, one needs to ensure most importantly that there is a dedicated and active group of individuals present in the country. This group of individuals, who may all be based within an organisation, will champion efforts before, during and after the event itself. Any planned visit should contain details for each of these time periods. One of the main objectives of the visit should be to “launch” or “announce” something which has been built up before the actual event, e.g. astronomy in the school curriculum, 5 year plan for astronomy in that country, etc. This “launch” should be conducted in close conjunction with the local leadership and with full media coverage in order to ensure lasting commitment from all levels. We suggest here a possible checklist for each time period assuming no astronomy exists in the target country. We also acknowledge that variations of this would apply for different local situations.

Before the visit:
- Establish contact with a local champion and an associated organisation/group.
- Local champion completes a survey regarding the state of astronomy in that country.
- Arrange a low profile pre-event visit hosted by local champion with meetings with relevant stakeholders. During this visit some basic astronomy training should be conducted for the physics lecturers/stakeholders.
- Some astronomy outreach materials and basic equipment should be provided to start activities.
- Local champion prepares a plan for astronomy in that country - something that would be launched/passed to govt during the main visit. Examples of possible projects which could be included are:
o inclusion of astronomy in school curriculum
o start undergrad astronomy course at university
o Establish a network of school science clubs
o Establish/strengthen amateur astronomy society
o Establish students astronomy society at university
o launch of a regular TV/radio/newspaper programme
o official government policy or document (e.g. a govt white paper on science or astronomy; 5 year strategy for astronomy)
o Similar branches of NASSP in other parts of Africa – 5 year plan
o Competition for schools where winners get to have lunch with an astronaut
o Magazine/publication for astronomy that would be highlighted during the visit
o school research/activities which are presented at the visit (interaction with the kids (combine talk and presentation)
- Note that all big events should, as far as possible, be “under the patronage” of minister or with buy-in from govt.

During the visit:
Suggested Programme (could be shortened to include more countries during a journey to a developing region):

o Day 1:
Welcome and orientation: Meetings with govt officials
TV/radio interviews
o Day 2:
Morning TV interview/press conference
Schools conference / lunch with winners of a competition
Launch schools clubs network
Evening public lecture and fun stuff e.g Mobile planetarium/science show/stargazing
Launch amateur astronomy society
o Day 3:
University: technical talks for physics students
Lunch with the students
Launch of students astronomy society
High level talks with politicians and university faculty
o Day 4:
Free day

After the visit:

- Champion provides follow up report about projects that were launched
- Ongoing projects/networking with other countries in the region
- Major event after the visit – run by the society/clubs that were established
- Regular event run by stakeholders
- A low profile post-event visit will monitor the situation, provide feedback to all role-players and tie up any loose ends as needed.

Where do we send them?
- The choice of country will have to depend on the potential for that country to prepare for and implement the event. Local champions will be the key factor in determining the choice of country and it will be their motivation and activities preceding the main visit which will be the deciding factor. As far as possible the visits should be regionally oriented with the possibility of covering a few countries within the time available. Because this model somewhat removes the responsibility of the activity from the hands of the high profile visitors, they would be able to travel more while the local champions respectively prepare for and sustain the momentum generated.

- Potential groups of countries were suggested based on experiences so far – these are in no way final:
o East Africa – Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
o West Africa – Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Congo Brazzaville
o Southern – SA, Namibia, Madagascar, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
o Northern – Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia

Edited by kg (10/05/09 11:41 PM)